I Am An Overwhelmed Beginner

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Greetings all you giving people,

It is clear to me that this forum is housed with empathic and caring folks who know the walk and love to share and help.

I need help.

I am 71 years old, slender (no gut, 5' 11", 34" waist, 165 lbs.), take no medications, all vitals are in good shape, walk 20 miles a week, have no physical restrictions, and almost no aches and pains.

Four years ago, I was diagnosed with MC. Since then, 99.96% (grossly underestimated) of my BMs have been loose or watery. I have gotten some relief - for a day or two - from a few different probiotics. Two months ago, I did a cleanse with only potatoes, red leaf lettuce, lemons, and celery juice, and after four days of eating only these four foods, I had five days in a row with Pristine Poop! (Too bad the PP acronym is taken.) When I returned to my regular eating the next day, the big D came roaring back.

Speaking of my regular eating: For forty-one years, I have been an unwavering vegetarian for ethical and physical reasons. For most of the last fifteen years, I have been vegan. I mentioned that I have almost no aches or pains. This is because since I have focused on plant foods, my daily headaches (Excedrin every day for four decades), arthritis, high blood pressure, excessive congestion, etc., have almost completely gone (most of them are completely gone. The rest are sparsely present.) I have not taken Excedrin for fifteen years, and have gotten off my blood pressure meds since I have focused on veganism. (I mentioned that I walk 20 miles a week. Fifteen years ago, I could barely walk because of arthritis.) I am enjoying good health and look forward to becoming healthier well into my 90's with the help of fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

Then along comes the game-changer - MC! (Mostly Crap, Menacing Colon, Minus Coagulation, Missing Coagulation!!!!) I have always been able to cure my ails by eating better and moving more. I am concerned about what I have studied thus far about MC eating. It seems to me that the fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, and seeds that have brought me excellent health are now pert-near forbidden - And my forty-one-year absolute absence from meat seems to be in the way of my healing from the MC.

Am I wrong? Please help me understand. Can I heal from MC and still maintain my veganism?

[tex]

Hello Smiley,

Welcome to the group. The answer to your question probably hinges on one word, "soy". If you're sensitive to soy, as many of us are, then soy, all it's derivatives, and probably most legumes, and their derivatives are causing your immune system to produce antibodies. If that's the case, then it will be virtually impossible to get enough protein in your diet to continue with a vegan lifestyle. If you are not sensitive to soy, then sure, you should be able to continue with a pagan lifestyle. It takes a lot of protein to heal the damage done by the inflammation that causes MC. That's why most of us eat a lot of meat. But you can get enough protein from a vegan diet as long as you're not sensitive to soy.

I assume you've already realized, after reading posts here for a while, that the odds of you being sensitive to gluten are virtually 100%. Most of the other common food sensitivities that MC patients have to deal with are irrelevant, since they're not Vegan foods (dairy products and eggs). Fiber And sugar are big problems for MC patients before recovery, so that's why most fruits, other than moderate amounts of bananas, and nuts, can cause us to react.

I'm sure you're well aware that a vegan or vegetarian diet can lead to a vitamin B-12 deficiency, and since MC causes malabsorption problems, the disease tends to deplete the water-soluble vitamins (especially vitamin D), and magnesium, so you may need to supplement them, preferably using the active forms, in order to enhance absorption.

Again, welcome to the board, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

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Howdy, tex,

So many thanks for your response. Here's what I think you are saying. If soy does not bring about my diarrhea then I could use tempeh, tofu, edamame, natto, etc instead of meat. I could then go through Step One and become compliant (I'm a tax resolution guy), then move on to Step Two. Do I understand you correctly?

What does it mean to be sensitive to either soy or legumes?
How can I determine if I am sensitive to either?

I don't know what antibodies are (even though I just did some research), but I just got your book and I imagine that I will learn about them from the book.

I believe that gluten does bother me even though my celiac test proved negative. When I eat a lot of wheat I get more congestion. So, I will focus on reduction or elimination. Fiber is a tuff one for me to reduce as I love fruits and veggies. I believe that eating lots of them has improved my health tremendously.

My wife and I have been taking Vit-D & B-12 supplements forever. I need to look at magnesium.

Thanks, again tex!

[tex]

So many thanks for your response. Here's what I think you are saying. If soy does not bring about my diarrhea then I could use tempeh, tofu, edamame, natto, etc instead of meat. I could then go through Step One and become compliant (I'm a tax resolution guy), then move on to Step Two. Do I understand you correctly?

Yes, that's basically true. I say "basically", because fiber is a limiting factor. Published medical research shows that fiber maintains "regularity "by actually physically tearing the cells of the epithelia (the lining) of the colon. Normal people (who don't have MC) can tolerate this just fine, but it's much too irritating for us, when our MC is active. It's not a source of inflammation, the way that antibodies would be, but if the irritation level is high enough, since her colon is already inflamed, too much fiber will cause diarrhea and prevent us from being able to reach remission. How much is too much? That's difficult to say — we all have different tolerance levels, depending on our degree of Inflammation and accumulated colonic damage. But one thing is for sure, the amount of fiber we can tolerate when our MC is active, is only a fraction of what it would be normally.

What does it mean to be sensitive to either soy or legumes?
How can I determine if I am sensitive to either?

Sensitivity to a food causes our immune system to produce antibodies against that particular food. Antibodies, in turn, provoke immune system reactions as they go through our system, if they enfcounter particles of that particular food.

I don't know what antibodies are (even though I just did some research), but I just got your book and I imagine that I will learn about them from the book.

Antibodies are produced by our immune system whenever it senses that a pathogen (or foreign body that it perceives as a pathogen) has entered the body. These antibodies are circulated by the blood, and if they subsequently come into contact with the same specific type of antigen that caused their production originally (in other words, the same type of pathogen or foreign body), they latch onto that antigen and flag it as a pathogen that needs to be destroyed. After that, any white cells (lymphocytes), macrophages, or other immune system killer cells in the area will come swooping in and attempt to destroy any flagged antigen they can find. This is what causes most of the inflammation associated with MC.

With only one exception, all sensitivities are directed at certain proteins. That one exception is a reaction to a type of sugar — alpha-gal allergy, which is a reaction to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose ("alpha-gal"). Alpha gal allergy is caused by a tick bite, and it's also known as mammalian meat allergy.

This is the way that vaccines work, for example. They provoke the immune system into producing antibodies, so that the next time the immune system senses that the disease targeted by the vaccine is trying to become established, it initiates high-volume production of antibodies, flags the pathogens from that disease, and sends out white cells, macrophages, etc. to destroy them all before the disease can become established.

I believe that gluten does bother me even though my celiac test proved negative. When I eat a lot of wheat I get more congestion. So, I will focus on reduction or elimination. Fiber is a tuff one for me to reduce as I love fruits and veggies. I believe that eating lots of them has improved my health tremendously.

Please note that the digestion of gluten produces gluteomorphins (aka gliadorphins) that can be as addictive as morphine to the brain. Consequently, as we begin to wean off gluten, we crave it even more, and our sensitivity level to it increases. Therefore, we have to avoid gluten 100%, even tiny molecular level traces, or it will continue to cause us to react, and our craving for it may increase even more.

Restrict your fruit and vegetable intake to only moderate levels, and be sure that they are peeled and overcooked (to the point of being mushy), so as to reduce the amount of fiber, and to make them a little easier to digest. The main point here is that we have to do whatever we need to do in order to bring MC to remission, and keep It under control, or the disease will dictate our daily schedule, and continue to rob our energy, and our mental abilities, for the rest of our lives.

Re: magnesium, published research shows that over 300 chemical reactions that are necessary for normal body functioning, require adequate amounts of magnesium. Some authorities insist that about 70% of the worlds population is magnesium deficient.

Hypomagnesemia (Low Magnesium)

I hope this helps,

Tex

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You are a kind and giving man, tex. I appreciate you and am learning tons from you. And the more I learn the more I realize that I am not getting the basics.

The main point here is that we have to do whatever we need to do in order to bring MC to remission

After reading your quote I realize that I do not know what remission actually means. Is it that I no longer have diarrhea, and I feel good? What am I looking for? After four years of daily *#$!&%# diarrhea, I don't know what reality is!

[tex]

Hi Smiley,

"Remission" has various meanings for various people. Some regard stopping the diarrhea as remission, and some consider complete reversal of all the clinical symptoms that began with the onset of the disease, to be remission. The disease cannot be cured, but the clinical symptoms can be controlled.

I hope this helps,

Tex

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"Remission" has various meanings for various people. Some regard stopping the diarrhea as remission

Splendid! Thank you, tex. Stopping the diarrhea is my remission goal. More specifically - seven solid days of solid - is my remission goal. I currently have two. I will keep you posted.

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tex,
I made my seven days. See this post
https://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB/viewt ... =2&t=25290

[tex]

Tex