Questions, help understanding EnterLab results

[shayshap]

I was diagnosised with Microscpic Colitus, Lymphocitic by biopsis' done during colonscopy in June. I have had diarrhea since Feb of this year. My diet has been pretty limited till recently. All veggies need to be cooked well, no raw. Carrots, Celery, Sweet Potatoes, Yellow Potatoes no white, Cauliflower, Zucchini, Broccoli, butternut Squash, Avocados, Bananas, Apple (no peel and cooked), Brown and white Rice, Quinoa, Bone Broth, Almond milk, Canned coconut milk, Rice Chex, Olive oil, Avocado oil, Coconut oil, Earth Balance Margarine (soy free), Salt and fresh ground pepper only, Chicken, Bacon, Pork chops and some ground turkey. These are my EnterLab results;

Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 227 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 68 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 81 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-soy IgA 17 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 17 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

While all of the foods tested can be immune-stimulating, the hierarchy of reactions detected were as follows:

Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity: Pork, Cashew
Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+): Chicken, Beef, Walnut
Food to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (2+): Oat, Rice, Tuna, Almond
Food to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (3+): Corn, White potato

Within each class of foods to which you displayed multiple reactions, the hierarchy of those reactions detected were as follows:

Grains:
Grain toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Corn
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Rice

Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Tuna
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Chicken
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Beef

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Almond
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Walnut

Nightshades:
You displayed immunologic reactivity to white potato, the member of the nightshade family usually consumed most often and in greatest quantities. While this does not necessarily mean you would react to all other nightshade foods (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), it is possible. In the realm of elimination diets for immunologic disorders, nightshades are usually eliminated as the entire food class (i.e., all four previously mentioned foods in this class). This is especially important to the clinical setting of arthritis.

The interpretation was Gluten free, Cow Milk free, Chicken egg free, Soy free diet.

I have been gluten free, cow milk free, rarely egg, and soy free. I have added some gluten free pretzels and crackers. Most gluten free breads tasted pretty bad, so havent done much. I am down to two occasionally three stools a day, with no more watery explosions or nightly accidents. I have been drinking unsweetened almond/coconut milk daily in smoothies. My natural path gave me Digestive Enzymes to take with meals. I have been taking Wobezym N twice a day and removed all Tylenol and Ibuprofen. I thought popcorn was a good treat because it didn't cause diarrhea but did cause gassy, belching. In the beginning, I was loosing so much weight that I was eating tons of cookies and sugar and thinking that was ok. Now when I eat sugar, I do react and I miss it greatly. I worry that my scores are so high that I may not be able to continue on without adding in steroids. My GI doctor has basically written my off because I refused the "B" drugs. She considers what I am doing alternative and she doesn't do that. Any suggestions, thanks Kathy

[tex]

Hello Kathy,

Welcome to the group. Please don't be concerned about your G.I. doctor giving up on you, because if you don't need a prescription, you don't need her, anyway. You can do this without her. You appear to be pretty much on track with your recovery, so I only have a few suggestions to help you get to complete remission, faster. Based on your EnteroLab results, if I were you, and I was concerned about losing weight, I would be using vanilla flavored cashew milk, rather than unsweetened almond milk. Especially since almonds should be avoided or minimized, according to your test results. Popcorn is corn, and it has a very high fiber content, so it should be avoided for those reasons. If you're concerned about gas due to the digestions of certain foods, you should avoid broccoli until you're in remission, because its digestion normally causes a significant amount of gas. Most of us avoid celery while we're recovering, because it has no food value, and it does bother some of us. Brown rice should be minimized because of the relatively high fiber content.

You mentioned being cow milk-free, as if you might be using a substitute such as goat's milk. If you are, please be aware that goats milk is as reactive as cows milk for virtually all of us. The only types of milk that don't cause us to react are milk from the five cameloid species, and equines. You also mentioned rarely eating egg. Note that compared with the rest of us, your reaction score for eggs was very high, making them a no-no for sure.

You aren't missing anything by not eating gluten-free breads, because commercial gluten-free breads have so many ingredients that they cause many of us to react, anyway. We have a much better chance of being able to tolerate them after we've been in remission for a while. Many of us lose a lot of weight while we're reacting. I became so skinny before I figured out how to control this disease, that it was painful to sit in a bathtub and feel my bones poking against my skin on the hard porcelain. The weight will begin to come back as you begin to heal, and your digestion improves.

Your relatively high scores on your test results indicate that you've been reacting to these foods for quite a while, probably a few years. The longer we react to a food, the higher our antibody production level becomes. That doesn't mean that you will need a steroid, it only means that it may take slightly longer for the antibody levels to decay to normal levels. But as long as you're faithful to a safe diet, those antibody levels will slowly decay. We would all prefer to be done with this disease by tomorrow, at the latest, but unfortunately, the reality is, it takes time to heal our digestive system. In cases like yours, the damage has probably been accumulating for years, and damage that extensive can't be healed overnight. But with persistence and dedication, you can definitely control this disease, and get your life back, without the help of any medications. Actually, steroids slow down healing, anyway, so unless you need them in order to help you tolerate the symptoms, you're better off without them, because your digestive system will heal faster without them. You appear to have already healed enough to make using a steroid rather pointless. You're well on your way to recovery.

Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex