New drugs

[Sheila]

Hi Tex,

I haven’t been here for a long time. You, Polly and others helped me reach remission and I’m back again with questions. I’ve been in remission for 10+ years. By remission I mean no diarrhea. My digestion is often problematic but I can live with it. My diet is gluten and soy free and mostly dairy free. I volunteer on the MC Facebook page and have been keeping up with various new diets and treatments.

Recently I started with urgent diarrhea. At first I blamed it on a poor food choice but now I’m wondering if 2 new medications might be the cause. I have Sjögren’s syndrome and am taking Cevimeline for increased saliva production. I’m taking only one capsule a day rather than three a day as prescribed because one of the side effects, profuse sweating, is very uncomfortable and causes changes of clothing etc. At about the same time I started Cevimeline I was prescribed Myrbetriq by a urogynecologist. I asked one doctor if there could be contraindications re taking these drugs at the same time and was told there was no interaction. I also started eating a sheeps milk cheese recently and wonder if that could also be a trigger.

My MC was originally triggered by years of Celebrex, an allergic reaction to Bactrim and probably heredity. My mother also had MC and Sjögren’s. I’m terrified of a relapse.

I’m going to discontinue Cevimeline for the time being. The Myrbetriq is more important to take and I will stick with that now.

Have you heard of either of these drugs causing MC? Could the sheep’s milk cheese be a trigger? I’ve been almost force-feeding myself for the last couple of months because of weight loss. I got a serious sinus infection in April and lost 6 lbs. in two weeks. I’ve been unable to regain the weight over the last 3 months and I’m too thin. Can over eating trigger MC? I’m returning to a stricter Paleo diet and have a supply of budesinide if urgent diarrhea continues. That combination helped with remission in 2011.

Any insight regarding the possible cause of the D will be much appreciated. I’m not at home for the summer and medical care in the North Carolina mountains is problematic.

Thanks for your time and advice and for being here.

Sheila

[SJH]

I have been on Cevimeline for years (twice daily) and I haven't seen any correlation to it as a cause of diarrhea.

[tex]

Hi Sheila,

Sorry that you had to come back here. As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that those two drugs could trigger EMC, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, because there's really not much evidence available, pro or con. In other words, the jury might still be out. Most of us have a serious problem with casein, so if I had to make a guess, I would guess the casein is your problem. Using goat milk products is not a solution, because there's more than enough reactive protein in it to trigger MC. For those who are casein sensitive, the only safe milk is from the camelid family, which consists of camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos, because their milk doesn't contain any reactive casein. True, goat milk contains less of the offensive casein than most cows milk, but using it is like only ingesting a little bit of poison, and expecting everything to be okay.

If you been using any products containing casein over the long term, then your malabsorption problem is why you can't gain weight. Once you stop the inflammation, which should allow your digestive system to heal, you should be able to gain weight again simply by eating safe foods. But you have to be sure that you're taking in enough calories to gain weight, because if you're on a starvation diet, there's no way to gain weight.

Hope this helps,

Tex

[Sheila]

Thanks, Tex.

I’ve definitely overdone the sheeps milk cheese the last 3-4 weeks. No more cheese. No more Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy ice cream either.

I’ve stopped the Cevimeline as an experiment and feel better. I was experiencing side effects and feel better without it.

I lost 6-7 lbs when I was sick and thought i could gain it back easily. I’ve been trying to regain weight for 3 months and despite forcing myself to eat much more than I’m actually comfortable eating, it’s been slow going. I’ve been piling on the calories and managed to regain 3 lbs. That weight is gone and I’m back to square one. I’m your age, Tex. Could it be my advancing age is a factor in weight loss? I’ve only been eating the sheep-milk cheese for about a month.

No major D today, thankfully. I’ll concentrate on a clean diet, primarily modified Paleo, and getting the D under control. After almost 11 years of remission I’m hoping this isn’t the beginning of a relapse. I’ve been complacent about my diet recently and am eating too many grains and too much sugar.

I appreciate your feedback.

Sheila

[tex]

If the casein in the cheese was indeed causing intestinal inflammation, then that's almost surely the reason why extra calories weren't helping you to gain weight. As the inflammation subsides, and your intestines begin to recover, you should become able to gain weight again.

Tex

[Sheila]

Thanks, Tex. Fingers crossed.

[Sheila]

Hello Tex,

You were right, it was the sheep’s milk cheese that caused the D. Combined with eating too many grains and a dash or stress, it was a giant trigger. So despite sheep’s milk being easier to digest, the casein etc is still poison for those of us who cannot tolerate dairy.

This was a wake up call and I’m being more careful with my diet.

Thank you for your help.

Sheila

[tex]

Hello Sheila,

Thank you for posting that update. It's good to know that I'm able to guess correctly, at least once in a while. LOL. Now that you're back on track, I hope you continue to improve.

Happy healing,

Tex