Hi y'all, I'm concerned about my diabetes and MC. We know all the symptoms and hell MC produces in our body. Not much has been said about Type 1 diabetes and Microscopic Colitis and what the two diseases combined do to our body. Maybe I missed the comments.
I'm experiencing extreme high blood sugar levels with diabetes. I think the culprit is Microscopic Colitis. My eyes are now blurry and tingling in the feet. I have been attentive and careful with my diabetes to the point of always going on the normal/low side. I had a diabetic low and wrecked my car. Nobody hurt! I hit the curb several times and damaged my car's wheel and hub. I was treated like an alcoholic in the ER at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, SC. It didn't matter that I was wearing a Dexcom and had diabetic information attached to my body. The hospital saw a way to make money off me and performed an ethanol test which I refuse to pay. Law enforcement still throw diabetics in jail and they've died. I love law enforcement, but this has to change. Educate law enforcement on diabetes, for goodness sake! Our waiter said she was diabetic. She's a Type II and didn't know the difference between Type 1 and Type II. I had to explain the difference. Not only at hospitals but the general public at large don't understand diabetes. It's only been around since the beginning of time.
I get long winded, excuse me. Controlling my diabetes has become a feat I can't do, and I think it's MC. I eat no carbs and consume mostly a caveman's diet. That's fine with me...anything to heal my gut. What I am concerned about is my high blood sugar levels. I have delayed high blood sugar readings when I should be normal or low. Something is going on beyond my control. It's MC, like I've said, but I have no idea why it's effecting my diabetes in a negative manner. Could Type 1 diabetics explain this dilemma I'm experiencing? What should I do with my disturbing high blood sugar levels?
When I look back, my father's health was impacted severly with Type 1 diabetes and Microscopic Colitis. He could not control his diabetes! He had lows during the night and EMS was called, but I think he was mostly high and unmanageable.Type 1 Diabetes took him out with a massive stroke at age 50.
I don't want to go down that road. Why do I fight? I'm not going to let Type 1 diabetes and MC take me out. These two autoimmune diseases combined are Toxic!
I need help? How do I control my diabetes with MC? I am getting depressed and thinking death is close by to take me out like my father. I'm going to my endocrinologist next week and will mention this to him. I don't think he's heard of Microscopic Colitis. Not surprised, but he's a fine, smart and caring diabetic doctor. I like him. I see him and not a nurse practitioner. Adding more layers to medicine only confuses everything. Being a RN, I could say more, but won't.
So my plea once more...how do I control my diabetes with MC? I am now scared and thinking complications with diabetes and MC are nearby. Help from a Type 1 diabetic would be appreciated. Thanks, Dorothy Rockwell Olson
Type 1 diabetes and Microscopic Colitis
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Hello Dorthy,
I'm a long way from being an expert on diabetes, but I do understand how it complicates most other health issues that might be present. I'm assuming that you're not using any steroids, since they would exacerbate any problem with hypertension. If you're not certain about your magnesium status, please have your level checked. Ask for a red blood cell (RBC) magnesium test, rather than the serum test that many doctors still order by default, to make sure that your magnesium level is adequate. MC depletes magnesium, and so do many drugs.
The reason why I bring up magnesium is because when I developed a severe magnesium deficiency (as a result of taking multiple back-to-back antibiotic treatments for dental procedures) about 5 years ago, I had most of the symptoms of untreated diabetes, During the day, my systolic BP would be through the roof (180 mmHg or higher). During the wee hours of the morning, I would wake up with rapid heart beat (110-115 bpm), shallow breathing, and very low systolic BP (80 mmHg or below). I would have an urge to urinate about every hour. One morning I couldn't force myself to eat more than a bite or two of breakfast, so I went to the ER. Because I didn't eat much breakfast (and didn't take my supplements) that morning, I still had most of those (nighttime) symptoms when they hooked me up to the monitors in the ER, except that my systolic BP was over 200 mmHg. A few hours later, my blood glucose was 121 mg/dL, despite not having eaten anything in about 18 hours, other than those few bites of egg and bacon. My tests even showed a flagged low serum magnesium test result, and the ER doctors sent me home because they couldn't figure out what might be wrong with me. I was taking an oral magnesium supplement at the time, but it was the wrong kind, and not enough.
Magnesium deficiency compromises not only insulin production, but the body's ability to utilize insulin, as well.
Anyway, I hope that this will help. Hopefully, someone who has actual experience in dealing with a similar issue will respond with some insight.
Tex
I'm a long way from being an expert on diabetes, but I do understand how it complicates most other health issues that might be present. I'm assuming that you're not using any steroids, since they would exacerbate any problem with hypertension. If you're not certain about your magnesium status, please have your level checked. Ask for a red blood cell (RBC) magnesium test, rather than the serum test that many doctors still order by default, to make sure that your magnesium level is adequate. MC depletes magnesium, and so do many drugs.
The reason why I bring up magnesium is because when I developed a severe magnesium deficiency (as a result of taking multiple back-to-back antibiotic treatments for dental procedures) about 5 years ago, I had most of the symptoms of untreated diabetes, During the day, my systolic BP would be through the roof (180 mmHg or higher). During the wee hours of the morning, I would wake up with rapid heart beat (110-115 bpm), shallow breathing, and very low systolic BP (80 mmHg or below). I would have an urge to urinate about every hour. One morning I couldn't force myself to eat more than a bite or two of breakfast, so I went to the ER. Because I didn't eat much breakfast (and didn't take my supplements) that morning, I still had most of those (nighttime) symptoms when they hooked me up to the monitors in the ER, except that my systolic BP was over 200 mmHg. A few hours later, my blood glucose was 121 mg/dL, despite not having eaten anything in about 18 hours, other than those few bites of egg and bacon. My tests even showed a flagged low serum magnesium test result, and the ER doctors sent me home because they couldn't figure out what might be wrong with me. I was taking an oral magnesium supplement at the time, but it was the wrong kind, and not enough.
Magnesium deficiency compromises not only insulin production, but the body's ability to utilize insulin, as well.
Anyway, I hope that this will help. Hopefully, someone who has actual experience in dealing with a similar issue will respond with some insight.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Re: Type 1 diabetes and Microscopic Colitis
Hello: I am writing as the wife of someone who is suffering with type 1 diabetes and MC, just as you are. I just ordered Persky's books to see how we might learn to navigate these two difficult situations. My husband took budenoside last year and it worked but this year it's not working at all so he stopped it. They also prescribed dicyclomine for him which I thought would at least ease the symptoms and it did allow him to sleep well for one night but then we found out it's contraindicated for a vision issue he has (even though I directly asked my pharmacist if that would be ok and he said yes it's fine but it's not) so he can't take that. Seems like only diet is the way to go but while eating rice and fish may help ease symptoms, the rice is terrible for the blood sugars so he has to use a ton of insulin to bring down the high sugars and then when the blood sugar finally comes down, he goes into a danger zone with possible hypoglycemia so to bring it up he relies mostly on juice (glucose tablets don't work well or fast enough) which in turn creates more stomach cramping and plenty of diarrhea. It's a horrible vicious cycle. His sleep was not great because of the type 1 diabetes but now he sleeps even less. I am wondering if anyone has advice for someone suffering from these very difficult diseases? Thanks for any insight. And thanks for this amazing web site it's the only one that really knows what it's talking about. And it's run by non MDs...no surprise there, eh? Thank you.
-EllenK
-EllenK
Re: Type 1 diabetes and Microscopic Colitis
Hello Ellen,
Welcome to the group. As you've found, selecting foods when treating both MC and diabetes concurrently, is a trade-off, because starches that are easier to digest are helpful for most MC patients as we attempt to achieve remission, but they are counterproductive for controlling diabetes. And on the flipside, starches that are more difficult to digest are not as desirable when recovering from MC, but they're definitely preferable for controlling diabetes, which almost surely makes them the best choice when dealing with both issues concurrently.
Incidentally, the problem with most popular fruit juices, as far as MC patients who are still recovering are concerned (those who have not yet reached remission), is that virtually all of us react to significant amounts of citric acid before we reach remission. Alternatives that do not contain citric acid include apples, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, kiwi, pears, raspberries, and others. Watermelon and other melons are also low in citric acid, but they contain other chemicals that cause most MC patients to react, many of them even after they're in remission, so all melons are best avoided, especially while still in recovery.
Your post reminded me that I need to write an article for a future Microscopic Colitis Foundation Newsletter about the difficulties of dealing with diabetes after an MC diagnosis. Dealing with either of these issues is difficult enough without the problems being compounded because of having to deal with both conditions at the same time. You may have already bought my most recent book, The Microscopic Colitis Diet Book, but in case you haven't, here are the most relevant comments in that book that you might find helpful:
I hope this is helpful. Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to the group. As you've found, selecting foods when treating both MC and diabetes concurrently, is a trade-off, because starches that are easier to digest are helpful for most MC patients as we attempt to achieve remission, but they are counterproductive for controlling diabetes. And on the flipside, starches that are more difficult to digest are not as desirable when recovering from MC, but they're definitely preferable for controlling diabetes, which almost surely makes them the best choice when dealing with both issues concurrently.
Incidentally, the problem with most popular fruit juices, as far as MC patients who are still recovering are concerned (those who have not yet reached remission), is that virtually all of us react to significant amounts of citric acid before we reach remission. Alternatives that do not contain citric acid include apples, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, kiwi, pears, raspberries, and others. Watermelon and other melons are also low in citric acid, but they contain other chemicals that cause most MC patients to react, many of them even after they're in remission, so all melons are best avoided, especially while still in recovery.
Your post reminded me that I need to write an article for a future Microscopic Colitis Foundation Newsletter about the difficulties of dealing with diabetes after an MC diagnosis. Dealing with either of these issues is difficult enough without the problems being compounded because of having to deal with both conditions at the same time. You may have already bought my most recent book, The Microscopic Colitis Diet Book, but in case you haven't, here are the most relevant comments in that book that you might find helpful:
Regarding the vision problems, I have no idea what sort of issues he might be having, but I was diagnosed with drusen over 40 years ago, which apparently needs to macular degeneration. However, I've been taking 40 mg of Lutien every day since that diagnosis, and although I'm 81 now, while my vision certainly isn't as good as it was when I was in my 20s, it's still much better, by far, than most people my age. I don't wear glasses, nor do I need them.Certain starches are easier to digest than others.
There are basically two types of starch, amylose and amylopectin. All starchy foods contain a certain percentage of each type. Amylopectin starch is much easier to digest, but it is not soluble in water. Amylose starch is water-soluble. Foods with high amylose content are referred to as high starch foods, and foods with low amylose content are known as low starch foods.
Choose waxy foods, whenever they are an option.
Low starch foods contain high levels of amylopectin, and they're sometimes referred to as waxy foods. The bottom line here is that if we're looking for foods that will be easier to digest while we're recovering, we should choose waxy foods.
Avoid resistant starches.
Beware of foods that contain high levels of starches that are referred to as resistant starches, because resistant starches are not digestible by the human digestive system. Foods in this category are often promoted as diet foods, but they are definitely not friendly foods for MC patients, so they should be avoided when choosing foods for a recovery diet. Since our digestion is compromised by the disease, any foods that are difficult to digest, should definitely be avoided while trying to recover from MC.
Consider these examples of waxy foods.
Red potatoes are much easier to digest than russet potatoes, because russets are rated as high starch potatoes. Russets have a high amylose content. Red potatoes are considered to be waxy potatoes, because they have a high amylopectin content, placing them in the low starch category. Yukon gold potatoes are ranked as medium starch potatoes, so their digestibility lies about midway between the other two examples.
Waxy foods may be poor choices for diabetics.
Easy digestion means rapid digestion. With carbs, rapid digestion means a higher glycemic index, and this may be important to someone who has diabetes. Foods that contain higher amylose levels may be more difficult to digest, but they will prevent spikes in blood sugar, so this should be kept in mind whenever carbohydrates are being selected.
Similar rules apply to food such as rice.
Long grain rice cooks up fluffy, and doesn't tend to stick together, because it has a relatively high amylose content. But this makes it more difficult to digest. Short-grain rice is usually easier to digest, because it contains a higher percentage of amylopectin. Jasmine rice is an exception, because even though it's a long grain rice variety, it contains more amylopectin than most other long grain varieties. But the easiest rice to digest is waxy rice, or what's known as glutinous rice. This rice is usually grown in East or Southeast Asia. It contains the highest amylopectin percentage of all the rice varieties. But as with potatoes, waxy rice may not be a good choice for anyone who has diabetes.
I hope this is helpful. Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.