Help Please!

[emlepage1]

Hello,

I am looking for some advice. I was diagnosed with CC several years ago and thankfully on one hand I am doing so much better than I was back then in regard to symptoms however I still struggle with inflammation. My stools are generally once per day and are formed however there is still a lot of mucous. I also have hand inflammation and dark circles under my eyes. I did the Entero lab stool test three years ago and came up sensitive to just about everything.

Currently my diet is super limited, but I am hoping maybe someone could help me pinpoint what might be holding back my full recovery.

Breakfast: 2 eggs with frozen blueberries and sometimes a few frozen dark cherries and raspberry, once in a while a strawberry or two.

Lunch: Buckwheat waffle (2 eggs with 1/4 c buckwheat flour 1 t olive oil), sometimes cooked peeled zucchini and carrots

Dinner: sometimes the same as lunch sometimes I will have cooked peeled zucchini and carrots with a piece of salmon or turkey burger and buckwheat waffle made with one egg.
I have recently at times added raw arugula and I do sometimes snack on the raw peeled zucchini and carrot while cooking. I do at times have a cup of frozen blueberries after lunch or dinner.

Last weekend I did cave and ate about half to 3/4 of dark chocolate bar so I am thinking maybe that is still in my system because I have had a horrible week in terms of inflammation. ( mucus and hand inflammation )

Also, I am taking a GI binder which I guess is why am not having diarrhea however obviously I am not achieving decreased inflammation.

I hope this is okay to post. I am feeling desperate.
Also just moved to Northern Idaho from Maine and have not found a GI doctor if there are any suggestions on that.

I guess I am wondering if the fruit is a problem or other. I just don't know what to eat and I spend so much time cooking the vegetables and these buckwheat waffles.

Oh, another big factor could be that I usually drink Matcha tea in the morning or black tea which I do know are both high in histamine. I am trying to get off of this however the caffeine helps me function and also seems to help my GI system in the morning, Unfortunately I do not do well on coffee.

I have very bad mast cell histamine issues and take Quercitrin daily for this.

Help!

Thank you,
Elaine

[Gabes-Apg]

Hi there Elaine

my first observation of your eating plan is there is not enough protein - namely animal protein
Second observation is having berries - for many especially in first stage of healing the combo of the sugars, fibre etc would be inflammatory
Third observation is the raw veggies while cooking - the fibre content of this would be inflammatory

even with years of healing I can not tolerate raw vegetables or salad without reacting

Are you taking Vit D3 and magnesium - this will help with lowering inflammation and helping the body to heal
regarding the histamine situation - anti histamines can be helpful for many, albeit to treat root cause and help body to balance histamine nutrients such as B6 (in active form as P5P) and magnesium balance histamine in the body.

regarding the cooking requirement - there are lots of MC safe time saving options available.

Using a slow cooker to cook meat and vegetables together - bulk batch. I do this and it provides weeks worth of lunches.
(this can be soup or stew/casserole)
Baking meats and vegetables together - again cooking extra to provide additional supplies for a breakfast or two. I do large batches of roast vegetables and then reheat them with eggs or other protein as my breakfast.
making things like frittata with safe ingredients (meat, eggs, and vegetables cooked together). this can be eaten cold or warmed

I work full time, so having my safe meals prepared for the week (as I can't cook at work only reheat) makes it easier.

Hope this helps

[emlepage1]

Hello Gabes,

I really can't tell you how much I appreciate your response, just to have someone who can relate means so much.

I do take vitamin D , and in regard to Magnesium I have not been taking magnesium on a regular basis, I do own Magnesium Citrate however whenever I take it (usually I would take it at night before bed) I seem to have more inflammation in my joints the next day and also sometimes I get diarrhea, I am not sure why because the brand is Pure Encapsulations and there are not many additives. I have been trying to take Epsom Salt baths but not that much lately.

I take B Complex however not sure if it is s B6 (in active form as P5P).

Thank you for the cooking tips. I am considering purchasing an instant pot because I read using the croc pot, slow cooking increases the histamine in food.

I cut back on meat because I had a yeast infection in my mouth and I read that meat causes acidity in the body and could foster the yeast growth.

Do you have any suggestions for safe grains or carbs? I don't tolerate sweet potato, potato or most other starchy vegetables. I mostly just use the buckwheat flour.

Thank you again for your time. I so appreciate it. I feel as though my life is consumed with researching health related issues. I have to find a diet that works and be content with it.

Thank you,
Elaine

[Gabes-Apg]

Some forms of magnesium and having too much at the one time can cause diarrhoea

Glyncinate is a safer form.
I use magnesium oil as a spray and find this works better than taking oral magnesium

in regards the slow cooker and histamine. There might be small amounts of histamine but if you freeze what you cook into meal size portions and reheat to eat, this minimises histamine.
one aspect in MC world for our mental and emotional stability, we can't do everything 100% perfect, 100% of the time.
the balance of settlement of life with MC is doing the best we can, majority of the time.
having healthy meals pre-prepared is far less stressful than the small amount of histamine.
(and we need a small amount of histamine for balanced digestion)

My regular vegetables are sweet potato, cauliflower, parsnip, carrots
I can have small serves of potato weekly
I can have small services broccoli or asparagus once a fortnight
early days of healing and even now if I am unwell with other things, rice and chicken cooked in home made bone broth is my 'safe healing meal'

these days for me as limiting excess weight is an issue, I prefer veggies over rice as veggies have more nutritional benefit than rice

hope this helps

[tex]

Hello Elaine,

Oops! Gabes was apparently writing at the same time I was, so she's already covered a lot of what's in my post. Please just disregard whatever is redundant in my post, to save me the trouble of rewriting it.

Welcome to the group. Gabes has covered most of your questions, so I'll concentrate on what you asked in your last post. Taking vitamin D may not help much, if you are magnesium deficient, simply because magnesium is necessary in order to activate vitamin D so that the body can use it. MC depletes magnesium, just as it depletes vitamin D. Magnesium citrate is well absorbed, but it's a form of magnesium that's sometimes used as a laxative. Most of us take magnesium glycinate, because it's also well absorbed, and it's the least likely form of magnesium to cause diarrhea.

If you're unable to take magnesium glycinate without having diarrhea, you may have to use topical applications of magnesium oil, or magnesium lotion, in order to build up your ability to tolerate magnesium supplements, so that you will eventually be able to tolerate oral forms of magnesium supplements. When we become severely magnesium deficient, we may also become unable to absorb magnesium normally, because magnesium and insulin are codependent, and when magnesium is chronically deficient, the body begins to develop insulin resistance, which then makes it difficult to tolerate normal amounts of magnesium, and can also cause the symptoms of prediabetes. And oral magnesium supplements that are not absorbed properly, remain in the colon, and can cause diarrhea, for some of us.

Also, based on my own personal experience (I have serious high issues, also), I've noticed that grapes, berries, and as Gabes has pointed out, some vegetables contain more fiber than I can tolerate, especially grapes and berries, because their surface area to volume is so much greater, and most of the fiber is in the outer appeal, or pericarp. Also, many of them contain sugar alcohols, and sorbitol, especially, causes me to have diarrhea if I eat more than just a very few grapes, for example. Our immune system doesn't create antibodies to fiber, but fiber irritates the already hypersensitive lining of our colon, which can perpetuate the inflammation. If you need to consider alternative means in order to get more protein, you might benefit from reviewing a newsletter published by the Microscopic Colitis Foundation a couple of years ago. For your convenience, here's a direct link where you can read or downloaded a copy of that newsletter:

https://www.microscopiccolitisfoundatio ... 479987.pdf

I hope this helps. Again, welcome to the group, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

[emlepage1]

Thank you very much Tex, super helpful information. I am going to definitely get the magnesium and review the information in the link.

Is it possible for a food to not cause diarrhea or symptoms however still be damaging to the gut? I tolerate the berries, but I just wonder if maybe they are causing problems even though I am not noticing it.

I am so grateful for this forum.

Thank you!

Elaine

[tex]

It's impossible to predict in individual cases, but sure, it's very common to be able to tolerate certain foods, even though they are damaging the intestines. Many celiacs, for example, are asymptomatic (have no clinical symptoms), and yet they have the intestinal damage to prove that they are (biopsy-proven) celiacs. In my own case, I have absolutely no digestive problems (as far as I can tell) when I eat ice cream, or any other milk-based food. But a stool test at Enterolab proves that my digestive system is producing antibodies against casein, and after a couple of weeks or so of ingesting casein, the knuckles of my hands slowly become red and swollen, and my fingers began growing crooked and twisted, proving that casein causes the symptoms of osteoarthritis, at least in my case.

That said, berries cannot cause the same symptoms as casein or gluten, because our immune systems cannot produce antibodies against carbs. Therefore they cannot cause the infiltration of lymphocytes into the epithelia of our colon the way that gluten and casein can, they can only irritate our gut by rubbing on it, which does cause inflammation, but it's at a much lower level. In other words the inflammation caused by too much fiber can prevent us from reaching remission, but once we get the disease into remission, we are again eventually able to tolerate normal amounts of fiber without a relapse (after some healing), whereas the ingestion of gluten or casein, for example, would definitely lead to a relapse, if continued.

Tex

[emlepage1]

Thank you again Tex, I really appreciate it. I need to really remember this. I do well off of dairy for the most part but every few months I seem to lose my self-control and have ice cream. I need to remember the damage that it is doing.

Thank you,
Elaine

[tex]

Remember, dairy is only causing damage if your immune system is producing antibodies against casein, which your Enterolab results should show. If your immune system is not producing antibodies against casein, you should be fine with dairy products, with one caveat — while our digestive system is inflamed, we are lactose intolerant. After we reach remission, lactose is no longer a problem. Lactose intolerance doesn't cause inflammation, but it causes diarrhea, due to the inability to digest the lactose in dairy products.

Tex

[emlepage1]

Thank you, Tex, yes unfortunately my Entero Lab test came back that I was sensitive to dairy and everything else.

Thank you Gabes for the information on the crock pot and the magnesium. I definitely need to start batch cooking.

Again, it is just so wonderful to have support here, it means so much.

Elaine