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Tex...you are a prophet in your own time!! why, how on earth did you guess that the doc would not know aobut LC? Amazing!!
He did admit he never heard of it and said he would have to look it up.
His Dx for me is Sjogren's Syndrome....sigh...yet ANOTHER inflammatory autoimmune disease !! So now the lymphocytes are attacking the cells of the exocrine glands that produce moisture in eyes and mouth, etc. Here all this time my dry eyes and mouth were form heart meds....silly me!! plus causing muscle aches and joint pain. I can look on the positive side that it wasn't R.A. or Lupus...altho the jury is not out on the latter he said.
Plan on researching Leaky Gut info that Tex referenced yesterday...(thanx Tex for the reply even before I went to doc....that really helped to be forewarned so my expectations were nil.)
As my youngest DD said, Mom aren't you lucky to have found this great support group?? Oh, yeah!!!
Hang in there my friend! Things will even themselves out with you taking control and monitoring your symptems and triggers and constant research. You will find something to help you eventually - here's hoping that it is sooner than later!
We are here for you to vent with, ask questions of and give support when you need it!
Mars
"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." -- Buddha
same here-----my first GI---said IBS!!!! OK---what runs off from IBS-- was his actions-----then AHA---MCC---OK---what do we do-- again----he then opened a big medical book to show me the page where this foreign doctor dicovered MCC ???
Well--goody said *I*---what does a page in a book do for me---and once again
I was not smart enuf--not *briany* to know how---where---to go to--thats why I stayed with this for years----and then I found Dr.Chapman--in NYC---and got on the road to knowledge---and to add---flounded around (on the puter)until Sally grabbed me-- ---and I found help----and then more so when Galahad regrouped us!!!!
Barbara--still learning from everybodies comments ---
the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control
My doc had two patients with CC when I was dx'd...me being one of them. I pretty much told her what my treatment should be. Thankfully she listened LOL.
I'm only second MC patient my GI has had and he's a pretty well-known doctor around here. I just saw my Internist on Saturday and he hadn't ever heard of MC. Thank goodness for this group.
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
As you can see by the "testimonies" above, I'm not a prophet at all - I was simply playing the odds. Other than GI docs, very few doctors are acquainted with MC, and even a high percentage of GI docs aren't familiar enough with it to be able to properly treat it. When they went to med school, MC was classified as a "rare" disease, (it still is), and very few doctors bother to learn about rare diseases, since they just assume that they will probably never encounter a case during their tenure as a practicing doctor. As Polly can verify, in med school you are taught that when you hear the sound of hoofbeats, you are to assume that the sound is coming from horses, not zebras.
The Sjogren's symptoms may go away after you get your MC symptoms under control, (IOW, a lot of the symptoms of various related autoimmune diseases present only when MC is active). Many of us could have had similar diagnoses, (had we pursued them), before we started our treatment programs to control our MC symptoms. Once our MC is in remission, those other autoimmune issues usually become moot.
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.
Just to reiterate what Tex has said, and to give you some hope, I'll relate my experience.
I began suffering from dry eyes and mouth before my MC diagnosis. I never really went to the doc about it - just figured it was Sjogren's and lived with it and used the artificial tears. Also, for years before MC hit, I was experiencing increasing aches and pains. I chalked it up to aging as well as an old auto accident where I suffered whiplash. It was getting worse and worse -some mornings I was so achy I felt like I was 100 years old!
Guess what!? Once I eliminated gluten and dairy, everything improved. And I mean 100%. I no longer have ANY aches/pains.....this is why I often state that I've never felt better in my life, and it's true. No more problem with the dryness either. Others here have had the same experience. (I think Katy is one who is particularly sensitive to getting aches and pains from gluten).
Hang in there. Better days are ahead, I promise you.
Love,
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
I just saw this post. I had addressed you in another post too. I also have Sjogren's in addition to my RA. It is very common for RA & Sjogren's to go hand in hand, so it is still possible you have RA or enteropathic arthritis. RA tends to affect the body bilaterally. In other words, both wrists, both ankles, both feet, both hips will ache and be painful. I also have severe fatigue. Like I said in my other post, the Arthritis Foundation website is a good resource for both arthritis & sjogren's. The Humira also helps control the Sjogren's, however, in my case, the improvement in my MC did not go along with a like improvement in my RA. You are right though, they are all auto immune & all related. In my case, diet has had no influence in my disease - other than I can't tolerate too much roughage in one week. Though, now that my MC is under such great control, I can eat a lot more salads & apples, etc. I also use the eye drops - Natural Tears - for my eyes & chew gum for the dry mouth per my dentist. Be careful, Sjogren's can make you more susceptible to tooth decay.
Hi Moose....love that name!! interesting what i am learning on this site....the doc did prescribe restasis for the dry eyes...very expensive, but co-pay manageable at leasst this month. frankly i am just overwhlelmed with all of this and if not for the good folks on this board, i don't know what i would do!! i appreciate the added info you gave me on sjogrens and relationship to RA....Sunny
inflammatory autoimmune disease !! So now the lymphocytes are attacking the cells of the exocrine glands that produce moisture in eyes and mouth, etc. Here all this time my dry eyes and mouth were form heart meds....silly me!! plus causing muscle aches and joint pain. I can look on the positive side that it wasn't R.A. or Lupus...altho the jury is not out on the latter he said. 
was his actions-----then AHA---MCC---OK---what do we do--
for years----and then I found Dr.Chapman--in NYC---and got on the road to knowledge---and to add---flounded around (on the puter)until Sally grabbed me-- 
---and I found help----and then more so when Galahad regrouped us!!!!
