follow up colonoscopy
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follow up colonoscopy
Well, as some of you may remember I have been in and out of the hospital with pancreatitis a few times. They still haven't figured out what caused either of my episodes but my new GI doctor is running lots of tests. he seemed quite intrigued that i am symptom free from my MC just from a gluten free diet. He did say though that he wanted to do another colonoscopy to see if i still have MC and to make I don't have colon cancer since that is common with MC. I didn't think this ever went away. he also said if I still have it i need to be on medication even if I am symptom free. does any one have any experience with these followup colonoscopies? I don't mind having the colonoscopy but I don't want to have to be on medication for the rest of my life if I don't even have symptoms. Is anyone on this site medication free? I haven't had symptoms in over a year with the gluten free (unless I slip up). Does anyone have any advice I can discuss with my doctor to try not to be on medication. I am 29 years old and don't want to be medicated the rest of my life. Not to mention I can't handle the financial burden of the medication right now. Any advice is appreciated.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a doctor and don't play one on TV
When I told my GI that I was doing pretty well by going GF, she said I could be her test patient. She would rather her patients go GF than be on the medications.
I had been doing great, in fact, I had to eat prunes and drink prune juice to get my sample for EnteroLab. I then started having problems again and tested at EL again and found that I had soy intolerance.
I know this is a Tex question but, IMHO, I would not go on medicines if I were doing well. In fact, I've been fighting like crazy not to go on them at all because of the experiences of the members of this forum. (If it is necessary I will go on them.)
What I've read says colon cancer is not prevalent with MC..........
I had been doing great, in fact, I had to eat prunes and drink prune juice to get my sample for EnteroLab. I then started having problems again and tested at EL again and found that I had soy intolerance.
I know this is a Tex question but, IMHO, I would not go on medicines if I were doing well. In fact, I've been fighting like crazy not to go on them at all because of the experiences of the members of this forum. (If it is necessary I will go on them.)
What I've read says colon cancer is not prevalent with MC..........
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and don't play one on TV.
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
from National Digestive Disease Information Clearing House
Collagenous colitis and lymphocytic colitis do not increase a person’s risk of getting colon cancer.
[Top]
[Top]
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and don't play one on TV.
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
Mayo Clinic
Although other inflammatory diseases of the large intestine such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis increase your likelihood of developing cancer of the colon, there's no evidence that either collagenous colitis or lymphocytic colitis increases the risk of colon cancer or death.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and don't play one on TV.
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
I remember when I first told my GI that I was doing a GF and DF diet to help control my symptoms, he looked at me kinda funny and said, "Well, Lemme know if it works." I told him if I didnt make another apt in the next year he would have his answer. I have not seen a GI doc in over 2.5 years, in the office that is. I actually saw him the other day at the horse races and asked how I was doing. I mentioned that i was still on the GF and DF diet and was working out great- He was happy for me and said he would recommend a diet change for those patients who were having trouble achieving remission.
The Gi doc I had about 4 years ago when all this started said that food had nothing to do with it and to eat whatever I wanted. So obviously there are the two extremes-
1. DR Fine saying, "hey you old school doctors- try something- expand your minds (but not in that funky way you all did it back in the 60s).
And the second being the other DRs who only want to push meds on you and say nothing else will help.
I would agree with your DR in the sense that you will always have MC- at time you may be symptom free but that doesnt mean you dont have it anymore. Eat some gluten and that might trigger another flare-
So in a sense you will always have MC- but you can control your symptoms by doing the diet.
The Gi doc I had about 4 years ago when all this started said that food had nothing to do with it and to eat whatever I wanted. So obviously there are the two extremes-
1. DR Fine saying, "hey you old school doctors- try something- expand your minds (but not in that funky way you all did it back in the 60s).
And the second being the other DRs who only want to push meds on you and say nothing else will help.
I would agree with your DR in the sense that you will always have MC- at time you may be symptom free but that doesnt mean you dont have it anymore. Eat some gluten and that might trigger another flare-
So in a sense you will always have MC- but you can control your symptoms by doing the diet.
Dr Fine test shows positive for gluten and casien but negative for soy, eggs, and yeast
Maybe its UC maybe its MC? Who knows at this point, but at least I know my intollerances now... so heres to the road to healing!
Maybe its UC maybe its MC? Who knows at this point, but at least I know my intollerances now... so heres to the road to healing!
Jen,
A lot of us here are controlling our symptoms by diet alone.
It's pretty clear to me that he is curious to see whether or not the GF diet can actually "cure" MC, and he sees you as a "guinea pig". He figured that if he told you all that BS about colon cancer being common for MC patients, and that you needed to be taking meds, if your biopsy samples still show a histology of MC, then you wouldn't hesitate to agree to another colonoscopy.
If you are symptom-free, your MC is definitely under control, and whether or not you might happen to have any of the markers still present in your colon, is irrelevant. If you agree to go through with it, and he can't find any evidence of MC, his next suggestion will probably be for you to do a gluten challenge, to see if the symptoms return , and then he will want to do another colonoscopy, to confirm it. Then, of course, he will want to see if the diet will once again allow you to attain remission, and he'll want to do another colonoscopy to confirm that. That way, he can write an article about your case, and get it published in a prestigious medical journal. I could be totally wrong, of course, but IMO, he just wants to use you to learn about MC.
Unless your family has a history of colon cancer, since you're not over 50 years of age, and you're symptom free, (as far as MC is concerned), I see no reason why you would benefit from a colonoscopy exam at this point. After the age of 50, a colonoscopy exam to screen for colon cancer is recommended every ten years. That's a long time from now.
A colonoscopy is a very expensive, and a very intrusive exam, (and it's certainly not a risk-free procedure), just to be done simply to satisfy a doctor's curiosity, (or provide him with material to publish a medical research article). If he wants to do research on you, he should be paying you, not the other way around. If he had been honest with you, it would be a different matter, but either he doesn't know the differences between Crohn's disease, UC, and MC, or he told a big white lie, to persuade you to agree to another colonoscopy exam. Either way, that would make me uneasy.
Tex
A lot of us here are controlling our symptoms by diet alone.
Joan is correct. There is no evidence that MC is connected with any increased risk of colon cancer. Untreated gluten sensitivity, however, does indeed carry an increased of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, just as untreated celiac disease does. The proper treatment to prevent an increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, however, is not medication - it's a gluten-free diet, just as you are doing. There is no evidence that medication will reduce the risk, since it only treats the symptoms, not the cause of the problem.jen051279 wrote:He did say though that he wanted to do another colonoscopy to see if i still have MC and to make I don't have colon cancer since that is common with MC. I didn't think this ever went away. he also said if I still have it i need to be on medication even if I am symptom free.
It's pretty clear to me that he is curious to see whether or not the GF diet can actually "cure" MC, and he sees you as a "guinea pig". He figured that if he told you all that BS about colon cancer being common for MC patients, and that you needed to be taking meds, if your biopsy samples still show a histology of MC, then you wouldn't hesitate to agree to another colonoscopy.
If you are symptom-free, your MC is definitely under control, and whether or not you might happen to have any of the markers still present in your colon, is irrelevant. If you agree to go through with it, and he can't find any evidence of MC, his next suggestion will probably be for you to do a gluten challenge, to see if the symptoms return , and then he will want to do another colonoscopy, to confirm it. Then, of course, he will want to see if the diet will once again allow you to attain remission, and he'll want to do another colonoscopy to confirm that. That way, he can write an article about your case, and get it published in a prestigious medical journal. I could be totally wrong, of course, but IMO, he just wants to use you to learn about MC.
Unless your family has a history of colon cancer, since you're not over 50 years of age, and you're symptom free, (as far as MC is concerned), I see no reason why you would benefit from a colonoscopy exam at this point. After the age of 50, a colonoscopy exam to screen for colon cancer is recommended every ten years. That's a long time from now.
A colonoscopy is a very expensive, and a very intrusive exam, (and it's certainly not a risk-free procedure), just to be done simply to satisfy a doctor's curiosity, (or provide him with material to publish a medical research article). If he wants to do research on you, he should be paying you, not the other way around. If he had been honest with you, it would be a different matter, but either he doesn't know the differences between Crohn's disease, UC, and MC, or he told a big white lie, to persuade you to agree to another colonoscopy exam. Either way, that would make me uneasy.
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.
There is no evidence that MC increases your chances of getting colon cancer that I am aware of nor have read here.
There are many here who control their symptoms with diet alone - no medication of any kind!
I wish you luck in your continued road to wellness - if you're doing fine without meds, I don't see the need to take them "just because" blah, blah, blah!!
You know your own body - if something is working, there is no need to fix it!
Love,
Mars
There are many here who control their symptoms with diet alone - no medication of any kind!
I wish you luck in your continued road to wellness - if you're doing fine without meds, I don't see the need to take them "just because" blah, blah, blah!!
You know your own body - if something is working, there is no need to fix it!
Love,
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
Jen,
My GI is making a similar request through letters. I ignored the first letter asking me to have another colonoscopy and just this week, I received a reminder letter. I don't see any reason to have another colonoscopy, especially since I had one two years ago, another one 18 months ago and a sigmoidoscopy 16 months ago. Nothing other than diviterculosis and MC were found.
I have an appointment with my GI next Wednesday, primarily to tell him that I've achieved remission by following a GF, EF, CF, and legume-free diet. I'm going to ask him why I'm getting the letters about a colonoscopy. I have a feeling that he's curious, just like your GI. It will be interesting to see if he still thinks a colonoscopy is in order once he finds out I'm in remission. After the last round of GoLitely, I vowed that I wouldn't go through that again for at least 10 more years, if then.
I agree with Tex. I think your GI is curious and is using you as his guinea pig. If your previous colonoscopy was normal, other than the MC, there's no reason to have another this soon. He's showing his ignorance by intimidating you with a cancer warning.
Gloria
My GI is making a similar request through letters. I ignored the first letter asking me to have another colonoscopy and just this week, I received a reminder letter. I don't see any reason to have another colonoscopy, especially since I had one two years ago, another one 18 months ago and a sigmoidoscopy 16 months ago. Nothing other than diviterculosis and MC were found.
I have an appointment with my GI next Wednesday, primarily to tell him that I've achieved remission by following a GF, EF, CF, and legume-free diet. I'm going to ask him why I'm getting the letters about a colonoscopy. I have a feeling that he's curious, just like your GI. It will be interesting to see if he still thinks a colonoscopy is in order once he finds out I'm in remission. After the last round of GoLitely, I vowed that I wouldn't go through that again for at least 10 more years, if then.
I agree with Tex. I think your GI is curious and is using you as his guinea pig. If your previous colonoscopy was normal, other than the MC, there's no reason to have another this soon. He's showing his ignorance by intimidating you with a cancer warning.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Ditto to all of the above!
My last colonoscopy was a year ago and my GI told me the results were clean - no sign of MC or any other problems. He followed that with his advice to continue my GF diet! (He was the one who originally told me he would guarantee the GF diet would not help me, but it also would not hurt, so I could do it if it would make me feel better!)
As many of us have said, we who suffer(ed) with MC, study it and treat it (ourselves) really do know more than docs who have hundreds of patients with a multitude of disease processes they need to know about. We are the experts here!
Keep up the good work!
G'ma Mary
My last colonoscopy was a year ago and my GI told me the results were clean - no sign of MC or any other problems. He followed that with his advice to continue my GF diet! (He was the one who originally told me he would guarantee the GF diet would not help me, but it also would not hurt, so I could do it if it would make me feel better!)
As many of us have said, we who suffer(ed) with MC, study it and treat it (ourselves) really do know more than docs who have hundreds of patients with a multitude of disease processes they need to know about. We are the experts here!
Keep up the good work!
G'ma Mary
Those who are not part of the solution, are part of the problem.
I can't believe I forgot
to raise the 
for your doctor.
for your doctor.DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and don't play one on TV.
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
Thanks for all of your advice. I guess the main reason I was considering it is because when I was in the hospital the GI there suggested it as well even though I was likely to never see him again. I know it is an expensive test and I don't plan on continuing to do them. I do know that if I eat gluten the D starts up again so I know the sensitivity is still there. If I need to do this test though I want to do it this year beause right now my medical insurance is paying for everythine