Not much to gripe about these days......

Post by **tex** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:27 pm

Kat wrote:you guys have taught me more than he will ever know. Sad but true.

Wow! Thanks for the compliment! You know, that really is a sad commentary on the state of the knowledgebase of most GI specialists today. It's truly a shame that as a group, they just can't seem to get their ducks in a row, and they seem to classify the few GI docs who are open-minded enough to learn what it takes to keep up with the needs of their patients, as radicals, or quacks, or something equally unsavory. Most of them have a long way to go. <sigh>

Your situation sounds encouraging. Hopefully, in a few days, you'll have things back under control again.

Tex

katinchatt · Post by **katinchatt** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:53 pm

I am ashamed at myself

for not checking in with everyone, and wishing you and yours a wonderful 2009! The first few weeks after Christmas always seem to be such a shock after all the hustle and bustle of December. Where has all the frantic running around gone? I'll tell you, I have much to be thankful for these days. Long story, but after a 4 day flare up in mid-Dec., I'm again symptom free. No meds, no special diet, just normal days and D. I'm beginning to wonder if it was indeed a flare up, and not something I ate, or a bug ~ or ??. Never took the Colazal or tried the Entocort again ~ nearly a month off all meds. I even cancelled my follow-up with my GI a few days back, what's the point? Believe me I know better than to jump & skip this time, but at least I'm not focussing all my days around my MC, and that's a great feeling.

Sad to say . . . the Gingerbread Houses were not constructed this season ~ Sigh ~ I could never get my crew gathered around long enough, or even committed to the task, so my fairy tale village was not a reality. Perhaps this next year we will have it in us to once again continue with the tradition.

Kat
_______________________________________
Happy New Year!!

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:15 pm

Hi Kat,

Quite a few members haven't checked in yet, since the holidays, so I tend to wonder what in the world has happened, but I'm glad to see that your news is all good, (except for the gingerbread village project, of course).

Okay, so are you saying that you are one of those lucky individuals who developed MC from a med, (well, that's not so lucky, of course), but as long as you avoid that med, (I've forgotten exactly which one it was, now - one of the PPIs, wasn't it?), you can sustain remission without any intervention at all? Virtually all the articles on the net that discuss cases such as yours, unanimously conclude that upon withdrawal of the offending med, remission is always attained. Our experience on the board, though, has not been so rosy. It seems that for most of us, once the MC is triggered, it becomes a chronic problem. I'm glad that someone here has finally been able to prove that it does indeed happen, in at least a few cases.

I hope that your "fairy tale" ending to your MC diagnosis, remains valid, so that you never have to deal with it again. You may well be correct, that a bug caused your problems in mid-December. When "normal" people get sick, they blame a bug. When MCers get sick, they immediately assume that they're having a relapse - forgetting that other things can cause D. I guess this disease tends to make us a little paranoid.

It's great to hear that you're doing so well.

Tex

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:58 pm

In a related story:

http://www.cbs46.com/health/18438345/de ... a&psp=news

Tex

katinchatt · Post by **katinchatt** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:52 pm

Howdy Tex!!

Yes, the Salmonella outbreak is scary. Damn CDC, what is there motivation for NOT releasing where this is going on. Someone, somewhere knows the link, they have to! In order for that number of people to have been infected the bottle neck should be pretty small by now. Still, until they do their job, most likely more will get sick. Good old days you would stop eating meat/chicken ~ these days anything that's watered is in danger. So what do we eat now?

I hope like heck I will be one of those few who fully recover from MC by simply removing the source, which was Nexium. I still believe that was my trigger, and that I was caught early, and was cured with just the right amount of Entocort. Of course only time will tell, fingers still crossed and all that. When I went home for Christmas (Indiana) I was shocked to hear that my younger brother is going through the exact same thing. He can't make it to work in the morning without stopping at least once to go to the bathroom. It's been going on for about 6 months and everything he stated he was going through, everyone here could relate to. I wrote down all my info for him and he was going to go home and make an appt. with his GI. He says he has been taking a dozen or so Immodium per day, has lost about 15 lbs. and averages going to the bathroom approx. 20x per day. If he has it too, then I may have to re-think my condition as familial and more likely auto-immune. Don't know, but I'll be very curious to hear his results. I will keep everyone posted. He is a stubborn man, so getting him to follow-up may take some time, but if he suffers long enough at this rate, hopefully it won't take long.
One more thing I found a tad interesting while in Indiana, my Mom showed me my Great Grandfather's obit from
1964 ~ it actually said he died from diarrhea, I thought that was funny, but what a way to go, and then to tell the world.
<<<COUNTRY OF CHOICE ~ for me that will always be Jamaica, I think I must have lived there in a previous life, might have to go change that one ;)

angy · Post by **angy** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:07 pm

oh kat !!hope things get better

:bigbighug:

katinchatt · Post by **katinchatt** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:31 pm

Thanks Angy!

I hope things get better for each and every one of us! Of course life is good & I have much to be thankful for.

Kat

angy · Post by **angy** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:39 pm

luv the avatar

....i luv marshmallows

id be thankful for them lol!!

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:39 pm

That is funny, Kat.

I like your new avatar. I need to pick one..............

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:48 pm

I'm eating them, Angy, with my GF crispy brown rice cereal. Made my own Rice Krispie treats. At first, I used peanut butter instead of butter as Dee suggested (YUMMO) but then I thought too many calories. Now I put 3 marshmallows in a bowl in the microwave with a small tad of water and melt a bit. Next I stir in 1/2 cup of cereal. Tastes pretty good....gooey, though.

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:09 pm

Kat,

The CDC apparently believes that what we don't know, won't hurt us, therefore, they don't want to frighten anyone by confusing us with the facts. If/when a human H5N1 bird flu epidemic gets started in this country, I seriously doubt that we will be able to count on the CDC for reliable, up-to-date information.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_con ... ety_TAIWAN

Your brother might be a celiac, of course, but if he isn't, he almost certainly has an IBD of some type.

The fact is, the connection is genetic. IOW, you couldn't have developed MC from Nexium, if you didn't have at least one of the genes that predispose to MC. Everyone here, I believe, has either two genes that predispose to MC, or two genes that predispose to celiac disease, or one of each. IOW, everyone here would have had to have inherited one of those genes from each parent. Apparently those genes are pretty common. The fact that D was listed as a cause of death for your Great Grandfather, is not a good sign, from a genetic viewpoint.

That's a relaxing avatar.

Tex

angy · Post by **angy** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:15 pm

Joan.!! that sounds scrummy

Im buying a massive bag of marshmallows

tomorrow lol

Tex yknow my nana (gran) had bad bowels she died of b cancer. My dad had bad bowels too. I have the same belching and stomach issues as my dad, except he had hiatis hernia which was diagnosed.Then he was dx with double hernia...IOW if my genes have come from them and they were possibly both suffering from either celiac, colitis or mc among other things which were never dx...

Guess ill never know cos they are both passed...

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:04 pm

Don't over do it and then blame me......MODERATION.

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:17 pm

Angy,

I'm in the same boat that you're in. Both my parents had serious bowel issues, but of course, they wouldn't talk about it, because it wasn't polite to do that, back then, and in those days, docs weren't very good at diagnosing GI issues, anyway. Both an uncle, and my dad, died in a hospital, of massive GI bleeding, and the doctors never did figure out what was wrong with either one of them. My mother had to have surgery to remove a section of her colon, because it was flattened and rigid. They didn't know what caused that, either.

Anyway, in view of all that, it doesn't surprise me that I have GI problems, too.

Tex

angy · Post by **angy** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:31 pm

Sad really isnt it? cos they could probably still be here today, well at least my dad might have been here a little longer if his gut had been sorted out which led to lung cancer i guess that finally killed him..

sorry about your folks tex but hopefully we will live longer eh!!

MICROSCOPIC COLITIS SUPPORT

Not much to gripe about these days......

Thank goodness, it didn't last!