I'd always had small problems over the years with my bowels, particularly during
my monthly cycle. Then came menopause, I started exercising and following a low fat
high fiber diet, I also started taking almost daily motrin due to joint pain from weight lifting.
Over the past 4 yrs I have suffered from ever increasing loose stools, gas, bloating, at times my stools
smelled resistively foul. At that time my doctor ran stool cultures that came back negative but he
treated me for C-dif with flagyl . I actually felt better for awhile but within weeks the big D was back.
I haven't lost any weight, I had several tests for occult blood that came back negative but am at the point
that I will be in the bathroom anywhere from 3-10 times per day with watery, large explosive stools.
I can't describe a watershed type event that kicked all this off but can say that I took Zoloft for 6 months along
with a 6 month course of Prempro and a couple rounds of antibiotics for various reasons during this time frame.
I googled my situation and read a page about microscopic colitis and it was like it described my life. I have a family
history of psoriasis, asthma and allergies, I myself struggle with allergies, asthma and alopecia
I started the high dose Pepto bismol treatment a few days ago just to give myself some relief and to my amazement this is
the best I have felt in a couple of years. I only went to the restroom once today, that hasn't happened in years.
What do I tell my doctor so that I am not dismissed as yet another menopausal hypochondriac woman ?
My life
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Welcome to the Board, Bellyup!! 
I'm sure Tex will be along to offer his insight soon.
It's surprising that your doctor (is he a GI?) hasn't taken a biopsy of your sigmoid colon. That's the gold standard for proof of MC. The most common prescription for MC beside Pepto Bismol is Entocort EC, a corticosteroid. Unless also accompanied by dietary treatment, most treatments involving medications will not permanently resolve your MC. The diarrhea quickly returns after stopping the medications because they treat the symptoms, not the disease.
I never lost any weight due to my MC either. That usually means that you don't have any malabsorption problems, which provides some small comfort.
Most of us don't know for sure what brought about our MC. Hopefully someday there will be definitive answers, but for now we have to focus on how to get relief from the D.
If you read this site, you will find that the majority of us have to eliminate gluten and casein (dairy). If that doesn't bring remission, 50% of us also have to remove all traces of soy in our diet. Some of us use a combination of diet and medication and some use diet alone. It's helpful to keep a food/elimination diary to help determine what foods are causing your reactions.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but you will get better and you will get your life back.
Gloria
I'm sure Tex will be along to offer his insight soon.
It's surprising that your doctor (is he a GI?) hasn't taken a biopsy of your sigmoid colon. That's the gold standard for proof of MC. The most common prescription for MC beside Pepto Bismol is Entocort EC, a corticosteroid. Unless also accompanied by dietary treatment, most treatments involving medications will not permanently resolve your MC. The diarrhea quickly returns after stopping the medications because they treat the symptoms, not the disease.
I never lost any weight due to my MC either. That usually means that you don't have any malabsorption problems, which provides some small comfort.
Most of us don't know for sure what brought about our MC. Hopefully someday there will be definitive answers, but for now we have to focus on how to get relief from the D.
If you read this site, you will find that the majority of us have to eliminate gluten and casein (dairy). If that doesn't bring remission, 50% of us also have to remove all traces of soy in our diet. Some of us use a combination of diet and medication and some use diet alone. It's helpful to keep a food/elimination diary to help determine what foods are causing your reactions.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but you will get better and you will get your life back.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Hi Gloria,
I also have a history of episodes of unexplained hives. It might seem crazy but it
seems that the Big D is worse on days when my nasal allergies are at their worst.
When I was a kid, I had scratch tests for allergies, my back looked like somebody took a whip
to me I had so many reactions.
My doctor is nice but I have what seems like such a lengthy laundry list of symptoms
that it seems like I get dismissed.
I'm an otherwise healthy woman who is now afraid to leave the house most days
unless I know the exact location of every restroom in the area where I am going.
I stopped drinking soy milk totally, I've also stopped raw veggies and even cooked veggies like brussel
sprouts, beans and broccolli. I can't eat salad at all, I swear I thought I was going to die after the last salad I
ate.
I also have a history of episodes of unexplained hives. It might seem crazy but it
seems that the Big D is worse on days when my nasal allergies are at their worst.
When I was a kid, I had scratch tests for allergies, my back looked like somebody took a whip
to me I had so many reactions.
My doctor is nice but I have what seems like such a lengthy laundry list of symptoms
that it seems like I get dismissed.
I'm an otherwise healthy woman who is now afraid to leave the house most days
unless I know the exact location of every restroom in the area where I am going.
I stopped drinking soy milk totally, I've also stopped raw veggies and even cooked veggies like brussel
sprouts, beans and broccolli. I can't eat salad at all, I swear I thought I was going to die after the last salad I
ate.
Hi Bellyup,
Welcome to our internet family. Has your doctor tested you for celiac disease? It's possible that you're a celiac, which is much simpler to treat than MC.
To rule out MC, just tell your doctor that you have the symptoms of microscopic colitis, and ask him or her to refer you to a GI doc, to have a colonoscopy done, with biopsies, in order to either confirm MC, or rule it out. If you do indeed have MC, (which you very well might), the most likely cause is the daily treatment with Motrin, but MC is also commonly caused by treatment with oral antibiotics, and various other meds. Even stopping a long-term smoking habit can trigger it.
Again, welcome to the board, and please feel free to ask anything.
EDIT:
In view of your second post, I'd say the odds of you having MC are pretty high. You might also have celiac disease, but it would be secondary to MC, and if you control the MC by diet changes, the celiac symptoms would be completely resolved, also.
Your allergy symptoms are very relevant. You probably also have mast cell involvement. You can treat this on your own, but if you want, or need, a script for medications, you will need a diagnosis, and if you decide to pursue a diagnosis, ask your GI doctor to ask the pathologist who examines your biopsy slides, to order the special stain, that's necessary in order to check for mastocytic enterocolitis, while they're looking for MC. They can use the same slides, and after the pathologist checks them for MC, he or she can re-stain them with the special stain needed to make the mast cells visible under the microscope.
http://thefooddoc.blogspot.com/2008/02/ ... demic.html
Tex (Wayne)
Welcome to our internet family. Has your doctor tested you for celiac disease? It's possible that you're a celiac, which is much simpler to treat than MC.
To rule out MC, just tell your doctor that you have the symptoms of microscopic colitis, and ask him or her to refer you to a GI doc, to have a colonoscopy done, with biopsies, in order to either confirm MC, or rule it out. If you do indeed have MC, (which you very well might), the most likely cause is the daily treatment with Motrin, but MC is also commonly caused by treatment with oral antibiotics, and various other meds. Even stopping a long-term smoking habit can trigger it.
Again, welcome to the board, and please feel free to ask anything.
EDIT:
In view of your second post, I'd say the odds of you having MC are pretty high. You might also have celiac disease, but it would be secondary to MC, and if you control the MC by diet changes, the celiac symptoms would be completely resolved, also.
Your allergy symptoms are very relevant. You probably also have mast cell involvement. You can treat this on your own, but if you want, or need, a script for medications, you will need a diagnosis, and if you decide to pursue a diagnosis, ask your GI doctor to ask the pathologist who examines your biopsy slides, to order the special stain, that's necessary in order to check for mastocytic enterocolitis, while they're looking for MC. They can use the same slides, and after the pathologist checks them for MC, he or she can re-stain them with the special stain needed to make the mast cells visible under the microscope.
http://thefooddoc.blogspot.com/2008/02/ ... demic.html
Tex (Wayne)
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.
Is it common to get to 52 years of age before getting celiac disease? I'm thinking of asking him about MC, celiac disease and Mastocytic Enterocolitis as to me there seems to be a huge connection between my nasal/respiratory allergy symptoms and my bowel problem.. I'm constantly sneezing, coughing, rubbing my eyestex wrote:Hi Bellyup,
Welcome to our internet family. Has your doctor tested you for celiac disease? It's possible that you're a celiac, which is much simpler to treat than MC.
To rule out MC, just tell your doctor that you have the symptoms of microscopic colitis, and ask him or her to do a colonoscopy with biopsies, in order to either confirm it, or rule it out. If you do indeed have MC, (which you very well might), the most likely cause is the daily treatment with Motrin, but MC is also commonly caused by treatment with oral antibiotics, and various other meds. Even stopping a long-term smoking habit can trigger it.
Again, welcome to the board, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex (Wayne)
and dealing with a post nasal drip, on days when those allergy symptoms are really bad, so is the big D.
I totally avoid motrin products now, I use tylenol only.
oh and thank you for the welcome, I have felt so alone with all of this for so long.
Bellyup,
I was editing my post about the time that you responded again, to add information about ME, so please re-read my post, if you didn't see the part about ME the first time.
Yes, it is common for celiac disease to become activated at virtually any age. If you have MC and/or ME, though, celiac disease is sort of a moot point, because MC usually involves the small intestine, also, with a slightly different type of inflammation. The diet that many of us use for MC, will also resolve celiac symptoms, if you should test positive for celiac disease. Be aware though, that most doctors, (including GI docs), are not aware that MC can be controlled by diet alone, and they will argue to the contrary, until they're blue in the face.
Tex
I was editing my post about the time that you responded again, to add information about ME, so please re-read my post, if you didn't see the part about ME the first time.
Yes, it is common for celiac disease to become activated at virtually any age. If you have MC and/or ME, though, celiac disease is sort of a moot point, because MC usually involves the small intestine, also, with a slightly different type of inflammation. The diet that many of us use for MC, will also resolve celiac symptoms, if you should test positive for celiac disease. Be aware though, that most doctors, (including GI docs), are not aware that MC can be controlled by diet alone, and they will argue to the contrary, until they're blue in the face.
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.
I'll tell you that my life has gotten smaller and smaller when all this first started I'd alternate with constipationtex wrote:Bellyup,
I was editing my post about the time that you responded again, to add information about ME, so please re-read my post, if you didn't see the part about ME the first time.
Yes, it is common for celiac disease to become activated at virtually any age. If you have MC and/or ME, though, celiac disease is sort of a moot point, because MC usually involves the small intestine, also, with a slightly different type of inflammation. The diet that many of us use for MC, will also resolve celiac symptoms, if you should test positive for celiac disease. Be aware though, that most doctors, (including GI docs), are not aware that MC can be controlled by diet alone, and they will argue to the contrary, until they're blue in the face.
Tex
on those days at least I could get some things done, it seems since early this fall though that I just have the big
D and some days it's pretty bad, I'm running to the restroom at my job so often that I'm afraid people
are going to think I'm drinking or using drugs on the sly.
Btw, this doesn't happen with every bowel movement but sometimes in addition to the Big D
my stool smells postivly foul.
My whole life it seems is centered around restroom issues and it's so isolating :(
FWIW, outside of a non-stop D marathon when my symptoms first started in earnest, I had a regular pattern of alternating D and C. I would have maybe a week of good health, followed by progressively worse D, nausea, loud rumbling in the gut, (characteristic of all IBDs, and celiac disease), bloating, extreme gut pain, for a few days, and then a few days of C, (usually beginning with 2 or 3 days of no BMs at all, and then after maybe a couple more days of C, I might have a week of normal BMs again. Then it would start all over.
The foul odor is due to the malabsorption of fat, IOW, fat in the stool, (known as steatorrhea, in medical circles), rather than it being absorbed in the small intestine. It's a classic marker of celiac disease, also. A typical celiac BM, tends to be sort of grey-green in color, mostly floats, and as grannyH would say, would knock a buzzard off a garbage truck, half a mile away. If you have steatorrhea, most of your vitamins are in there with it, because most vitamins are fat soluble, which makes us vulnerable to anemia, and other vitamin deficiency issues.
Tex
The foul odor is due to the malabsorption of fat, IOW, fat in the stool, (known as steatorrhea, in medical circles), rather than it being absorbed in the small intestine. It's a classic marker of celiac disease, also. A typical celiac BM, tends to be sort of grey-green in color, mostly floats, and as grannyH would say, would knock a buzzard off a garbage truck, half a mile away. If you have steatorrhea, most of your vitamins are in there with it, because most vitamins are fat soluble, which makes us vulnerable to anemia, and other vitamin deficiency issues.
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.
I don't get the foul odor all the time but when I do it's really bad, it's hard to tell about floating stool because these episodestex wrote:FWIW, outside of a non-stop D marathon when my symptoms first started in earnest, I had a regular pattern of alternating D and C. I would have maybe a week of good health, followed by progressively worse D, nausea, loud rumbling in the gut, (characteristic of all IBDs, and celiac disease), bloating, extreme gut pain, for a few days, and then a few days of C, (usually beginning with 2 or 3 days of no BMs at all, and then after maybe a couple more days of C, I might have a week of normal BMs again. Then it would start all over.
The foul odor is due to the malabsorption of fat, IOW, fat in the stool, (known as steatorrhea, in medical circles), rather than it being absorbed in the small intestine. It's a classic marker of celiac disease, also. A typical celiac BM, tends to be sort of grey-green in color, mostly floats, and as grannyH would say, would knock a buzzard off a garbage truck, half a mile away. If you have steatorrhea, most of your vitamins are in there with it, because most vitamins are fat soluble, which makes us vulnerable to anemia, and other vitamin deficiency issues.
Tex
tend to be huge, explosive bm's that fill the toilet bowl with brown water, I also tend to have a TON of gas sometimes, my gut rumbles so loudly
that it can be heard across the room.
Dear Bellyup
Welcome (and what a good name!). I was Dx MC aged 54. For me it seemed to start with flu like symptoms; a fever with congestion and inflammation moving progressively down from from nose and throat to my chest. Then the fever and congestion cleared up, but the D stayed.
Looking back, however, it was probably not just a sudden thing. IMO it was probably progressively building up (at least from my mid forties) with intermittent bouts of D, all "cured"
with antibiotics.
(I just did a quick count and, unless I am mistaken, you are the 159th person to have joined PP so far this year.)
All best wishes for your journey to remission. Ant
Welcome (and what a good name!). I was Dx MC aged 54. For me it seemed to start with flu like symptoms; a fever with congestion and inflammation moving progressively down from from nose and throat to my chest. Then the fever and congestion cleared up, but the D stayed.
Looking back, however, it was probably not just a sudden thing. IMO it was probably progressively building up (at least from my mid forties) with intermittent bouts of D, all "cured"
with antibiotics. This support group is a lifesaver. When you find it you are no longer alone.I have felt so alone with all of this for so long.
(I just did a quick count and, unless I am mistaken, you are the 159th person to have joined PP so far this year.)
All best wishes for your journey to remission. Ant
Welcome Bellyup, so glad you found this forum, you have come to the right place.
And yes indeed..where's the nearest bathroom?!?! I can so relate to you running to the bathroom at work, I work in a huge office building, 3 floors, plus a basement, where I work. Anway, I'd run all over the place using different bathrooms through out the day..God forbid there would be anybody in there when I had to go.
I am in remission now, but I feel your pain! You should have a good chance of getting a diagnosis, you are the prime age and sex for a GI to be looking for, and suspecting, MC.
Deb
And yes indeed..where's the nearest bathroom?!?! I can so relate to you running to the bathroom at work, I work in a huge office building, 3 floors, plus a basement, where I work. Anway, I'd run all over the place using different bathrooms through out the day..God forbid there would be anybody in there when I had to go.
I am in remission now, but I feel your pain! You should have a good chance of getting a diagnosis, you are the prime age and sex for a GI to be looking for, and suspecting, MC.
Deb
Hypothyroid 06/01
LC 12/06
Dwell on the positive.
Happiness is a result of a decision to be happy.
LC 12/06
Dwell on the positive.
Happiness is a result of a decision to be happy.
Welcome Bellyup,
Glad you found this forum.
Be assertive with your doctors - they don't know much about MC, ME, CD etc. Don't worry if they think you are off your rocker - you need to get some answers, and if they aren't looking in the right places for answers they need some help in figuring it out. Big egos get in the way sometimes.
As others have mentioned, diet is very effective for disease management. It takes a while to figure out all of the food triggers and it takes a while for you to wrap your mind around the thought of giving up certain foods. I suggest using stool testing at www.enterolab.com to speed up the process. Many of us have used this test and believe it to be very accurate.
wishing you the best,
Mary Beth
Glad you found this forum.
Be assertive with your doctors - they don't know much about MC, ME, CD etc. Don't worry if they think you are off your rocker - you need to get some answers, and if they aren't looking in the right places for answers they need some help in figuring it out. Big egos get in the way sometimes.
As others have mentioned, diet is very effective for disease management. It takes a while to figure out all of the food triggers and it takes a while for you to wrap your mind around the thought of giving up certain foods. I suggest using stool testing at www.enterolab.com to speed up the process. Many of us have used this test and believe it to be very accurate.
wishing you the best,
Mary Beth