Newly diagnosed - after 5 long years!!

[hoosier1]

I am looking forward to Norman!!! Thanks everyone.

[hoosier1]

Anyone want to comment on this subject? I am very green. Graphic I know, but I figure this group can handle it.

Thanks

Rich

[Gabes-Apg]

Any reduction in the quantity of D movements per day and/or slight improvement in the texture of your poop is an improvement!

the reason you have D is that the cells are mega inflammed like when you hurt your leg or arm it takes a while for the inflammation to go down and healing to begin..

[tex]

Rich,

If you're asking for comments on the subject of diarrhea - in addition to what Gabes posted, here's a quick primer on the types of D, most common with MC. One measure of progress, for example, is whether the D is in the form of osmotic D, or secretory D. I copied the text below, from a post in an old thread in the archives, (at the address referenced below):

Here is my interpretation of the details of the types of diarrhea that we have with MC - why it happens, and what is involved.

If we have osmotic diarrhea, then the colon absorbs very little water, (if any), and transit time is shorter. If we have secretory diarrhea, then instead of absorbing water, the colon secretes water into the lumen, (rather than recovering water), greatly increasing the volume of the fecal stream, and shifting transit time into high gear, since the injection of water, (and electrolytes), into the colon, is the equivalent of an enema. Unfortunately, with secretory diarrhea, not only does the colon secrete water into the fecal stream, but it also secretes electrolytes along with the water.

The stomach can only absorb alcohol, so no nutrients are absorbed there. Virtually everything of nutritional value is absorbed in the small intestine. Foods that cannot be digested, (or completely digested), in the small intestine, pass into the colon, where any complex carbs not completely digested in the small intestine, are digested by fermentation, typically resulting in gas, bloating, and cramps, (an example of this is the fermentation of lactose, in people who are "lactose intolerant"). The only "nutrients" absorbed in the colon, are water, and electrolytes. All vitamins, amino acids, fats, etc., not absorbed in the small intestine are going to pass through the colon unabsorbed. The fact that electrolyte absorption normally takes place in the colon, is what makes anyone with MC so vulnerable to dehydration and electrolyte depletion. Secretory diarrhea is common with MC, during a reaction, so the risk of dehydration and electrolyte depletion can be extremely high, in some cases, because of the risk of losing virtually all of the electrolytes, (and water), that would normally be recovered.

Therefore, if digestion of certain foods is incomplete, (or non-existent), in the small intestine, it does no good for it to linger in the colon, since no nutrients will be absorbed there, anyway, even if they were to be released by the process of fermentation. That's why the body tends to purge poorly-digested food, (IOW, induce diarrhea), because if it remains in the body, all it can do is rot, and cause gas, bloating, cramps, and a bacterial imbalance.

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11900

Tex

[hoosier1]

Tex and All:

I thought I had posted a topic about stool color so I can see why you may all be guessing. But yes, my question is about the color of my stool. It is dark green and boy did I go many times today. Even imodium and finally lomotil failed to calm it down.

So I have been drinking Boost, started DF and GF two days ago, am on day 4 Entocort... But what is causing the green? Simply rapid transit through my system? I worry about an infection, especially as they try to drop my immune system with steroids.

Thanks!

Rich
P.S. It's a beautiful, cool, sunny day in Northern Indiana today.

[Tanya Lynn]

Howdy Rich,

Welcome aboard!! You have found a great group of people here
that can relate to what you are going through..

I hate to be a Party Pooper....(no pun intended) but I've been on Endocort for
8 weeks and I'm still going around 8-10 times a day...

I found out through the Enterolab results that I'm gluten, dairy and
soy intolerant and have been GF, DF, and SF about 7 weeks. It's a
long, hard, scary, and sometimes very depressing day, but everyone
here always makes you feel soooo good.

See you out here again soon,

Tanya

[Gloria]

Hi Rich,

Welcome to the board from another midwesterner. I live in northern Illinois about 40 miles north of Chicago. The weather has been beautiful, hasn't it.

I'm not an engineer, but I am a retired high school math teacher, so I have about 1/2 of the degree you engineers have, missing the physics classes. An engineer student in one of my college math classes used to tackle the homework by looking at the answer and working backwards to the given problem. He did very well in the class, though his methods were a bit unorthodox.

I saw that you were asking about the green color of your stool. Here is a link to Mayo Clinic's discussion on the causes: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/green- ... ION=causes

Gloria

[tex]

Rich,

Not to worry, the link that Gloria posted probably answered your question, (I'm assuming that the Mayo Clinic at least understands the causes of green stools, though I admit that I didn't check the link).

It's probably just due to rapid transit. The normal color of bile is green, but as it meanders through the colon, normally, it slowly turns brown. When rapid transit is present, though, it doesn't have time to change colors, so the color remains green. It sounds as though the Entocort is causing you to have D.

Incidentally, Boost is good for energy, (and I prefer the flavor, over the other energy drinks), but they are all loaded with dairy ingredients, (at least they were the last time I tried any of them, which has been at least 7 or 8 years). I don't recall if they contain gluten or not, but I think they don't.

Tex

[hoosier1]

Hi Tex and all,

You say Boost has dairy, yet it claims to be lactose-free and gluten-free. Is there an ingredient that has lactose hidden in it?

I was hoping to use Boost, Ensure, etc. to keep my weight up.

Now I am confused...

Rich

[hoosier1]

Gloria,

Thanks to the link for Mayo... I actually was evaluated by the Cleveland Clinic a few years ago for all of this. My stool wasn't so green back then. However, my symptoms were less severe back then, and they labelled me with (guess what) IBS. There is no doubt my symptoms have evolved since then.

Which brings me to another question. Why are my mornings so awful? My system is in overdrive so much that I dread getting up. For years, I would take Bentyl and several BM's in the morning to slow things down. Bentyl is still helpful to me, though not as much as it used to be. Anyone else taking this?

Appreciate the comment about math. When I was in my undergrad program at Purdue, I also got an math major. Wasn't sure what direction I was going to take for a while so I covered all bases. I think I regret, now especially, not going to medical school as Tex stated. I guess there is always time...

Tayna, that is discouraging about being on Entocort for 8 weeks and having no improvement. That always seems to be my Charlie Brown luck too (rain cloud always over my head it seems). Seems there are no quick fixes for some of us. But isn't that life? Seems like the things worth doing, or getting, or correcting, always require the long hard road... Would be great if it could at least subside some symptoms. But then again, I have never really believe that the pharma companies are out their to cure me, per se. We gotta find that on our own, and it appears that diet changes are the largest part of this.

Thanks again everyone. More questions to come...

Rich

[tex]

Rich,

It's not lactose that's the problem - it's casein, which is the primary protein in milk. Lactose is a sugar, and only proteins can cause autoimmune and/or anaphylactic reactions, (IgA and/or IgE type reactions). The only adverse event that sugars can cause is poor digestion, and that is exactly what happens with lactose "intolerance". When we have enteritis, our small intestine is unable to produce adequate amounts of the enzyme lactase, so the lactose in any dairy products we consume, cannot be split into the monosaccharides glucose and galactose. Therefore, the lactose passes undigested, into the colon, where it is "digested" by bacteria, (in the process called fermentation), producing gas, bloating, and diarrhea. That's not an autoimmune reaction, obviously, but the result is still quite unpleasant. Casein, on the other hand, can trigger an autoimmune reaction, (in anyone sensitive to it), very similar to gluten, because one or more of the peptides in the amino acid chain that defines casein, is/are very similar to the alpha gliadin peptide to which celiacs react.

There's a slim chance that you might not be sensitive to casein, but it appears that all but a very few of us who are gluten-sensitive, are also casein-sensitive.

Here are the ingredients of Boost, (I've highlighted the ingredients that many of us react to, in red):

(Vanilla) Water, sugar, corn syrup solids, milk protein concentrate, vegetable oil (canola, high oleic sunflower, corn oils) and less than 0.5% of soy lecithin, carrageenan, salt, natural and artificial flavor, vitamin A palmitate, beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, vitamin D3, vitamin E acetate, thiamine hydrochloride, riboflavin, niacinamide, vitamin B6 hydrochloride, folic acid, choline bitartrate, vitamin B12, biotin, calcium pantothenate, vitamin K1, calcium carbonate, ferrous sulfate, potassium iodide, magnesium phosphate, zinc sulfate, cupric sulfate, potassium citrate, potassium chloride, sodium selenite, chromic chloride, sodium molybdate, manganese sulfate. Contains milk protein and soy.
In addition to the above: Chocolate and Chocolate Mocha flavored Boost contain cocoa processed with alkali. Butter Pecan flavored Boost also contains natural and artificial flavor, which contains pecan extract, sulfites and hydrolyzed soy protein. Strawberry flavored Boost contains Red 3 (color). Chocolate flavored Boost contains ferric pyrophosphate (instead of ferrous sulfate)

As a general rule, any time you use a product that contains more than about 5 ingredients, the odds that you might react to it, significantly increase, (even though the label may not list any of your sensitivities). That's just the way it works, in the real world.

Why are my mornings so awful?

That's just a characteristic of the disease. Some of us have this symptom, and some don't. Presumably, it's a direct result of the Leaky Gut Syndrome, (LGS), and much of the extra misery is probably due to gluten crossing the blood/brain barrier to cause neurological issues. IOW, those of us who have LGS, feel especially rough, in the mornings. As Jeff Foxworthy might say, (if he told jokes about MC), "if you feel as though you've been hit by a train, when you try to get out of bed in the morning - you might have microscopic colitis".

Tex

[hoosier1]

Thanks Tex for the explanation... I clearly didn't understand the distinction between lactose and casein. I guess I have to be even more careful, especially with labels.

I ordered Dr. Fine's test kit a few days ago to definitively understand my sensitivities. Should be interesting to see the results.

Rich

[tex]

Rich,

Be aware that those tests are very sensitive, but the "persistence" of the immune system to produce antibodies, varies by "allergens". IOW, the tests related to gluten, (gliadin), sensitivity, can reliably detect gliadin antibodies in stool samples for over a year after gluten has been totally withdrawn from the diet. (Blood tests, on the other hand, can only reliably detect them for a few weeks after gluten is withdrawn from the diet, and that's with fully-developed celiac disease. For anything less than fully-developed celiac disesase, the blood tests are almost always negative, no matter how much gluten is in the diet). Anyway, the other allergens, though, (casein, yeast, soy, etc.), can only be reliably detect for a few weeks after the offending foods are withdrawn from the diet. Therefore, except for gluten, it's best to continue eating the other foods, until after the sample is taken, in order to get optimum test results.

If you choose to order the fecal fat test, (to test for malabsorption), be sure to eat a normal amount of fat each day. If you don't eat any fat, the test will be negative, by default, (IOW, you can't malabsorb fat, if there's no fat in the diet).

Tex