I'm 26 (another one! Seems to be a common age...) and was diagnosed earlier this year with lymphocytic colitis. I've had symptoms for about 2.5 years. I'm on Entocort (9mg/day) and one Imodium per day, and eating gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free. And low-fat, also, i.e., lean meats, little oils or fats. Also I'm avoiding raw fruits and veggies. :o( Never before have I wanted them so bad -- of course, now that I can't have them! ;o) I'm doing okay so far, I'm recovering from a flare that was induced by reducing my Entocort to 6mg after 6 weeks of treatment. I've learned from this board that many people stay on it for 6 months before tapering off.
Welcome to the board and best of luck in your treatment!
anyone else here under 30??
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Dear Erin
Welcome from Hong Kong. You already have had some great, straight talking advice. I hope you can handle your doctor since, as Tex suggests, he/she may have gone "overboard" on the drugs.
It is strange because often doctors do the opposite and believe just 6 weeks of entocort can work, when in fact it takes much longer for the gut to heal - 6 months to a year or more - and then only if diet is also included as part of the treatment.
But then few docs acknowledge diet as a possible long term (and safe) treatment - just like they think MC is a rare disease for older people - but we all know that paradigm is well out of date.
Wishing you well in your journey to remission.
Best, Ant
Welcome from Hong Kong. You already have had some great, straight talking advice. I hope you can handle your doctor since, as Tex suggests, he/she may have gone "overboard" on the drugs.
It is strange because often doctors do the opposite and believe just 6 weeks of entocort can work, when in fact it takes much longer for the gut to heal - 6 months to a year or more - and then only if diet is also included as part of the treatment.
But then few docs acknowledge diet as a possible long term (and safe) treatment - just like they think MC is a rare disease for older people - but we all know that paradigm is well out of date.
Wishing you well in your journey to remission.
Best, Ant
I may be wrong but it seems to me that at one time it may have been considered rare for anyone under the age of 50 to have MC. Seeing now that there are many more being diagnosed now who are under that age makes me wonder if it's just that word has gotten out and more doctors are scanning or looking and finding MC in younger patients. Just my thoughts anyway....
-Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain-
Kim
Kim
Kim,
Until very recently, GI docs rarely performed colonoscopies on anyone younger than 50, and when they did, they virtually never took biopsy samples. The only way to diagnose MC is by examining under the microscope, stained slides made from biopsy samples of the epithelium of the colon, taken during a colonoscopy exam. That made the diagnosis of MC for anyone younger than 50, virtually impossible. When doctors chose to consider it a "rare" disease, that amounted to a self-fulfilling prophesy. Attitudes had to change, before they began to diagnose younger patients. It's not that the disease didn't exist in younger patients - it did. The GI docs were just too ignorant to look for it.
Tex
Until very recently, GI docs rarely performed colonoscopies on anyone younger than 50, and when they did, they virtually never took biopsy samples. The only way to diagnose MC is by examining under the microscope, stained slides made from biopsy samples of the epithelium of the colon, taken during a colonoscopy exam. That made the diagnosis of MC for anyone younger than 50, virtually impossible. When doctors chose to consider it a "rare" disease, that amounted to a self-fulfilling prophesy. Attitudes had to change, before they began to diagnose younger patients. It's not that the disease didn't exist in younger patients - it did. The GI docs were just too ignorant to look for it.
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.
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Linda in BC
- Rockhopper Penguin
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- Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:39 am
- Location: Creston British Columbia
Erin, from another relative newbie!Not much I can add except that you will find a lot of valuable information on this site that will help you manage your condition, and a lot of wonderful people to listen, support and answer your questions. I wish you well on your journey to health.
Linda
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."
The 13th Dali Lama
The 13th Dali Lama