MICROSCOPIC COLITIS SUPPORT

Hi Colleen,

Your logic is correct — it's not safe to make bone broth from a type of meat that causes you to react. You would almost surely react to that bone broth, also.

Tex

Tex, I would be grateful if you could tell me what you think of my latest experience with Turkey. It bothered me enormously that I have been the only person to react to Turkey. So I searched until I found fresh Turkey legs w no additives. I cooked them, waited til my heartrate was stable for 5 minutes, and put a piece in my mouth. In 30-45 sec my heart rate went from 65 to 69. I did not swallow the Turkey. I'm too scared. In 30 min I repeated the test w exactly the same result.
I tried the same test w cornish hen. My heart rate did not change.
I am at a loss.
I eat only cornish hen, jasmine rice and broth. Absolutely nothing else since the elk and pork got me.
I am on day 6 of 8 pepto a day. Some days I have 6 BMs, some days 1 or 2. Never formed at all, sometimes more watery than others. Shouldnt I be better by now? Very discouraged.
Thanks for your wisdom,
Colleen

Hi Colleen,

I wouldn't overestimate the value of that simple heart rate test. Any doctor can tell you that postprandial (after eating) heart rates always increase. Therefore, in that simple HR test, the percentage of increase matters. But at best, it's a very rudimentary test, with sometimes unreliable results. The slight HR increase that you mentioned (6.15 %) could simply be due to the apprehension that you felt because you're afraid of turkey. Nothing increases the HR faster than fear, because the "fight or flight" response is instinctive — it's hard-wired into our brains, and we're not likely to have much control over it.

Of course, there's always the possibility that your body could be right. And on the other hand, there's always the placebo effect — it' more powerful than most of us realize. If you're expecting a reaction, you might have one, simply because you're anticipating one. If it were me, I would try not to rock the boat until I was in remission for a while.

The average time to remission during the initial published Pepto trials was stated at 2 weeks, which implies that it took longer than 2 weeks for some people in the trial to reach remission. The "official" Pepto treatment is 8 pills per day for 8 weeks.

https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S ... 8/fulltext

Tex

Tex,
Thank you for your gracious thoughts. Very gracious since you haven't referred to me as the psycho I'm sure I am at this point! (Lol) The thought that this was all in my head kept replaying. If I didn't have such a jam packed schedule, I'd go ahead and swallow the potentially offending food and test it that way. But I don't want to put myself out of commission. I have too many commitments. I will stay the course and be patient with the pepto regiment. Thank you for listening.

Colleen,

More than a few of us have been told by our GI doc that it was "all in our head", after they completely missed the diagnosis. My doc had a slightly different approach — he simply advised me to go see a good psychiatrist.

Tex

Hi Coll,

If you are getting WD 1-2 x day some days that is huge improvement. That means you are getting better.
We get folks starting out with WD 10-20 x per day. Give yourself positive self talks.

Give pepto the 8 weeks.

This is a marathon, not a sprint.

I saw you mentioned "full schedule". Schedule in stress relief too.

Brandy

I think I went to WD once a day every day for awhile and then ribbon stool.

Thank you both, I'd be hideously lost without you. I'm just so anxious to get better I lose sight of how far I've come.
I'm completely shocked that a doctor would tell you to see a psychiatrist. The total lack of compassion and enormous ego it would take astounds me. And this is our medical community.
But then my GI told me it didn't matter what I ate, I just had to see how much discomfort I wanted to tolerate. Nice.
Thanks for the pep talk. I'll go make some more Cornish Hens......
Colleen

Hi Everyone,
I had a break thru day. No D! Very small amount of bullet stool. I'm thinking that's a great thing! This was day #12 of the pepto regiment. When do I know to stop taking it? Just quit cold Turkey? Take less? Wean off it? I don't want to spoil this. Gotta say I'm pretty excited!
Thanks
Colleen

Congratulations! Looks like you're making good progress. Those are good questions. It's probably necessary to continue taking it for a while, to prevent a relapse (the suggested treatment period is 8 weeks), but you might be able to reduce the dose (as long as you're continuing to be stable), and slowly taper the dose that way. Stopping cold turkey wouldn't impose any health risk (like stopping a corticosteroid would), but it could cause a relapse simply because you probably haven't healed sufficiently at this point to maintain remission.

Good luck with your continuing recovery.

Tex

Colleen,

I am so happy for you! I'd probably coast on it for several weeks and then do a slow taper. Don't be too fast to
stop it. Like Tex says, it does not require a taper.

I think if you stay on it for a little while it will build your confidence too!

I am hoping someone here can relate to my current conundrum. I had 2 days of stopping D. Yay! Right? Nope. Third day brought cramping bloated feeling. Only that day. Since then I have had multiple trips to the bathroom- 6-8 / day. Stool is not watery but looks like coffee grounds. I have warning that I need to go so there's no accidents, but no formed stool. Am I hoping for too much here? No diet changes. Don't understand the coffee ground appearance.

Tex, you said chicken builds histamines like mad. All poultry doesn't? Just curious.
I have been using the broth the hens cook in for a juice to eat with the rice. Do you think there's too much fat in that broth? I was wondering if perhaps it's working against me by requiring too much bile acid during digestion.
When you make the bone broth are you supposed to skim the fat?
Thanks for your help!!

Hi Colleen,

It's common to have a few bad days mixed in on the journey to recovery. Very few of us are lucky enough not to have some bad days as we get close to remission. I'm concerned about the coffee ground appearance, though. It's probably just something in your diet, combined with the Pepto. I've never personally done the Pepto treatment, so I have no personal experience. Upper GI tract bleeding can appear coffee ground-like, and bleeding would cause increased frequency, if it were significant enough. Have you been taking aspirin regularly, in the past?

That's correct, the histamine level of chicken, even when refrigerated, continues to increase over time, much faster than most meats. The histamine levels of turkey, duck, pheasant, etc., increase no faster than most other meats (much more slowly than chicken.)

A few people skim the fat, but I believe that most of us leave it in there in order to provide the extra energy. That's up to you.

Tex

I've never taken aspirin in the last 50 years. The only thing on my diet is cornish hen and rice. I only had about 1 day of belly pain thru this whole ordeal.
I don't know how to find out if its bleeding except by calling the GI. Ugh.