The father of Medicine, Hippocrates, said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” This discussion contains information found by some members to be helpful for controlling the symptoms of microscopic colitis, by diet alone, or in conjunction with certain medications.
Is pearled barley & rye berries on the list of safe grains? For some reason I thought they were but after browsing some of the posts here- think I could be wrong.
I have quinoa and millet (who ever though I'd be eating birdseed?) on the shelf but I'm looking for more variety since all my favorite grains/pastas are off limits.
Also, I know oatmeal is a debatable one. I've started the GF diet again and would love to have a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast but am hesistant. Would it be best to wait with this one until I find more improvements? Or is is best to just leave it out?
I have breakfast on the stove now which consists of a corn tortilla crisped a little with olive oil, chicken (yuk but need protien), and spaghetti squash. Bet you won't find that on the Denny's menu. Scrambled eggs, french toast, and hash browns sound much more appealing! Oh well these days I'm going with full tummy = happy Deb. I don't know who to threaten if the GF/DF thing doens't show some results considering I'm the one attached to my plumbing.
"pearled" barley, and rye "berries" are cute names that probably help to sell barley and rye cereals, but as long as those grains come from the barley and rye plants that are related to wheat, (and all of them are, as far as I'm aware), anyone who is sensitive to wheat gluten, will react to them.
IMO, you would be better off waiting until you are in stable remission before trying oatmeal. The celiac experts are wrong when they claim that most celiacs can tolerate oats. The reason they make that mistake is because they typically only test oats in celiac diets for about 4 weeks, and oats sometimes takes longer to cause any issues. It took me 6 weeks to react to oats, when I did an oat challenge, (I ate a certified pure oat cereal, twice a week), but once the reaction started, it took another 6 weeks for it to end. When I started the challenge, oats didn't bother me, but after my sensitivity to oats matured, anytime I eat oats now, it cleans me out in just a few hours. Most of the other members here who have tried oats, have had the same experience that I had - they are sensitive to them.
Some of us come up with some pretty creative breakfast menus, but as long as it works, we're happy.
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.
Oats came pretty low down on the enterolab scale for me. I find that I can eat it, but I haven't tried to do so more than once in 2 weeks or so. I don't want to lose it by stimulating a reaction.
There are some good rice cereals, and a mix of rice and corn can also be tasty.
Hang in there - your tastebuds will adjust, if you give them some time. The very idea of French toast is totally unappealing, once you get some miles down the GF road. (If you'll notice, you have to soak bread in stuff, fry it, and then slather it wish syrup, for it to have much to offer!)
That I do believe- I was at a point a few years ago where I actually ate my dessert before my lunch because I craved sugar so much. It was more important to get my sugar fix and if I got full and couldn't finish my regular lunch- so be it. Crazy. There are lots of processed foods that I can't even think about eating now- not appealing at all. I'm also guilty of eating for pleasure, boredom, etc. (which is more difficult GF- I give up half the time because I'm too lazy to have to actually make something- not sure if that's a good thing or not) and prior to the GF I would try to eat cheetos, Little Debbie's, Nutty Bars, etc. just because I remember I used to like eating them and I got to the point where it just didn't taste the same and it was easy to leave them on the shelf.
This summer, at my worst, I was terrified to eat anything even "healthy" things because EVERYTHING seemed to make me feel ill so I just stopped eating. Not too smart but there's was no one to turn to. My own doctors made me feel horrible, almost like I was making things up, granted my listed of bodily complaints was endless but......
I love the quote at the end of Tex's signature. The first time I read it I burst out laughing because I thought by gosh there are more people like me out there!
I've seemed to have lost my sense of taste and smell, to some degree, over the past few months and have always had issues with a scalloped tongue that I can't quite figure out & it's quite uncomfortable. Maybe when things start to heal those things will go away and I can look forward to the taste bud adjustment.
Oh yeah, for what's it's worth- I suffered from horrible migraines on almost a daily basis and regular headaches since high school. It all stopped after I modified my diet the first time I went GF a year and a half ago.
My migraines eventually disappeared after I adopted the diet, also.
If your tongue is swollen, in addition to being scalloped, there's a good chance you're hypothyroid. If you're already taking a thyroid supplement, then it's a sign that you're being undertreated. According to our polls, anyone with MC is about 7 times as likely as someone in the general population, to have thyroid problems. It seems to go with the turf.
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 had improvement in 'symptoms' I didn't even realize were symptoms (I thought I was just middle-aged), and I can relate to the additional motivation that provides. (And the sugar craving definitely diminishes when you 'starve it out')
And you're right - it is harder to eat 'mindlessly' (like out of boredom) nowadays. Several of us have had dreams where we suddenly realize we're eating pasta (or... fill in your favorite gluten-loaded weapon). I've even had that feeling while awake, at a munchy buffet kind of thing. Something like: "Wait... did I just eat that?" I never do, but of course before MC, I must have eaten literally millions of calories I didn't think much about (many of which I didn't especially enjoy, either), just to pass the time.
Hope your taste, smell, tongue, and many other annoyances resolve as your healing continues,
My thyroid is the one thing they have checked regularly and for diabetes since it's prevalent in my family. Is it possible to screw up on that test also? I'm told that my thyroid is normal along with all the other blood tests they've run. It's an odd feeling to be disappointed when you're told you're "normal."
My whole tongue isn't actually swollen but the scalloped edges cause my tongue to rub against my teeth causing more irritation so it feels like there isn't enough room for my tongue to fit in my mouth. My bite is also off so that contributes to the problem but I opted for partial braces a few years ago instead of the full blown (pocket book breaking) braces so I'll have to live with that choice. My taste buds are often raised and irritated but I can't link that with any particular food reaction right now.
It's frustrating to list off all of these peculiarities to the doc, and there's so many, and have them basically ignore them. I've had the same response from family at times that it's just part of getting older, but they really don't understand and I guess I'm glad in a way that they're not going through this. This past summer I felt like I was just dieing a slow, draining, cruel death. I'm thankful I'm not dealing with cancer or something along that lines but at the same time I wish others would understand that each individual is dealing with something and to that person it is all-encompassing. At 40, I am supposed to be having the time of my life and that's the furthest thing from reality. Maybe it will happen at 41 or 42 and I'm looking forward to it!
Deb wrote:I'm told that my thyroid is normal along with all the other blood tests they've run.
That's what my doctor told me, because my TSH was in the "normal" range. Unfortunately, my Free T4 was below range.
Deb wrote:It's frustrating to list off all of these peculiarities to the doc, and there's so many, and have them basically ignore them.
Doctors are skilled at being incredibly dense at times. They're trained to focus on the obvious, easy stuff, and they learn to ignore anything that they don't understand. In the good old days, doctors knew how to treat hypothyroidism, (by monitoring the patients symptoms, and the way the patients felt). After the advent of the TSH test, though, (along with all the other tests available these days), most doctors don't even bother to engage their brains when they come in to work each morning, because they don't have to - they can let the test results do all the thinking for them, and that's just the way they like it.
Few issues can cause more problems than thyroid disease. It's a leading cause of what most people consider to be the symptoms of aging, and doctors are notorious for blaming most of these symptoms on aging. If you have some time, see how you do on these checklists:
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.
Oh well these days I'm going with full tummy = happy Deb. I don't know who to threaten if the GF/DF thing doens't show some results considering I'm the one attached to my plumbing.
