I'm a newbie to the forum. I was very relieved and happy when I found this forum. It made me feel like, i'm not the only person that is suffering with this. Also, it's very hard to talk to people around you because i'm embarrassed and they just don't understand. I spent a lot of time reading on the forum yesterday, and will likely do the same again today.
I was diagnosed in 2009 with MC that is Collagenous Colitis. I've managed it pretty well for several years, with my diet. I had a flare up last year, and it took a few weeks to calm things down, but I was able to do that with Pepto-bismal, and also my doctor had me taking Citrucel 2 500mg tablets a day. I had another flare up this fall, and again was able to calm it down, with my diet. I'm now having a flare up, yet again, but it's much worse than the last couple. I started the low fiber diet yesterday, and will continue with no gluten/dairy/alcohol/caffeine, until I can get it calmed down. I have 2 questions.
1.) Do other people with MC and Collagenous Colitis take daily fiber like Citrucel? Should I be doing this?
2.) In the past yogurt (chobani) has been very helpful in getting my bowel movements and things back to normal.
I'm a little hesitant to do this, it has dairy and I'm not sure what has caused the flare up this time, other than stress, and maybe not
being completely healed from the flare up in November.
I welcome any suggestions/help. I really don't want to go on medication.
Thank you,
Taking daily fiber like Citrucel
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HockeyRunner
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2016 6:51 pm
Taking daily fiber like Citrucel
Diagnosed with Microscopic Colitis (Collagenous Colitis) in the fall of 2009
Hi,
Welcome to our Internet family. You're right . . . no one understands this disease unless they have it. That's why we consider ourselves to be a family here — we all understand.
To answer your question, though we seem to tolerate reasonable amounts of fiber after we have been in remission for awhile, it is definitely contraindicated when we are in a flare. Fiber doesn't provoke our immune system to produce antibodies the way that gluten and casein do, but it is extremely irritating to the mucosal lining of our intestines when they are already inflamed during a flare. Therefore fiber can perpetuate a flare and prevent or unnecessarily delay recovery. Doctors who recommend fiber for treating MC not only don't understand the disease, but they probably don't understand the digestive system in general anywhere near as well as they think they do. Medical research shows that most of the glowing claims made for fiber in general do not hold up to medical scrutiny. The benefits of fiber mostly accrue to those who manufacture and sell fiber supplements, not to the people who use them.
Another potential problem with Cirtucel is the fact that even though it's considered to be a soluble fiber, it's half-synthetic. Soluble fiber is more likely to be tolerated than insoluble fiber, but the jury is still out on synthetic fiber. It's well known that artificial sweeteners are not tolerated by MCers, especially during flares, so IMO there is a very good chance that synthetic fiber products may not be well-tolerated either. The problem with synthetic products (and this is strictly my opinion, not proven medical research) is that for many of us, during a flare, our immune system seems to view virtually all unrecognized items as foreign invaders, and therefore it may launch an attack against them, especially if any of their peptides happen to escape into the bloodstream because of leaky gut.
Regarding yogurt, while everyone who has intestinal inflammation develops lactose intolerance, it's not the lactose that causes our immune system to produce antibodies — that's due to the primary protein in all dairy products, namely casein. Yogurt is loaded with casein, so your suspicions are well-founded. We don't mess with yogurt if we are sensitive to casein.
There is a very good chance that you may have developed one or more additional food sensitivities that may be causing your current flare. Of course it could also be due to cross-contamination in your diet or eating processed foods that contain gluten or casein-based ingredients. Too much fiber and/or too much stress can also trigger a flare.
I hope that some of this is helpful. Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to our Internet family. You're right . . . no one understands this disease unless they have it. That's why we consider ourselves to be a family here — we all understand.
To answer your question, though we seem to tolerate reasonable amounts of fiber after we have been in remission for awhile, it is definitely contraindicated when we are in a flare. Fiber doesn't provoke our immune system to produce antibodies the way that gluten and casein do, but it is extremely irritating to the mucosal lining of our intestines when they are already inflamed during a flare. Therefore fiber can perpetuate a flare and prevent or unnecessarily delay recovery. Doctors who recommend fiber for treating MC not only don't understand the disease, but they probably don't understand the digestive system in general anywhere near as well as they think they do. Medical research shows that most of the glowing claims made for fiber in general do not hold up to medical scrutiny. The benefits of fiber mostly accrue to those who manufacture and sell fiber supplements, not to the people who use them.
Another potential problem with Cirtucel is the fact that even though it's considered to be a soluble fiber, it's half-synthetic. Soluble fiber is more likely to be tolerated than insoluble fiber, but the jury is still out on synthetic fiber. It's well known that artificial sweeteners are not tolerated by MCers, especially during flares, so IMO there is a very good chance that synthetic fiber products may not be well-tolerated either. The problem with synthetic products (and this is strictly my opinion, not proven medical research) is that for many of us, during a flare, our immune system seems to view virtually all unrecognized items as foreign invaders, and therefore it may launch an attack against them, especially if any of their peptides happen to escape into the bloodstream because of leaky gut.
Regarding yogurt, while everyone who has intestinal inflammation develops lactose intolerance, it's not the lactose that causes our immune system to produce antibodies — that's due to the primary protein in all dairy products, namely casein. Yogurt is loaded with casein, so your suspicions are well-founded. We don't mess with yogurt if we are sensitive to casein.
There is a very good chance that you may have developed one or more additional food sensitivities that may be causing your current flare. Of course it could also be due to cross-contamination in your diet or eating processed foods that contain gluten or casein-based ingredients. Too much fiber and/or too much stress can also trigger a flare.
I hope that some of this is helpful. Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
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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HockeyRunner
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2016 6:51 pm