stress and MC

[dolson]

Stress and MC! What a combination, what a disaster! I've lived in hell all my life. My family taught me how to fight. My father would come home from work every day screaming, hollering, cussing, throwing and busting everything in sight. He even beat my Mom. I was terrified of my father and would go into my room and cry for hours. I would sneak out of the house and go to my best friend's house and tell her I wanted my father to die. My Mom didn't help one bit. My Mom got a job welding and our neighbor kept me for a decade. I found peace at their house. They taught me how to tell time, how to tie my shoes, how to read, how to add and they read books to me. My Mom and Dad ignored me. I was to be seen not heard! I shook in FEAR!

My friend's mother took me to Brownies, church, how to play chess, canasta, and I stayed at their beach house at Tybee. All the neighbors knew my brother and I were abused.
Then my brother started abusing me. He became mean just like our abusive father. I was a nervous scared wreck. My brother would throw things at me that nearly put my eye out. Now I had two abusers and it only got worse! All the stress had to play a part in getting MC! Everybody said I was a nervous mean child.

I've always had MC with the bloated stomach and thin hair. I don't recollect any diarrhea. I was so nervous and scared that I didn't realize I was sick. I was trying to survive in a house gone MAD!

Trying to live and be calm with MC is hard. I went to Aspen Dental for a sore tooth. It took 30 minutes to take X-rays for one tooth and they were rough with me. The young immature female dentist came into my room dancing with antlers on her head. She did not listen to my problem. She showed me stuff on x-ray I failed to see. When I went to check out I was informed by a clerk that I had 16 cavities. What????? I brush two to three times daily and floss almost three times daily. I see a dentist twice yearly. I never have a cavity. I started crying and was upset. They also tried to sell me their new Oral B toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, and floss. I did not know Aspen Dental was a corrupt corporate business dental organization owned by Wall Street non-dentists named Leonard Green and Partners. They have over 300 offices in 22 states. Since I was crying, they led me out of the office like a criminal. My diarrhea started and I was in trouble.

Pray tell, how do I deal with pressure and stress? I have been to a therapist for sexual assault at work, child abuse and my diseases. Nothing worked and the therapist was scared to talk about the sexual assault by a doctor and hospital. My next step will be a visit to an exorcist. I feel I'm possessed by demons. A friend I met in Peru from Australia told me to see one. She saw one and was helped.

Sorry for being so long, but have y'all experienced this hellish life? Put a fork in me, I'm done. I don't want to live any more.

[Gabes-Apg]

I am in midst of busy work day so this reply is brief..... apologies for that

Firstly, reassuring hugs.
Secondly, you are not alone, stress was and still is one of my major triggers. My recent house move confirmed that,
Thirdly, childhood/young adult events in my life are a big part of the epigenetics that contributed to my multi auto immune conditions,

Part of the mc healing journey is the mental and emotional aspects. Knowing our physical, mental and emotional limits. Budgeting for those.
Being able to put our needs first guilt free, letting go of perfectionism, being able to say no guilt free. Having realistic expectations of ourselves.
Accepting there will be good days and bad days, and we don't always have 100% control.

Breath. Deep deep slow breaths.
You are not alone, and life with MC is not all bad.
I see it as an Alice in wonderland journey, it seems weird/out there over the top at first but then, what was bonkers is the new normal.... and we learn to love life as it is now.

Healing hugs
Xo

[brandy]

What helps me....

magnesium glycinate--this helps me the most. I stopped it for several weeks and boy I could really feel the stress ramping up.
L theanine--this works good when my mind is racing around before going to bed. It settles my mind.
exercise
laughter
travel--takes my mind of things, allows my mind to focus on other things, distracts me
meditation/prayer
hanging out with friends
helping out others
reading, netflix, movies--also to take my mind off of things

Blessings

[brandy]

Hi D,

Bloating and thin hair as a child is sign of celiac or gluten sensitivity.

[tex]

Hi Dorothy,

I'm sorry for all the stress in your life. That's surely your main MC trigger. I agree with Gabes, focusing on stress relief is the key to relieving your MC symptoms. But I'm sure you already know that. And I agree with Brandy that magnesium helps to relieve stress. Before I corrected my chronic magnesium deficiency, I was always uptight and having some sort of stressful disagreement with someone. These days all those disagreements have disappeared and it's much harder to upset me now.

Regarding your teeth, I had a very similar experience. My teeth were fine, and I rarely had a cavity. All of a sudden, my mouth was full of cavities. I went to a dentist who filled them all, but within a couple of weeks, some of the teeth that had cavities (that were filled), began to split and break off. I went back to the dentist who found some more cavities and filled them, but the same thing happened afterward. So I stopped going back and decided that if my teeth insisted on self-destructing, I might as well let them because I was just wasting time and money on trying to save them. Soon afterward, my MC symptoms began.

A few years later I researched this and found that it's a common problem for celiac disease. Untreated gluten sensitivity destroys the enamel on our teeth. After I changed my diet to cut out gluten (and many other foods, to stop my MC symptoms), what was left of my teeth began to stabilize and I developed no more cavities, But of course by then my teeth were a disaster area. It's interesting that since I cut gluten out of my diet and my gut healed, I haven't had a single cavity (in over a decade).

Similarly, my fingers were inflamed and growing crooked and twisted because of the arthritis. After I cut out gluten, the inflammation in my fingers stopped, and they stopped growing crooked and twisted. But of course the damage that had already occurred could not be reversed, so my fingers are still crooked. But at least they're no longer getting worse.

Gastroenterologists think that MC affects the colon, but actually this disease affects many parts of our bodies. Most of them don't have a clue about most of the side issues.

Tex

[brandy]

And some "alternative" options to expel bad Qi:

2-3 day retreats -----Ocala Florida-----https://amrityoga.org/retreat/

Sometimes the Temple of the Universe has retreats, Gainesville FL https://www.tou.org/index.html
I have not read Micky Singer's books that he has linked also it looks like he has some videos and audio options

I have not been to any of the above but my fave yoga teacher is affilated with the Amrit Yoga program out of Ocala
and Micky Singer is known pretty well locally. In addition to founding Temple of the Universe he also
founded WebMD and Medical Manager (doctor office accounting software).

And my favorite----Walk a dog.....get a puppy.

[Gabes-Apg]

Dental issues -very common amongst MC'ers.
And getting dental issues fixed is a huge stress.

My stress busters:
- Audiobooks and podcasts. Stops me Overthinking.

- Spending time in nature, photography in nature, slows heart rate, like meditation for me.

- Magnesium foot soaks after stressful days.

-colouring in /sewing while audiobooks podcasts play in the background.

-acupuncture/functional chiro to 'balance mental emotional physical energies'

- breathing exercises.

- guided meditation /relaxation tracks.

[dolson]

Thanks y'all. I try to be calm, but it's hard for me. My husband constantly tells me to stop trying to solve the world's problems. I am use to being super busy and my Mom and relatives had to move. They were all HYPER! Talk talk talk, run run run, and be the center of attention. I guess that's part of being in a family of 11 kids in the south. Plus they all have/had dystonia, tremors, shakiness and they had to GO! Their mouth had to be moving. Wore me out. Now I'm not working and seeing our country fall apart. I got off Facebook forever! One of the best things I've done. All arguing and everybody is showing off. My blood pressure has gone down since I departed FB.

I'm still going to talk with with someone at our Cathedral. We are mostly Irish here in Savannah, so I should find one. I do believe in the Devil and he's winning.

I am going to find a book on meditation. I met a dietician in our bar in the old 1790 restaurant. She informed me of the connection with our gut and our brain. When I have a flair, my brain does not work. I can't think straight. I had one drink (Cosmo) with vodka made out of potatoes - the Russian brands!

Brandy, I have been diagnosed with MC from a GI specialist in Savannah. They did a biopsy. I couldn't have MC and Celiac Disease. Pray tell me the answer is NO! I am scared. This disease scares the heck out of me. I am terrified when I have a flair.

[Gabes-Apg]

Thinking about your posts pre holidays etc, and now, you are moving through the 5 stages of grief,

There was denial, then anger, now is depression.
This is also very common amongst new members, and anyone coming to terms with auto-immune /chronic illness

In the good reads section of the guidelines to recovery, there are some suggested resources

[Kilt]

I couldn't have MC and Celiac Disease. Pray tell me the answer is NO!

Dorothy, sorry about the stress and mess in your life. You're not alone.

Research studies have shown that people can have both celiac disease and microscopic colitis. In fact, one 2009 study calculated that people with celiac disease are 70 times more likely to develop microscopic colitis than the general population. The conclusion of the study abstract states: "Microscopic colitis is more common in patients with celiac disease than in the general population. Patients with celiac disease and microscopic colitis have more severe villous atrophy and frequently require steroids or immunosuppressant therapies to control diarrhea."

Perhaps you should consider an endoscopy for celiac disease.

[dolson]

Thanks Kelt. I was never thin growing up and look well-nourished. I don't remember having diarrhea. I just had bloat that came and went. Diarrhea started in Buda, TX, around 2008. That's when I got diarrhea, fatique, brain fog, depression and irritability. What worries me is the villous atrophy or destruction. Terrifying!!!! I had an endoscopy at the Mayo Clinic, 2016. It showed irritation from too many asprin. A GI doctor in Savannah, performed a colonoscopy and found MC with a biopsy in 2015. Wouldn't he had discovered Celiac too? This is all so new to me. I am perplexed and anxious. Celiac Disease scares me to death..to me it's much more serious and deadly than MC. Correct?

I saw my father's death certificate the other day. He died at age 49. It said the cause of death: Type 1 diabetes and malabsorption syndrome. He would take acid through a straw because his body did not produce HCL. I am baffled! I was diagnosed with Pancreatic Enzyme Deficiency in Austin, TX, 2008. Found out that I do not have the disease. Thank you Lord. All these diseases flying around makes me dizzy and more confused.

I don't want to go back down to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I am sick of doctors - GI specialists. Can't GOD give me a break?

Thanks Gabes. It is grief and depression. You hit it on the nail. Will I ever get out of stage 5? I just want to be happy. I wish I could've picked my parents. I would've picked parents with better genes and healthier, but you can only pick your friends and spouse.

Thanks y'all!

[Gabes-Apg]

If you were still in denial /anger stages I would be worried. The fact you are moving through the stages is a good sign.

You will be happy, when you have a routine with eating and lifestyle, more days with reduced symptoms,
It takes time. For most here that 'at peace' stage can take 12months or more.

Regardless of diagnosis, and how many you have, that is not main focus. The good news is you have found resource of good information and supportive people that can help you get well and happy.

Be patient, healing take time.

[tex]

Dorothy,

I think that most of us will agree that successfully treating celiac disease is a walk in the park compared with successfully treating MC. There's no point in worrying about celiac disease because if you're treating MC with the proper diet changes, you're automatically treating celiac disease. I probably have celiac disease but I've never tried to get a diagnosis, and it never matters anyway. I have to stay GF to control MC.

Tex

[Pebbledash]

Thanks Kelt. I was never thin growing up and look well-nourished. I don't remember having diarrhea. I just had bloat that came and went. Diarrhea started in Buda, TX, around 2008. That's when I got diarrhea, fatique, brain fog, depression and irritability. What worries me is the villous atrophy or destruction. Terrifying!!!! I had an endoscopy at the Mayo Clinic, 2016. It showed irritation from too many asprin. A GI doctor in Savannah, performed a colonoscopy and found MC with a biopsy in 2015. Wouldn't he had discovered Celiac too? This is all so new to me. I am perplexed and anxious. Celiac Disease scares me to death..to me it's much more serious and deadly than MC. Correct?

I saw my father's death certificate the other day. He died at age 49. It said the cause of death: Type 1 diabetes and malabsorption syndrome. He would take acid through a straw because his body did not produce HCL. I am baffled! I was diagnosed with Pancreatic Enzyme Deficiency in Austin, TX, 2008. Found out that I do not have the disease. Thank you Lord. All these diseases flying around makes me dizzy and more confused.

I don't want to go back down to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I am sick of doctors - GI specialists. Can't GOD give me a break?

Thanks Gabes. It is grief and depression. You hit it on the nail. Will I ever get out of stage 5? I just want to be happy. I wish I could've picked my parents. I would've picked parents with better genes and healthier, but you can only pick your friends and spouse.

Thanks y'all!

I have Celiacs as well as MC. My Celiacs responded well to a gluten-free diet. My antibody levels have consistently been normal since I've been gluten free, my stomach vilii pretty much repaired. If you have untreated Celiacs, your body will have problems absorbing food as long as the vilii are flattened by the inflammation caused by the autoimmune reaction to gluten.

Celiacs is not such a huge issue, once you get used to. Not a condition to unduly worry about at all. MC is actually trickier, in my experience--though I strongly suspect the two are strongly inter-tangled in my case.

Paul

[Kilt]

. . . if you're treating MC with the proper diet changes, you're automatically treating celiac disease.

Tex, I'd say that's a true statement, because the only treatment for celiac disease is dietary gluten avoidance. However, the converse of the statement is not necessarily true, logically or medically. That is, if you have both celiac disease and MC, you may not be treating the MC effectively just because you are treating your celiac disease with a GF diet. This is because MC and celiac disease may be very separate conditions, not necessarily linked in causation or treatment. That's why the study I linked above concludes that patients with both conditions "frequently require steroids or immunosuppressant therapies to control diarrhea." The steroids or immunosupprants are for the MC comorbidity.

My personal belief, which seems to be supported by logical inferences from medical studies, is that comorbid MC and non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) are also not necessarily linked in causation or treatment. That may be why some people are not successful in treating combined MC/NCGS with diet. The diet may be effective for the NCGS, but if the comorbid MC has a different etiology -- i.e., not from food intolerances -- then those people may need medications such as budesonide as well as dietary changes.

Dorothy, a colonoscopy with biopsies of the bowel will not diagnose celiac disease. You need an endoscopy that reaches through your stomach into the top of the small intestine (duodenum) to look at and biopsy the small intestine villi. If you've had such a procedure recently and the related blood tests for celiac disease, then you likely don't have it. However, you may have MC plus NCGS or some other bowel condition such as the mysterious IBS.