Enterolab Results / Questions

[famichd0]

Hello All:

This site is a Godsend and I very much appreciate all the knowledge and people taking the time to provide their wisdom.

I was diagnosed w/ LC in 10/2020 after having WD since 6/2019. I started another round of Budesonide on 4/17/21 after previously following the typical dosage protocol (9 mg 4wks; 6 mg 2 wks; 3 mg 2 wks) twice (from 10/2020 to 11/2020 and from 1/15/21 to 3/13/21. The plan for the current Rx is to use the longer taper method as mentioned in the posts on this site.

I am on the limited diet primarily consisting of turkey, chicken, venison, lamb, occasional pork, bone broth, 1 banana / day, sweet potato, a couple safe veggies typically roasted in olive oil (or steamed), decaffeinated tea with refined coconut oil and dash of sugar and a little almond milk or coconut milk, 1 tbsp sunbutter / day, water with Lyte balance electrolytes added. I recently cut out rice, oats (GF oatmeal) and almond butter since receiving the Enterolab results below on 4/26/21. I have been on this diet since late March when WD returned (2 wks after finishing budesonide 2nd time) after being GF, DF, egg free and mostly soy free.

I also use topical magnesium oil, multivitamin patch (PatchMD), 4000 iu D3 capsule, 5000 iu B12 sublingual tablet and Centrum Energy multivitamin.

I live in the Buffalo, NY area and recently made an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic for May 18th with a Gastroeneterologist specializing in MC. My local Gastro doc has not been very helpful. When originally diagnosed and put on Budesonide, nothing was mentioned about changing diet...so I didn't. On recent visit: After explaining severe fatigue, continued weight loss despite eating massive quantities of food, was told I need to eat more. Malabsorption of nutrients was essentially dismissed by doc as a possibility.

Questions:
1. I am suffering SIGNIFICANT fatigue, weakness, lightheadedness. This is despite eating a substantial volume of food (5 meals / day). Is there anything that can be done or taken/eaten to combat this? This significant fatigue has surfaced over the last 3-4 wks.
2. I am also consistently dehydrated. Any suggestions to combat this?
3. Almonds showed up as a 3+. Should I discontinue the almond milk?

My Enterolab results came in a couple days ago:

Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 82 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 17 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 10 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-soy IgA 32 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 30 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

While all of the foods tested can be immune-stimulating, the hierarchy of reactions detected were as follows:

Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity:
-Chicken
Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+):
-Beef
-Pork
-White potato
Food to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (2+):
-Rice
-Corn
-Tuna
-Walnut
-Cashew
Food to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (3+):
-Oat
-Almond

Within each class of foods to which you displayed multiple reactions, the hierarchy of those reactions detected were as follows:

Grains:
Grain toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Rice
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Corn

Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Tuna
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Beef
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Pork

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Almond
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Walnut
Nut toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Cashew

Nightshades:
You displayed immunologic reactivity to white potato

Fat Malabsorption Stool Test (Fecal Fat): Quantitative Microscopic Fecal Fat Score:
319 Units (Normal Range is less than 300 Units)

Dave

[tex]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the group. Unless I overlooked something, it appears that you're on the right track with your current diet. Of course, if anything you're ingesting happens to be cross-contaminated, this could throw a monkey wrench into your healing progress. But your diet basically looks clean — I don't see any processed foods, and those are almost always the sources of cross-contamination. A possible exception might be the Centrum multivitamins. With that many ingredients, there are bound to be a few that some of us can't tolerate. Most of the vitamins in multivitamins are in the cheapest forms available, and consequently they're not particularly absorbable, so they're probably not providing any benefits for you anyway, at this point. You're more likely to be able to tolerate them (and successfully absorb the ingredients), after you're in remission

Since almonds were a 3+ food for you, and your overall score on those 11 foods was so high (30), it might be a good idea to avoid anything derived from almonds, including almond milk, at least until after you've recovered for a while. Have you checked all medications that you're taking (if you're taking any), to make sure their ingredient list to safe? At this point, recovery may simply require more time, and sticking with your diet, as we all seem to heal at different rates. Some heal quickly, and some require over a year. All the stress imposed on us during the last year hasn't helped anything, either, because MC is very sensitive to chronic stress.

Fatigue is a common and persistent symptom of MC. I can remember how I felt before I recovered, even though it was over 20 years ago. I owned a corn cleaning and bagging operation at the time, and I made most of the deliveries to the local chip and tortilla plants, and feed stores. It was very, very common for me to have to pull the truck off the road at a safe location, and take a short nap, just to be able to keep my eyes open, and to have the energy to go on. On some trips, I had to do this two or three times. And it took a long time after I reached remission, before the fatigue faded away.

Budesonide boosts your cortisol level, so you should have more energy when you're taking budesonide. If you don't, the budesonide may not be working very well for you. Published medical research shows that corticosteroids are less effective each time they're restarted, after a previous treatment is ended.

I hope some of this is helpful. Again, welcome aboard, and feel free to ask anything.

Tex

[famichd0]

Thank you Tex:

I'm trying. The weight loss is a real problem. I'm normally 5'10" and 155 lbs...which was already thin. I'm down to 130 1bs. and trending lower. I look like a concentration camp survivor from WWII (no exaggeration).

I also wanted to mention that I have been mixing in seafood (salmon or grilled shrimp) into my diet around once per week on avg. If you believe that poses a problem, could you let me know?

Lastly, is there anything that can be done in the interim to increase absorption of nutrients? (digestive enzymes?) My understanding is that most of the nutrients from food are absorbed in the small intestine while MC inflames the large intestine.

Be Well,

Dave

[tex]

Lastly, is there anything that can be done in the interim to increase absorption of nutrients? (digestive enzymes?) My understanding is that most of the nutrients from food are absorbed in the small intestine while MC inflames the large intestine.

You are correct that most absorption of nutrients takes place in the small intestine. The colon only absorbs magnesium and other electrolytes, and water. The hitch here is that almost all of us have an inflamed small intestine when our MC is active. This is well documented by published medical research. So that's why most of us cannot absorb nutrients properly. Strangely, most gastroenterologists sent to be unaware of that research, so consequently their unaware that the small intestine is usually inflamed in MC cases.

I'm not aware of a way to remedy that situation. Ingesting excess food might help, but that might not be so easy to do, either. Some members here insist that enzyme supplements have helped them, but that's difficult to verify. In my own case, for example, back when I was recovering, I was doing well when I got the bright idea to take an expensive enzyme supplement. I took the first capsule about 15 minutes before breakfast, as directed by the label instructions. By two hours after eating, I could see that I was in trouble. Within another couple of hours I was violently vomiting and it felt like my stomach was on fire. That was repeated about every two or three hours for the rest of the day, even though I didn't have anything left in my stomach after the first couple of episodes. The reaction was so severe that it took me three more days before I got up the nerve to eat any solid food again. After that experience, I've never touched another enzyme supplement. I may be the only one to have had that experience, though.

I always tried to eat as much as I could, because of the weight loss problem, but I'm not sure if that really helped or not, to be honest, because while my MC was active, I continued to lose weight. After I changed my diet, and slowly accrued some healing, I began to gain weight again, without any changes in my eating habits.

This disease makes us so prone to weight loss while it's active, because we can't digest and absorb fats well, and we're usually sensitive to most grains. Grains are what farmers, ranchers, and feedlot operators use to fatten livestock. Many members here use extra olive oil on foods because most of us seem to be able to tolerate it well. Be sure you buy certified pure brands of olive oil, though, if you try this, because some imported brands are adulterated with soy oil or other oils. Avocados are high in fat content, if you can tolerate them. Generally though, it's a losing battle trying to gain weight as long as the disease is active. After we get the inflammation under control, and begin to heal, we automatically began to gain weight again. And often, after we heal for a while, we'll be able to add other foods into our diet that will help us to gain weight.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Tex

[famichd0]

Thank you Tex. I greatly appreciate the insight as always.