Hi Pat!
To answer your questions, I agree with Tex that the diminishing odor is a good sign. Also, as I said, for me it took almost 9 mo. of diet before the D stopped. And guess what!? It didn't happen gradually - it happened all at once, like over 1-2 days! I think it took such a long time because I also had other food sensitivities that I was not aware of. I did stop dairy fairly quickly but didn't yet know about the corn, chocolate, soy, etc. Did you have any of Dr. Fine's other tests for food intolerances?
Hang in there.........your gut will eventually heal. Have you noticed at least an improvement in sense of well-being and frequency/urgency of D?
Love,
Polly
Paging Pat
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Paging Pat
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
Polly,
Dr. Fine found intolerance for gluten, casein, and soy. I noticed that dairy gave me reflux. I was tested for fructose intolerance and that was very high. So I am eating only plain meats, rice, and some green veggies, mostly spinach sauteed in olive oil. That helps keep my weight up. I was eating potatoes but I noticed that I had more urgency and frequency when eating them so I quit. I've never been tested for corn but I am just staying away right now to be safe. This is a very boring diet but I will do it if it helps. It's just slow. Thanks for responding - you give me hope!
Pat
Dr. Fine found intolerance for gluten, casein, and soy. I noticed that dairy gave me reflux. I was tested for fructose intolerance and that was very high. So I am eating only plain meats, rice, and some green veggies, mostly spinach sauteed in olive oil. That helps keep my weight up. I was eating potatoes but I noticed that I had more urgency and frequency when eating them so I quit. I've never been tested for corn but I am just staying away right now to be safe. This is a very boring diet but I will do it if it helps. It's just slow. Thanks for responding - you give me hope!
Pat
Pat
It has been a while since I checked in but had to notice that you are eating spinach on a regular basis. Used to grow lots of spinach and before MC loved a spinach salad with Poppy seed dressing. Some time back we had a discussion on foods that contain oxalic acid. Spinach is on of them. Oxalic acid in large amounts is toxic. In small amounts it still can send me into weeks of recovery.
Google Oxalic Acid for some revealing info.
Hope this helps. It was a revelation to me and was one of my steps to to recovery.
Matthew
It has been a while since I checked in but had to notice that you are eating spinach on a regular basis. Used to grow lots of spinach and before MC loved a spinach salad with Poppy seed dressing. Some time back we had a discussion on foods that contain oxalic acid. Spinach is on of them. Oxalic acid in large amounts is toxic. In small amounts it still can send me into weeks of recovery.
Google Oxalic Acid for some revealing info.
Hope this helps. It was a revelation to me and was one of my steps to to recovery.
Matthew
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MaggieRedwings
- King Penguin
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Morning Pat,
I have to agree with Matt on the spinach and amongst my intolerances are nightshade veggies - peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and Potatoes. They really do make me flare with the exception of the potatoes. I have done pretty well with them and some call me the Potato Queen.
Love, Maggie
I have to agree with Matt on the spinach and amongst my intolerances are nightshade veggies - peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and Potatoes. They really do make me flare with the exception of the potatoes. I have done pretty well with them and some call me the Potato Queen.
Love, Maggie
Maggie Scarpone
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
I don't eat spinach simply because I don't like the bitter taste, (which is probably due to the high oxalic acid content), but I have to agree with Matthew, that significant amounts of oxalic acid in the diet, (especially for MCers), is probably not a good idea.
Tex
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.
Pat,
With temporary fructose intolerance, (the kind you get with MC, rather than genetic fructose intolerance), tolerance depends on the amount that you eat at any given time, (IOW, helping size), because you are still capable of producing the necessary enzymes, but your body is just not producing enough of them, due to intestinal damage. When I was recovering, for example, I could drink one coke per day, (because the glucose in HFCS actually helps to make the fructose more digestable), but two would cause problems. I couldn't eat most fruit, but could eat green beans and asparagus. Here's a site with lists of "Intestine Friendly" foods, (from a fructose intolerance viewpoint):
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:Nt ... cd=1&gl=us
Note that the list includes the same vegetables that most of us here have found to be suitable, including asparagus, califlower, broccoli, white potatoes, etc.
Tex
With temporary fructose intolerance, (the kind you get with MC, rather than genetic fructose intolerance), tolerance depends on the amount that you eat at any given time, (IOW, helping size), because you are still capable of producing the necessary enzymes, but your body is just not producing enough of them, due to intestinal damage. When I was recovering, for example, I could drink one coke per day, (because the glucose in HFCS actually helps to make the fructose more digestable), but two would cause problems. I couldn't eat most fruit, but could eat green beans and asparagus. Here's a site with lists of "Intestine Friendly" foods, (from a fructose intolerance viewpoint):
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:Nt ... cd=1&gl=us
Note that the list includes the same vegetables that most of us here have found to be suitable, including asparagus, califlower, broccoli, white potatoes, etc.
Tex
Tex,
I have tried even the smallest amounts and have a problem. I was told I should be able to tolerate sucrose because the glucose would help me to absorb the fructose but I have not been able to tolerate it. I have tried very small amounts of supposedly intestine friendly fruits but I can tell immediately that they don't work yet. I have made some "cookies" with rice flour and dextrose and I am not sure I tolerate even the dextrose. Is that crazy or what? I think maybe some of it may be the fiber in the fruit or veggies but I don't know for sure. I am really tired of this. I am waiting on the capsule endoscopy to be approved by my insurance and then maybe my doctor will start me on some medications to help me. I feel that this is a very unhealthy diet and that some other major illness will occur down the road if I am not able to start eating some healthy fruits and vegetables soon. Sorry, I just needed to unload that thought. Thanks for being here.
Pat
I have tried even the smallest amounts and have a problem. I was told I should be able to tolerate sucrose because the glucose would help me to absorb the fructose but I have not been able to tolerate it. I have tried very small amounts of supposedly intestine friendly fruits but I can tell immediately that they don't work yet. I have made some "cookies" with rice flour and dextrose and I am not sure I tolerate even the dextrose. Is that crazy or what? I think maybe some of it may be the fiber in the fruit or veggies but I don't know for sure. I am really tired of this. I am waiting on the capsule endoscopy to be approved by my insurance and then maybe my doctor will start me on some medications to help me. I feel that this is a very unhealthy diet and that some other major illness will occur down the road if I am not able to start eating some healthy fruits and vegetables soon. Sorry, I just needed to unload that thought. Thanks for being here.
Pat
Well, it's pretty clear that you are a lot more sugar intolerant than most of the rest of us are/were. I never had to stop eating white potatoes, for example, (I ate a lot of them), and I lived on meat and potatoes and minor amounts of a few other things, for a couple of years.
At my "low point", I couldn't tolerate any more than trace amounts of dextrose, either. Have you tried maple sugar? Shirley and Polly persuaded me to try maple sugar, when nothing else seemed to work. That was one sugar that I could tolerate in significant amounts, (though I have no idea why, because even honey was a problem). Maybe maple sugar would work for cookies with rice flour. That's not gonna help with the veggies, though, obviously.
With an enzyme problem that significant, I'd bet just about anything that you're a celiac, (even though you may not present with measurable villous atrophy. Maybe the camera capsule endoscopy will offer some clues. The big factor, (as in so many of these medical exams), is the skill of the doctor in interpreting what he or she is seeing. Sometimes the clues are pretty subtle, and they're overlooked.
I always suspected fiber, too, when I was reacting, and sometimes I ate nothing but meat for a while. You can get every nutrient you need from meat, for all practical purposes, but you have to eat fatty meat, in order to deep from developing "rabbit fever", and the problem with MCers and celiacs, is that they usually have a fat malabsorption problem that is marked by stgeatorrhea. it's a "Catch 22" situation.
I hope the insurance company comes through with an approval pretty soon. Every week seems almost like an eternity, when you're in a situation like that. It's a shame that the people making the decisions at the insurance companies can't experience the same things that we go through. I'm sure it would speed up things considerably, if they were forced to do most of their thinking while sitting on the throne.
Tex
At my "low point", I couldn't tolerate any more than trace amounts of dextrose, either. Have you tried maple sugar? Shirley and Polly persuaded me to try maple sugar, when nothing else seemed to work. That was one sugar that I could tolerate in significant amounts, (though I have no idea why, because even honey was a problem). Maybe maple sugar would work for cookies with rice flour. That's not gonna help with the veggies, though, obviously.
With an enzyme problem that significant, I'd bet just about anything that you're a celiac, (even though you may not present with measurable villous atrophy. Maybe the camera capsule endoscopy will offer some clues. The big factor, (as in so many of these medical exams), is the skill of the doctor in interpreting what he or she is seeing. Sometimes the clues are pretty subtle, and they're overlooked.
I always suspected fiber, too, when I was reacting, and sometimes I ate nothing but meat for a while. You can get every nutrient you need from meat, for all practical purposes, but you have to eat fatty meat, in order to deep from developing "rabbit fever", and the problem with MCers and celiacs, is that they usually have a fat malabsorption problem that is marked by stgeatorrhea. it's a "Catch 22" situation.
I hope the insurance company comes through with an approval pretty soon. Every week seems almost like an eternity, when you're in a situation like that. It's a shame that the people making the decisions at the insurance companies can't experience the same things that we go through. I'm sure it would speed up things considerably, if they were forced to do most of their thinking while sitting on the throne.
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.
Tex and all,
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I was especially thankful for this board and all of you.
I have great news! After your advice to stop the potatoes I have done so much better. It is incredible!!! I have been gradually cutting back on immodium just in case, but today I have not taken any. I was taking 6 and that really didn't help. I can't believe potatoes were affecting me so badly. I am only eating meats, rice, some green veggies, and eggs, and water only to drink. I think I will continue with this diet for awhile to let myself heal. Thank you all again.
Pat
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I was especially thankful for this board and all of you.
I have great news! After your advice to stop the potatoes I have done so much better. It is incredible!!! I have been gradually cutting back on immodium just in case, but today I have not taken any. I was taking 6 and that really didn't help. I can't believe potatoes were affecting me so badly. I am only eating meats, rice, some green veggies, and eggs, and water only to drink. I think I will continue with this diet for awhile to let myself heal. Thank you all again.
Pat
Mike,
I had fructose, Lactose, and bacterial overgrowth hydrogen breath testing. The only one that was positive was the fructose and very high. 113. The others weren't even close to being pos. They gave me literature from the internet and said read this and follow the diet. But that in 2 months I should be able to add back in some fruit. That was the end of June. The info on the internet that they gave me all contradicted each other. I have since changed doctors. The new one did the bacterial overgrowth test. I asked him to give me info for FI and he said they were working on it.
Pat
I had fructose, Lactose, and bacterial overgrowth hydrogen breath testing. The only one that was positive was the fructose and very high. 113. The others weren't even close to being pos. They gave me literature from the internet and said read this and follow the diet. But that in 2 months I should be able to add back in some fruit. That was the end of June. The info on the internet that they gave me all contradicted each other. I have since changed doctors. The new one did the bacterial overgrowth test. I asked him to give me info for FI and he said they were working on it.
Pat