Period & Asacol newbie questions

Aphrodite · Post by **Aphrodite** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:58 am

Hi all! It's my first post, although i'm reading almost everything here for the last 2 months.
My name is Aphrodite and i come from Greece. First of all please forgive my English. I am so so happy that i found this forum. You have been a great help and you have answered to a lot of my questions. God bless all of you!!
Before i discover this forum (and Microscopic colitis book - thank you so much Tex by the way really really great research!

) i was absolutely sure that i will have to live with medication for the rest of my life... I was diagnosted with CC 2 years ago and i'm on Asacol 2*800/day since then. In cases my sympotms get worse, my doctor increases the dose to 3*800 / day for a couple of weeks. I also take probiotics and magnesium every day. Ever since i have found this forum and read the book i am convinced that a GF,SF and SF diet might be the answer to many problems...Bad thing is that we ( here in Greece) have no gluten free restaurants or a lot of GF foods i can buy (pasta and rice wafer is most common to find) and if i want to go to a diet like that, i should prepare almost everything by myself -which is not too hard but not too easy either. .but it sure worths to give it a try!

I have some questions to ask if someone knows.

1) I suffered from terrible period pains and i had to take 5-6 anti-inflammatory pills my first and 5-6 also the second period day.. my doctor advised me start taking birth control pills because then i wouldn't have any pain and that way i would avoid anti-inflammatory pills (which he couldn't tell for sure what i can or cant take due to CC problem). So i did for the past 2 years. But i wish to stop birth control pills and knowing that i'll have the same pain problem again i dont know which anti-inflammatory pills will not affect my CC..(paracetamol i think is safe but i'm not absolutely certain for no other)
2)I wanna try the food allergy test but we only have here for IgG antibodies(not IgA). Is it the same as Enterolab test? Can its results be safe when I take Asacol at the same time?
3)As soon as someone has a medication lower dosage, which is the most appropriate drugs for possible painful cramps?

Thank you all so much

Love
Aphrodite

Post by **tex** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 2:27 pm

Hello Aphrodite,

Welcome to our Internet family. Your English is very good. And you are on the right path to be able to control your symptoms by diet. Most of us here also have to cook most of our own food because even the so-called gluten-free restaurants are often unable to avoid cross-contamination in their food, and even a tiny crumb of gluten is enough to make most of us react.

For controlling pain, the class of medications known as NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are the most likely to cause problems for us. The only safe pain control medications for MC patients are paracetamol and tramadol. The opioid painkillers will not trigger an MC flare, but they can cause serious impaction problems because they slow down the motility of the digestive system. When diarrhea is one's main problem, slower motility can seem like a good thing, and it might be, for a while. But extended use of narcotic painkillers often leads to life-threatening impaction problems, so they should be used with care, and only if nothing else works.

MC is affected by hormones, so some women have found that the use of contraceptives prevent them from being able to control their MC symptoms. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can also prevent remission in many cases. Magnesium should help to reduce pains associated with your cycle, but it's not a complete remedy. Research shows that certain hormonal changes prevent the body from absorbing magnesium from food and so it becomes deficient. For example, this happens during pregnancy and results in morning sickness. Women who increase their magnesium intake before the hormonal changes begin are able to minimize their morning sickness symptoms.

The IgA stool test used by EnteroLab is unique — no other laboratory in the world offers these tests. The IgG blood tests can be somewhat helpful, but they are far inferior to the stool tests because they have relatively poor sensitivity when compared with the stool tests. It's possible that you might be able to order an EnteroLab test kit from Greece. It depends on your Customs laws, and I have no idea what your country allows to be imported or exported. If you email EnteroLab they might be able to tell you if it's possible for them to ship a test collection kit to you.

Asacol might slightly reduce the test sensitivity, but I doubt that it would have enough effect to be significant.

Some of the members here who have had to deal with painful cramps can answer your question about how to control the pain much better than I can. I believe that some have found it helpful to increase their magnesium intake before the cramps usually begin.

I hope that some of this is helpful. You're very welcome, and again, welcome to the forum.

Love,
Tex

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 8:47 pm

Welcome to the forum Aphrodite!

In line with what Tex said, magnesium has been a huge help to me. I have to take 600-700 mg of ReMag (liquid magnesium) to keep symptoms at bay. I no longer have sore breasts or horrible cramping during my period. Taking an Epsom salts bath and using a heating pad can also help in the meantime. Spraying the belly with mag oil can also reduce pain.....

Aphrodite · Post by **Aphrodite** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:02 am

Thanks to everyone for all the invaluable info!

I'll get in touch for Enterolab test & try liquid mag

Thank you all once again for helping so much

xxx
Aphrodite

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:11 am

Aphrodite,

Make sure you start very slowly and follow Dr. Dean's instructions. You can also use the ReMag topically which is nice.