corinne

I have microscopic colitis (collagenous). The D from microscopic colitis is very watery (sometimes completely clear for me) and very high volume. I also get cramps, gas, nausea and vomiting. Obviously, this can only be diagnosed with a colonoscopy. If you do this, make sure you have a competent doctor who takes plenty of samples. This can only be diagnosed in the lab under the microscope.

The first line of treatment my doctor tried was 2 peptobismol 4 times a day. That worked for one year, then the D came back. Next, I eliminated gluten (my mother is celiac) and that lessened symptoms, but I still had frequent D. I now eat a very restricted diet - no grains (including rice+corn), no dairy, no beans including soy, no eggs, no red meat, no nuts, no sugar, no starches including potatoes etc and I'm mostly symptom free. Obviously, this is not an easy diet to follow, but for now, it's working. Occasionally, I still have flare-ups, but these are treated with immodium and if that doesn't help, then lomotil. I haven't tried asacol or entocort yet. PM me if you have more questions. There are also two online boards for microscopic colitis.

Apples are also high in fructose. Some people can tolerate them just fine, some can't. Unfortunately, a lot of this is trial and error. I'm recovering from the Norwalk virus (definitely not what you need with colitis) and for about a week, I ate the intro diet. I have since added well-cooked bananas, spinach, green beans, avocado and tuna. A bit boring, but it covers all the vitamins and I'm off all antidiarrheal meds and mostly pain-free.

You won't necessarily be able to eat everything on the SCD. Pears have a high fructose:sucrose ratio and that can cause gas/D. I'm just getting over a virus and I can't eat them at the moment. Can you eat bananas? They're a bit of a safer choice. Apricots (cooked + peeled) are another good choice. I usually introduce a new food for 4 days. Then I don't eat it for 2 days. I compare how I felt with and without the food and decide if it's worthwhile keeping the food in my diet at this time.

Junket was my absolute favourite dessert as a kid. I didn't know it was still around. I wonder, can you make it dairy free?

I get mouth sores from gluten. Those are painful! A couple of home remedies: put a baking powder paste on the sores and leave for 5 minutes then rinse. You can also rinse with hydrogen peroxide. It stings, but they heal faster.

Your dentist or doctor can also prescribe cream which numbs them and helps them heal.

I'm on it (1.5 years now) so let me know how things are going.

I have microscopic colitis (the collagenous variation). I was diagnosed 2.5 years ago. I don't have celiac disease, but my mother does. I manage the colitis with a very strict diet (a variation of the SCD -no gluten, no grains including corn and rice, no soy, no dairy, no nuts, no legumes, no raw fruit or veggies etc.). It's a tough diet to stick with and may not work for everyone, but I'd rather have a strict diet than take some of the meds. I do take Lomotil as needed. Currently, I'm getting over a bout of Norwalk virus (arrghh - I teach and 3 students showed up sick) so I'm taking 4 Lomotil per day. So far, I haven't tried Asacol, Entocort, etc. Peptobismol did work for me for 1 year. PM if you have any questions.

I have collagenous colitis. It's the same thing as what you have, but they don't call it sprue, because for whatever reason I don't have celiac disease (although my mother does). Although a gluten free diet doesn't cure it, I do know that diet plays a big role in minimizing progression of damage. I have chosen to eat a very restricted diet (a variation of the SCD -no gluten, soy, dairy, nuts, raw fruits or veggies, red meat etc.) For me, that minimizes my symptoms and I only need to take small doses of Lomotil. Others find relief mostly with medication - particularly Asacol or sometimes Entocort. It is often an up-and-down path. PM me if you have questions.

Gfp - that's interesting. I did my undergrad in industrial chemistry and worked in the oil industry. I eventually decided to go back to grad school in biogeochemistry. I just started a tenure track position. I love the job - but it's a definite tradeoff in terms of $$ and workload.

Just a note - organoarsenic compounds are actually non-toxic (well everything is toxic at high enough dose but ...)

Arsenate is acutely toxic because it can substitute for phosphate in ATP. The methylated arsenic(V) compounds, arsenocholine, arsenosugars etc. cannot substitute for phosphate. Arsenite is carcinogenic but all organoarsenic compounds encountered under normal conditions are variations of arsenate and are not carcinogenic. Also, as you noted, organoarsenic compounds are readily excreted.

I'm a biogeochemist and I specialize in arsenic analysis. I focus on algae, but I have done some analysis of foods including rice. Almost all foods contain some arsenic. One poster asked about other grains. All grains can contain arsenic. Plants accumulate arsenic from the soil they are grown in. I'll be doing some fieldwork in a high arsenic area this summer and it might be interesting to collect some corn from farms in the area. Drinking water also has arsenic and the levels vary depending on where you live. Seafood, particularly, shrimp, clams etc. is very high in arsenic, but this is organic arsenic. Unlike organic mercury, organic arsenic is non-toxic. The other thing to keep in mind is that arsenic does not bioaccumulate, unlike mercury. It will be found in hair, but it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier. The main problem with inorganic arsenic is that it increases the risk of stomach and skin cancer.

I have collagenous colitis which can be treated by a gluten-free diet. It's too hard to explain to most people so I usually just say that eating some foods makes me sick, to someone who's interested I'll explain that I can't eat gluten and if they're interested I'll explain some more what this type of colitis is (no it's not Crohn's ...). Probably same thing for someone with celiac disease. Different explanations for different people. Occasionally I get asked by those with celiac disease why I'm on the diet and most accept that there are other diseases caused by gluten. So I guess I don't call myself anything.

The sugars in beans and lentils can be hard to digest when you have D (and cause D for some) even if the beans are washed well and cooked properly. I stick to bananas and applesauce. I can eat chicken so I then cautiously add boiled chicken and boiled carrots.

I actually don't eat dairy or nuts. I know that dairy is considered an important component of the diet, but so far I react very strongly to even a teaspoon of yoghurt. A number of people suggest introducing dairy only when you have been free of D for some time, at the minimum a month.

I was up to stage 4 (on the pecanbread website), but going off the diet has thrown my insides into a spin. I finally decided to go back to stage 1 three weeks ago and I've been free of D now for 2.5 weeks. Because I have colitis, not celiac, I probably progress much slower than average and have more ups and downs. I introduce foods one at a time and no more than one every 4-7 days so I can be sure that a new food is ok.

Things are looking up though. I came down with the stomach flu this weekend (I teach and 3 of my students came to class sick last week - arrghhh) and I didn't get D. I had cramps, nausea and a fever, but it looks like that's it.

Mutual support would be great if others are planning to try the diet. It is stricter than most diets, doesn't work for everyone, but it's worth it to feel well if it does work for you.

Funny story to maybe lighten things up. When I was 20 and naive, I went to a waterski training camp in Montana. I was a Canadian resident at the time. My parents tried to talk me into buying health travel insurance, but of course you're invincible at that age and I refused to spend the money. Three days into the camp, I wiped out and got hit over the head with the fin of the waterski. The coach was going to drive me into the ER for stitches, but the estimated bill would be $1200 and I had to admit that I had no insurance and didn't have that much money. So he talked to his neighbour who is vet and his neighbour stitched up my head in trade for a case of beer. The vet did a great job; nice tight stitches and no scar. I guess a human was a lot easier to stitch.

If you missed recording it, you can always watch it on the internet. I gave up my TV when I started a new job last September and unfortunately I found that I could watch Grey's online. Now I'm addicted again.

Great article. Thanks. I also found the genetic tree of the grains interesting. It's interesting that rice is a shorter genetic distance to wheat (not sure whether tree is linear or logarithmic) than maize yet it seems that more people react corn than rice. It would be interesting treeing gliadin.

I wondered for a while if I needed to still stay on the SCD. Well, I went on a ski trip to Tahoe with a friend 2 months ago and I decided to go off the diet while on the trip because it would be much easier. I got sick which was not fun while on the mountain (I did see a lot of nice trees though ). It took 6 weeks for the D to settle back down. That's been motivational for me to behave myself and stick with it.

I've been on a variation of the SCD for 1.5 years. So far so good. I have collagenous colitis not celiac disease (which also responds for many with a gluten free diet). Just gluten free didn't work for me, but the SCD does. I still can't tolerate dairy, nuts and allowed beans yet.

I don't have time to double-check, but when I was in Boulder, I visited Celestial Seasonings and they said that their teas may not be gluten free because of the starch used to seal the teabags. This was 3 years ago so I'm not sure if this is still true and if this is the case with all of their herbal teas.

Also, depending how "outdoorsy" you are and where you are (if you're driving on the interstate or whether you're in the city), a nice spot in the forest is a lot better than any reststop. I carry a few rolls of TP in the car and handwipes. I have "visited" a lot of scenic views throughout Montana when I was living there.

I actually don't eat any nightshades. I seem to be sensitive to almost everything and eat about 8 foods (well-cooked fruit, carrots, boiled chicken and fish) so I guess these don't have anthing to do with diet - except maybe lack of some nutrients.

I, too, am on the Paelo diet. I have collagenous colitis, not celiac, but collagenous colitis is also triggered by gluten (among other things). I started by going gluten free which helped some, but still had frequent D. I then tried the specific carb diet, but finally realized that dairy was causing problems. I finally cut out dairy too and things are more or less under control, just one imodium in the morning. The specific carb diet is worthwhile trying if gluten free doesn't work. There's several threads here from about 8 months ago.

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RiceGuy - what is lucid dreaming?

When I get sleep paralysis, I wake up completely. I can see everything in my room if it's light out (usually it happens first thing in the morning), feel the covers, but just can't move for what seems like a long time, but is probably seconds. Usually, I work on wiggling my fingers and toes and when I can move those, I try my hands and feet etc. I wake up very quickly so it's disorienting and scary to find I can't move. Maybe if I could experience this in a more controlled way, I'd get more comfortable with the feeling.

I had a very mild case of chicken pox when I was 9 (less than 20 bumps). My brother came down with chicken pox when he was 22 and I volunteered to look after him for the week since I was immune. So I thought I anyways. I came down with chickenpox 10 days later. I had them everywhere (scalp, inside mouth etc.). So much for being a kind sister.