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A little constipated now?
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A little constipated now?
What an odd disease this is. Any advice on what to do?
"It's not what I believe. It's what I can prove." - A Few Good Men
If you're taking Entocort or Pepto Bismol, reduce the dose, or stop taking it altogether. If you're not taking either of those, about 5 or 6 hundred mg of magnesium supplement per day should do the trick, (or take a magnesium-based laxative). Ground flax seed is a good laxative. 3 or 4 grams or so of fish oil per day should do it, also. More fiber, is another option. 
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.
Rich,
Dealing with mast cell related GI issues as I do, it is quite common to have C alternating with D. Each time I have a flare I generally start with mild D and then within a few days it switches to C. What a pain...literally and figuratively!
Dr. Scott Lewey (aka The Food Doc) explains this alternating phenomenon in this way: "Since mast cells release mediators that can affect the nerves of the gut resulting in increase contraction or reduced contractions, it makes sense that either diarrhea or constipation can occur."
Don't know if that in anyway might apply to your situation, but I offer it as food for thought.
In terms of how to deal with it, I always use food to get my gut going again. Long before I was diagnosed, but was symptomatic, I made the mistake of taking an OTC med for C. MISTAKE! I had diarrhea for days. Now that I know what I'm dealing with I would never take meds again for C, unless it was medically necessary.
May sound strange but my "go to" food for C is asparagus. For myself it doesn't cause any GI distress but it does help get things "moving along" so to speak. It usually takes a couple of servings over the course of a few days, but it usually works. The trick is not to over do it, or else the pendulum might again swing the other way!
Perhaps you might have some non-reactive food(s) that could help get your system back in balance. I know the discomfort of C, so I wish you well and hope things are back to normal soon!
Be well,
Julie
Dealing with mast cell related GI issues as I do, it is quite common to have C alternating with D. Each time I have a flare I generally start with mild D and then within a few days it switches to C. What a pain...literally and figuratively!
Dr. Scott Lewey (aka The Food Doc) explains this alternating phenomenon in this way: "Since mast cells release mediators that can affect the nerves of the gut resulting in increase contraction or reduced contractions, it makes sense that either diarrhea or constipation can occur."
Don't know if that in anyway might apply to your situation, but I offer it as food for thought.
In terms of how to deal with it, I always use food to get my gut going again. Long before I was diagnosed, but was symptomatic, I made the mistake of taking an OTC med for C. MISTAKE! I had diarrhea for days. Now that I know what I'm dealing with I would never take meds again for C, unless it was medically necessary.
May sound strange but my "go to" food for C is asparagus. For myself it doesn't cause any GI distress but it does help get things "moving along" so to speak. It usually takes a couple of servings over the course of a few days, but it usually works. The trick is not to over do it, or else the pendulum might again swing the other way!
Perhaps you might have some non-reactive food(s) that could help get your system back in balance. I know the discomfort of C, so I wish you well and hope things are back to normal soon!
Be well,
Julie