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I keep reading about people being in remission, but what exactly does that mean? No diarrhea ever? Normal normans? No aches, pains, foggy brain, etc? None at all? What does remission mean to you and your condition? And what happens to you if by chance you goof up unintentionally? How long does it take for you to go back to remission? I would really like to know, to help base my own symptoms. Thanks!
Mandy
Can some explain "remission" to me?
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Remission probably has a slightly different definition for each of us. To me, it means total resolution of symptoms associated with the disease. That doesn't mean that I expect to never have diarrhea, because "normal" people occasionally have diarrhea when they catch a "bug" or eat something contaminated, or too spicy, or whatever. All the aches, pains, brain fog, etc., should disappear, and stay away, (unless I slip up and accidentally eat something that I shouldn't).
In early remission, you may find that your reactions seem to be more severe than they were before you started the diet, because the antibodies are still in circulation, and the immune system is still in a heightened state of alert, with nothing to distract it, so it is primed and ready to react. With time, though, the immune system sentinels will slowly begin to relax, and the system will reach a state of homeostasis. After you have been in remission for a while, (like a year or more), you will find that an accidental exposure to a trigger food will bring a milder reaction that it would have previously, and you will recover faster - those are the benefits of a gut that has enjoyed some significant healing. After a few years of clean remission, a reaction will usually last for a day, or less - IOW, long enough to get the food that caused it out of the system.
At least, that's what it means to me.
Tex
In early remission, you may find that your reactions seem to be more severe than they were before you started the diet, because the antibodies are still in circulation, and the immune system is still in a heightened state of alert, with nothing to distract it, so it is primed and ready to react. With time, though, the immune system sentinels will slowly begin to relax, and the system will reach a state of homeostasis. After you have been in remission for a while, (like a year or more), you will find that an accidental exposure to a trigger food will bring a milder reaction that it would have previously, and you will recover faster - those are the benefits of a gut that has enjoyed some significant healing. After a few years of clean remission, a reaction will usually last for a day, or less - IOW, long enough to get the food that caused it out of the system.
At least, that's what it means to me.
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.