Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
with the excitement of thanksgiving we got distracted and missed the 1000'th member celebration
A toast to the founders, the long termers and the newbies of this group,
for the laughs, the support, the hugs, the advice, the time, the knowledge, the patience to explain things, for sharing the tears on a bad day, for sharing the success of 'norman and the normal BM happy dance' 'you can get your life back' 'happiness is a dry fa*rt'
It is a mixed emotion celebration - none of us deserve this wretched condition and the crap it brings when it is at its worse. (pun intended)
Cheers to all. (imagine a few hundred champagne glasses clinking...)
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never descreases by being shared
Siddhartha Guatama Buddha
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
The membership is growing at an accelerating rate. This board opened on May 24, 2005, and after one year, we had 78 members. we only picked up 43 members over the next year, but after that, growth began to pick up. Here's a chart of the membership data plotted against time. The last point on the chart shows the projected membership level on May 24, 2012, if we have the same number of new registrations during the last half of the year, as we've had so far during the first half.
It appears that MC diagnoses are increasing rather rapidly.
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.
You're the best host ever - and it looks as though this party will continue to grow, unfortunately for so many who are about to be diagnosed. (Though I think some folks with 'IBS' would be better off with the diagnosis, because that would lead them to the Google search that would bring them here, to the best little corner of the whole world wide web.)
I think they must be starting to recognize it as a "real" issue. I've been told in the past that I was "just nervous" and more recently, a few years ago when I had a lesser flare, "probably had a little IBS". This flare, now 8+ months, is the first time I was taken seriously, and even now, when my colonoscopy didn't show visible problems, my GI just recommended me to "eat more fiber" while waiting for the biopsy results.
Now that the biopsy results came back positive, and I have the official collagenous colitis diagnosis, he still didn't give me any preventive advice to go forward with, just said that this is "benign" and "incurable" and to manage the symptoms, they work from least toxic meds on up through the most toxic meds. Didn't say anything at all about gluten intolerance, tie-ins to other auto-immune disorders, or anything. It is good that it is on their radar and receiving at least some attention, maybe that will interest more docs in studying and researching this disease.
My guess is that the membership is growing, not because more people are getting diagnosed, but because more people are looking for answers to their symptoms on the internet. I can't recall where I first saw the term "microscopic colitis," but it was never mentioned by my doctor. I started searching the internet for information, and stumbled across this forum (thank goodness!). Still, when you have over 1000 people all saying the same thing, maybe it's time for the medical profession to take notice.
As relieved as I was to get a dx I am sorry for the people who have to deal with this. OTOH I know that when they find us, and they will get help, comfort and support.
And maybe, WHEN the numbers grow, maybe the doctors will find us too, and will take notice.
Cheers everyone and thank you for being here. A special thanks to you, Tex, for making this forum possible.
Love,
Kari
"My mouth waters whenever I pass a bakery shop and sniff the aroma of fresh bread, but I am also grateful simply to be alive and sniffing." Dr. Bernstein
I am enormously grateful to all of you, this amazing refuge and resource, and of course our magnificent host and master of ceremonies. Tex, thank you for your extraordinary wisdom and generosity. I have such enormous regard for the way you share your expertise, in such a way that each of us can take on become our own MC experts, at least regarding our own case.
Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
