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Hi all. I was diagnosed with LC last summer. I modified my diet to remove soy, eggs, gluten, and dairy and had almost immediate improvement. After a few months of being symptom free, I started challenging these items and I have added back soy, eggs, and dairy with no problem. I am still gluten-free, though I have been sloppier about it (and have had no symptoms when I get glutened).
What should I expect now? Is this disease just lurking in me waiting to strike again, or can I hope for permanant relief from it? I know I have been very lucky thus far. I'd like to hear experiences from others who have controlled their disease so I can get a feeling about what my future might hold. Thank you all in advance.
Love,
-Karen
It's been a while. An update from me.
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karenswans
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Hi Karen,
Please be aware that there is a phenomenon by which some of us develop a tolerance for certain food-sensitivities after a while. This is even documented by research, for celiacs - some of them become tolerant to gluten, over time.
The problem is, (as I recently proved by a stool test at EnteroLab), even though I am asymptomatic to casein, I produce antibodies to it, so I was obviously causing damage my body, by eating casein, so I have banished it from my diet, forever. The moral is, just because you can eat a food after once being sensitive to it, does not mean that eating it is not damaging your body. My opinion is that once we are sensitive, we are always sensitive, regardless of the fact that we might be asymptomatic.
In the cases of celiacs, for example, many childhood cases have been encouraged by their doctors to reintroduce gluten into their diet, later in life, and sure enough, many of them do not develop celiac symptoms. However, after enough time passes, if their biopsies are examined, most of them eventually show major villus damage, and the few that don't show that damage have developed a tolerance, so that they have no villus flattening, but they almost surely, (I'm guessing), still develop antibodies in their intestines, though they are asymptomatic. All this is covered in my book, FWIW.
Thanks for the update - that's an interesting turn of events. I hope your remission continues.
Love,
Tex
Please be aware that there is a phenomenon by which some of us develop a tolerance for certain food-sensitivities after a while. This is even documented by research, for celiacs - some of them become tolerant to gluten, over time.
The problem is, (as I recently proved by a stool test at EnteroLab), even though I am asymptomatic to casein, I produce antibodies to it, so I was obviously causing damage my body, by eating casein, so I have banished it from my diet, forever. The moral is, just because you can eat a food after once being sensitive to it, does not mean that eating it is not damaging your body. My opinion is that once we are sensitive, we are always sensitive, regardless of the fact that we might be asymptomatic.
In the cases of celiacs, for example, many childhood cases have been encouraged by their doctors to reintroduce gluten into their diet, later in life, and sure enough, many of them do not develop celiac symptoms. However, after enough time passes, if their biopsies are examined, most of them eventually show major villus damage, and the few that don't show that damage have developed a tolerance, so that they have no villus flattening, but they almost surely, (I'm guessing), still develop antibodies in their intestines, though they are asymptomatic. All this is covered in my book, FWIW.
There are two possibilities - either you are just slow to build up antibodies, in which case you will eventually begin to react, (it could be next week, next month, or a year from now), or you have developed a tolerance, and you are one of the few who will remain asymptomatic, (you can verify that you are still producing antibodies by ordering a stool test, as I did).Karen wrote:What should I expect now?
Thanks for the update - that's an interesting turn of events. I hope your remission continues.
Love,
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.
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karenswans
- Adélie Penguin
- Posts: 104
- Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 7:12 am
