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Faith,
Thank you for the article on fish and meats. I don't eat red meat so I don't have to worry about that, but I do eat fish. I get my grouper from the local fish market and they say they get it fresh daily, but living in Tennessee I don't know how. Chicken has not been good to me lately so I have not be eating it. I don't have any rashes and I did read the link that Tex sent. Once I find out what, if anything, they found in my latest analysis, then I guess I will have to revamp my diet. When I go to the new GI I am going to bring up the Mast Cell.
Shirley,
I don't want to lose any more, my dh is going to be very upset when he finds out I lost more weight. He already calls me "bones."
Tex,
I made my HazMat delivery to the hospital this afternoon. I told them if this was not enough that there was plenty more where that came from. Hopefully, I will hear something tomorrow. BTW, I took antibiotics in September b/c my old GI wanted to rule out small bowel bacterial overgrowth. I can't remember if the meds (or what it was that he prescribed) worked, but I guess it didn't b/c I still going 20+ times a day.
Love,
Rose
Just a little frustrated
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Rose,
Hmmmmmm. Antibiotic-induced pseudomembraneous colitis, (as the guys in the white coats prefer to refer to C. diff), can turn up promptly, or it can develop several months after taking an antibiotic, which is not very far from the time frame in which you developed the "extra intensity" in your symptoms. Do you remember what you were prescribed? Was it amoxicillin, by any chance, (or one of the other penicillin class antibiotics)? If so, that class of antibiotics holds the worst record for causing C. diff. It should be illegal to prescribe it, unless there is absolutely no other choice, and a patient's life is at stake.
Love,
Tex
Hmmmmmm. Antibiotic-induced pseudomembraneous colitis, (as the guys in the white coats prefer to refer to C. diff), can turn up promptly, or it can develop several months after taking an antibiotic, which is not very far from the time frame in which you developed the "extra intensity" in your symptoms. Do you remember what you were prescribed? Was it amoxicillin, by any chance, (or one of the other penicillin class antibiotics)? If so, that class of antibiotics holds the worst record for causing C. diff. It should be illegal to prescribe it, unless there is absolutely no other choice, and a patient's life is at stake.
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.
Tex,
You know I can't remember, but I do have all of my receipts for Rx's and will go through them and find out. I swear every night now I am having an accident. It is getting really crazy and I am running out of bathroom cleaner!! Oh well, hopefully the dr's office will call soon. I have my dh and my MIL calling me all morning with "have you heard yet." My dh asked me last night what my weight was and I told him "no comment" he said that he knew that I lost weight b/c I did not tell him what my weight was (I usually do when I have either gained or remained steady). He is sly.
Love,
Rose
You know I can't remember, but I do have all of my receipts for Rx's and will go through them and find out. I swear every night now I am having an accident. It is getting really crazy and I am running out of bathroom cleaner!! Oh well, hopefully the dr's office will call soon. I have my dh and my MIL calling me all morning with "have you heard yet." My dh asked me last night what my weight was and I told him "no comment" he said that he knew that I lost weight b/c I did not tell him what my weight was (I usually do when I have either gained or remained steady). He is sly.
Love,
Rose
Tex,
I found the prescription (actually 2). My GI prescribed Doxycycline 100 mg in June. I took 1 pill 2x a day to treat possible SIBO. Then in October 2008, my dentist prescribed penicillin 500 mg 4x a day to treat the infection in one tooth that required a root canal. I still have not heard anything from my GP's office regarding the analysis and I hope to get that information soon.
Love,
Rose
I found the prescription (actually 2). My GI prescribed Doxycycline 100 mg in June. I took 1 pill 2x a day to treat possible SIBO. Then in October 2008, my dentist prescribed penicillin 500 mg 4x a day to treat the infection in one tooth that required a root canal. I still have not heard anything from my GP's office regarding the analysis and I hope to get that information soon.
Love,
Rose
Rose,
Of course, any of us can be unlucky enough to develop C. diff, from virtually any antibiotic use, but doxycycline is part of the tetracycline family, and probably imposes only a moderate risk of leading to C. diff, (as compared with a high risk from antibiotics such as amoxicillin, clindamycin, etc). The same applies to penicillin, since it's a rather narrow-spectrum antibiotic, and therefore not likely to totally depopulate the gut, the way that some of the broad-spectrum antibiotics tend to do.
Still, any distortion of the status quo in the gut, can lead to possible adverse consequences, somewhere down the line, if luck is not on our side. Also, it's possible that the first treatment altered the gut population dynamics, and the second one was enough to tip the balance, so that the combination led to problems, a couple of months down the line.
I guess we'll soon find out. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that it may take a few days before the culture results can be accurately interpreted. Clostridium difficile didn't come by that name without a reason. In French, “difficile” means difficult. IOW, C. difficile is very difficult to grow in a laboratory, so that's why it was given that particular name, and that's also why I always recommend to anyone being tested for C. diff to try at least one more culture, if the first one is negative for C. diff. It's not particularly unusual to get two negative tests, before finally getting a positive test result.
That's why I'm not going to nag you every few hours, to see if you've received a report of the test results.
Love,
Tex
Of course, any of us can be unlucky enough to develop C. diff, from virtually any antibiotic use, but doxycycline is part of the tetracycline family, and probably imposes only a moderate risk of leading to C. diff, (as compared with a high risk from antibiotics such as amoxicillin, clindamycin, etc). The same applies to penicillin, since it's a rather narrow-spectrum antibiotic, and therefore not likely to totally depopulate the gut, the way that some of the broad-spectrum antibiotics tend to do.
Still, any distortion of the status quo in the gut, can lead to possible adverse consequences, somewhere down the line, if luck is not on our side. Also, it's possible that the first treatment altered the gut population dynamics, and the second one was enough to tip the balance, so that the combination led to problems, a couple of months down the line.
I guess we'll soon find out. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that it may take a few days before the culture results can be accurately interpreted. Clostridium difficile didn't come by that name without a reason. In French, “difficile” means difficult. IOW, C. difficile is very difficult to grow in a laboratory, so that's why it was given that particular name, and that's also why I always recommend to anyone being tested for C. diff to try at least one more culture, if the first one is negative for C. diff. It's not particularly unusual to get two negative tests, before finally getting a positive test result.
That's why I'm not going to nag you every few hours, to see if you've received a report of the test results.
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.
Tex,
THANK YOU for that information. My dear MIL is driving me crazy. She keeps asking me if I have heard and how soon do I think I will know. I told her I will know when I do and I will call her. I think that I will turn my cell phone off. If it comes back neg, I will ask for another test. I mean what the heck, I have plenty of poop for them to look at, its not likely that I will run out of runs any times soon. LOL.
Love,
Rose
THANK YOU for that information. My dear MIL is driving me crazy. She keeps asking me if I have heard and how soon do I think I will know. I told her I will know when I do and I will call her. I think that I will turn my cell phone off. If it comes back neg, I will ask for another test. I mean what the heck, I have plenty of poop for them to look at, its not likely that I will run out of runs any times soon. LOL.
Love,
Rose
Tex,
I have something really puzzling to tell you. Last night I had no runs to my office, in fact, I only went 5 times yesterday all in the morning. I ate the same thing for dinner, cooked zuchinni, yellow squash & mushrooms with tuna, plus I had 2 glasses of white wine (I figure if I am going to have a blow-out I might as well enjoy myself) with my dh. Go figure. I didn't have to go until I got up at 3:00 to exercise. So far today I have only gone 3 times with no watery d. Maybe I just pooped myself out from the past week. LOL
Love,
Rose
I have something really puzzling to tell you. Last night I had no runs to my office, in fact, I only went 5 times yesterday all in the morning. I ate the same thing for dinner, cooked zuchinni, yellow squash & mushrooms with tuna, plus I had 2 glasses of white wine (I figure if I am going to have a blow-out I might as well enjoy myself) with my dh. Go figure. I didn't have to go until I got up at 3:00 to exercise. So far today I have only gone 3 times with no watery d. Maybe I just pooped myself out from the past week. LOL
Love,
Rose
Rose,
Wow! That's quite a turn of events. Surely, if you had a virus, it wouldn't have lasted as long as that flare. I suppose it's possible that you had some sort of intestinal "bug", that finally ran it's course. Believe it or not, even most C. diff infections eventually run their course, and resolve without treatment.
At any rate, now that whatever it was, is out of the way, (hopefully), you will be able to control your symptoms by diet, because you'll be able to more easily detect problem foods, now, so that you can fine-tune your diet, if needed.
Thanks for the good news - that will make me smile, the rest of the day.
Love,
Tex
Wow! That's quite a turn of events. Surely, if you had a virus, it wouldn't have lasted as long as that flare. I suppose it's possible that you had some sort of intestinal "bug", that finally ran it's course. Believe it or not, even most C. diff infections eventually run their course, and resolve without treatment.
At any rate, now that whatever it was, is out of the way, (hopefully), you will be able to control your symptoms by diet, because you'll be able to more easily detect problem foods, now, so that you can fine-tune your diet, if needed.
Thanks for the good news - that will make me smile, the rest of the day.
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.
Tex and Shirley,
Thanks, so far so good, just a lot of acid reflux and gas (but thats ok by me, it is better than what I was going through). I am keeping everything crossed, if I could cross my butt cheeks believe me I would. I just hope that it lasts. I have done this before where I am ok for 1 or 2 days and then blam-O, right back to square 1. But if I can give my bowels a couple of days rest, then thats a good thing.
Keep smiling Tex.
Love,
Rose
Thanks, so far so good, just a lot of acid reflux and gas (but thats ok by me, it is better than what I was going through). I am keeping everything crossed, if I could cross my butt cheeks believe me I would. I just hope that it lasts. I have done this before where I am ok for 1 or 2 days and then blam-O, right back to square 1. But if I can give my bowels a couple of days rest, then thats a good thing.
Keep smiling Tex.
Love,
Rose
.Well guys, it didn't last long. We went to Walmart this afternoon and what a blow-out. I didn't think I was going to make it to the bathroom and when I got there it was closed for cleaning. So I bolted for the family bathroom and somebody was in there. Then the person in the family bathroom came out and I just made it. Whew. It was water. This evening, water and my stomach is doing the big flush thing. At least I had most of the weekend off.
Better luck next time.
Love,
Rose
Better luck next time.
Love,
Rose
Rose,
Bummer! I'm sorry that happened.
Speaking of Wal-mart, and bathrooms closed for cleaning, we recently had a round with Wal-mart about that, (last October), and received a concession from them, concerning their bathroom policy. To be honest, I'm not certain, but I got the impression that this change would apply to the entire chain, (not just the store that we had the issue with). Basically, the change allows anyone with an "IBD card" to have priority access to their restrooms. "Closed for cleaning" no longer applies, if you have one of these cards, and you present it, while asking to use their restroom.
In addition, the changes that went into effect on January 1st of this year, for the Americans With Disabilities Act, also apply to that situation. For one thing, the changes in the law give much more importance to disabling diseases such as IBDs, and anyone with such a condition must be accommodated, without substantiating proof, (if I understand the law correctly). IOW, if you say that you have to have immediate access to a bathroom, because you have an inflammatory bowel disease, they cannot legally argue with you about whether or not you actually have it, or whether or not you actually need access to their facilities. Treatment, or other compensation is not relevant - IOW, it doesn't matter if you are taking meds, or if you are on a diet to control it, or whatever. If you make such a request, you must be treated as though access is urgent, and your condition is untreatable, (whether or not it actually is).
Here's a thread about the Wal-mart policy change:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... hroom+card
Love,
Tex
Bummer! I'm sorry that happened.
Speaking of Wal-mart, and bathrooms closed for cleaning, we recently had a round with Wal-mart about that, (last October), and received a concession from them, concerning their bathroom policy. To be honest, I'm not certain, but I got the impression that this change would apply to the entire chain, (not just the store that we had the issue with). Basically, the change allows anyone with an "IBD card" to have priority access to their restrooms. "Closed for cleaning" no longer applies, if you have one of these cards, and you present it, while asking to use their restroom.
In addition, the changes that went into effect on January 1st of this year, for the Americans With Disabilities Act, also apply to that situation. For one thing, the changes in the law give much more importance to disabling diseases such as IBDs, and anyone with such a condition must be accommodated, without substantiating proof, (if I understand the law correctly). IOW, if you say that you have to have immediate access to a bathroom, because you have an inflammatory bowel disease, they cannot legally argue with you about whether or not you actually have it, or whether or not you actually need access to their facilities. Treatment, or other compensation is not relevant - IOW, it doesn't matter if you are taking meds, or if you are on a diet to control it, or whatever. If you make such a request, you must be treated as though access is urgent, and your condition is untreatable, (whether or not it actually is).
Here's a thread about the Wal-mart policy change:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... hroom+card
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.