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Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. It's been a busy summer including taking care of my two prolific pear trees. I certainly hope that I'm not allergic to pears! I started taking Entocort back in April. I started with 3 tablets per day and quite often I missed the lunch tablet so I ended up with just taking two per day. After about 3 days, the diarrhea cleared up. In fact, I started having trouble with constipation. Believe it or not, sometimes I would wish that I still had the diarrhea. I guess after so many years of D, I wasn't used to handling the C problem. Now, I have been having a mixture. Not nearly as bad as it was before I started. I'm avoided gluten to the best of my ability but occasionally I have eaten cheese or butter.
Now I have a mystery. I went to a new doctor (specialist) on Sept 30th. He is an MD, chiropractor AND a holistic doctor. He doesn't accept Medicare and he is very expensive so I had to pay for it myself. He also ordered several extensive tests. I did the blood test last Wednesday. They drew 9 vials of blood and I mailed two of them to Spectracell. Now I am just finishing a 3 day stool sample. Tuesday I will start the 24 hour urine specimen. I've been doing prep for the stool sample which consisted of eliminating some of my supplements. I decided I should also quit the Entocort. In addition, I was asked to eat 60 to 100 grams of FAT per day. That should put my cholesterol through the roof. BUT, here's the strange thing: Yesterday I had ONE BM (in the morning) and not another one until 2 AM this morning. I did sample 2 this morning and only had the one BM. It's 8 pm now and I still haven't had another one. AND, I have been eating cheddar cheese and butter in order to get the fat count up. I have been low fat for years because of my high cholesterol. I also had to quit taking my Zyrtec because the doctor said I was allergic to my allergy pills! (I have been taking it daily for a long time.) And all that without the Entocort. I'm completely baffled! Now I don't know if I should go back on it after the tests are done! Help, I'm mystified.
You might think you understood what I said but what you don't realize is that what I said was not what I meant!
I'm a little concerned that you've completely changed the way you've been handling your MC. Some people do have alternating D and C with MC - I believe Tex was one, though he didn't take Entocort.
My experience is that Entocort stays in the system for about 5 weeks. If you've been taking 6 mg per day, you may be seeing D again much sooner, especially since you've resumed ingesting dairy.
Has your doctor successfully treated other patients with MC? Does he espouse treating MC with dietary changes? Keep us posted. It will be interesting to read what his recommendations are.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Gloria is correct - your body will not notice that the Entocort is gone for a while. It's not clear how long you have avoided taking it, but remember that it is also possible that one or more of your other meds might be causing D or C. If you resume taking the other meds, without taking Entocort, you may find out what is causing the D or C. It's even possible that one or more of them might be causing C, and another might be causing D, for example.
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.
I'm sorry that I apparently wasn't clear on what I said. First, the doctor is not replacing my regular GP. My chiropractor suggested I go to see him and it's just a few times to see if he can help me with some of my problems. I have several other problems in addition to the gluten problem. He ordered 3 different tests (mail-in type) and there is prep work to do before the tests. I have not quit my meds, just suspended some of them long enough for the test. I had to eat the fats for the stool test. Also I was told not to take Digestive Enzymes, and to avoid Iodine until after the urine test. Since my Vitamin Complex includes Iodine, I had to suspend that one. I also figured I probably should not take the Entocort as I didn't want it to interfere with the tests. I am NOT quitting it. I did make the comment - maybe I shouldn't go back on it but that was intended to be tongue-in-cheek.
I still am baffled why I should have had only one BM a day but of course that didn't last. As far as it staying in my system for about 5 weeks - my only experience with it was 3 years ago when I took Entocort for 2 months and the Diarrhea had quit UNTIL I was off of it for 3 days. Then it came back with a vengeance. When I took it that time I did not know I had a gluten problem - my Gastroenterologist did not tell me and his associate said it made no difference what I ate. She also told me that I could only take it for 8 weeks and did not suggest that I should taper off. I only found out one year ago. I was told then (By Enterolab) that I needed to be gluten free for life and dairy free for up to one year. I have not decided to go back on Dairy, I just occasionally eat it. Also, I ate some cheddar cheese to try to get more fat into my diet for the test. Believe me, I'm not too happy about the whole thing. I HAVE NOT completely changed the way I'm handling the MC. This was just for the testing!
I don't think ANY of my doctors know anything about MC. Not even the Gastroenterologist. The only things I know about it are what I have learned through this Forum. Otherwise, I'd be swimming alone!! There are probably a lot of things that are causing the D. And the doctors have a tendency to ignore that factor when they try to figure out what is wrong. They depend more on test results, drugs and treat me in a mainstream manner.
Yep, there's a lot of information in that article, and it takes a while to read. I think I've read some of his articles before, but I hadn't seen that one.
Thanks,
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.
Yippee! My tests are now all finished and I have resumed ALL of my medications and supplements. I hated to have to disrupt things like that but I felt I had to follow directions if the testing was going to work. Now it will take about 3 weeks before I get the results. I'm hoping to get some answers to at least some of my problems.
Jean
You might think you understood what I said but what you don't realize is that what I said was not what I meant!
Please us know how the tests turned out, when you receive the results.
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.
Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
That should put my cholesterol through the roof. BUT, here's the strange thing: Yesterday I had ONE BM (in the morning) and not another one until 2 AM this morning. I did sample 2 this morning and only had the one BM. It's 8 pm now and I still haven't had another one. AND, I have been eating cheddar cheese and butter in order to get the fat count up. I have been low fat for years because of my high cholesterol. I also had to quit taking my Zyrtec because the doctor said I was allergic to my allergy pills! (I have been taking it daily for a long time.) 
And all that without the Entocort. I'm completely baffled! Now I don't know if I should go back on it after the tests are done! Help, I'm mystified. 
