Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
Hi Tex and any other central Texans and anyone else who is interested.
I called Enterolab and they faxed me the names of health practioners who work with Enterolab in Austin. On the list were Dr. Robert Frachtman and Dr. Craig Lubin both gasteroenterologists. Do you have a gasteroenterologist you like who is knowledgeable about Enterolab or do you know about the two I mentioned?
I'm so sorry to hear about the Parkinson's Tex. In terms of memory, I take vit B. shots thru a chiroprctor who was trying to help me with the CC. Shots supposedly are better than tablets because they don't have to be digested. I take the B shots for greater energy and vitality. This also seems to help my memory. I also have inserted bio-identical progesterone and testosterone pellets in my hip by a Dr. which increases my energy and mental clarity. There is a person who is coming to Austin to insert the pellets now. It is being used for both men and women.
Someone asked about snacks, I love Blue Diamond Nut Thins that are wheat and gluten free. I get them at Whole foods and Sun Harvest in Austin.
Thanks again to y'all for your words of wisdom and helpful info.
Sue
Want Gastroenterologist in central Texas and other thougts
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Sue,
I live outside Austin and go there for all my Drs. My GI is Craig Lubin. I don't usually see him, but rather see one of his PAs. They are the ones that got me to Entrolabs for my testing.
Good luck,
Jan
I live outside Austin and go there for all my Drs. My GI is Craig Lubin. I don't usually see him, but rather see one of his PAs. They are the ones that got me to Entrolabs for my testing.
Good luck,
Jan
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. - Saint Francis of Assisi
Hi Sue,
I've only seen two doctors in Austin, a dental surgeon who chiseled out a couple of impacted wisdom teeth, many years ago, and an ophthalmologist, who removed some metal grinding fragments from one eye, also years ago. All my GI experience has been at Scott & White, in Temple, and as far as i can tell, they are pretty much "unenlightened", as far as MC is concerned.
I've been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, (presumably caused by gluten), so I take a product called Metanx, (to reverse peripheral neuropathy symptoms), which contains such high amounts of the critical B vitamins, that if I only absorb a small fraction of them, I should be getting more than enough of them. I also use androderm patches, which seem to be as effective as the shots, for all practical purposes, and, of course, the delivery is much more uniform than it would be from weekly injections.
Kathy, (kscolorado), arguably has one of the very best GI docs in the country, (for MC/celiac/GS issues), and there are precious few, unfortunately, in that elite group. Her GI doc is Dr. Scot Lewey, (known on the internet as the "Food Doc", but unfortunately, due to popularity, he only accepts patients who are residents of his home state, (Colorado).
Sooooo, Pat's experience with Dr. Lubin, is probably your best lead, at this point. Sorry that I'm not acquainted with any good GI docs, who really know their stuff, regarding the treatment of MC.
If you haven't already checked with the Austin Gastroenterology site, here's a brief rundown on Dr. Fractman:
http://www.austingastro.com/docbios/frachtman.html
and here's some info on Dr. Lubin:
http://www.austingastro.com/docbios/lubin.html
Good luck,
Tex
I've only seen two doctors in Austin, a dental surgeon who chiseled out a couple of impacted wisdom teeth, many years ago, and an ophthalmologist, who removed some metal grinding fragments from one eye, also years ago. All my GI experience has been at Scott & White, in Temple, and as far as i can tell, they are pretty much "unenlightened", as far as MC is concerned.
I've been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, (presumably caused by gluten), so I take a product called Metanx, (to reverse peripheral neuropathy symptoms), which contains such high amounts of the critical B vitamins, that if I only absorb a small fraction of them, I should be getting more than enough of them. I also use androderm patches, which seem to be as effective as the shots, for all practical purposes, and, of course, the delivery is much more uniform than it would be from weekly injections.
Kathy, (kscolorado), arguably has one of the very best GI docs in the country, (for MC/celiac/GS issues), and there are precious few, unfortunately, in that elite group. Her GI doc is Dr. Scot Lewey, (known on the internet as the "Food Doc", but unfortunately, due to popularity, he only accepts patients who are residents of his home state, (Colorado).
Sooooo, Pat's experience with Dr. Lubin, is probably your best lead, at this point. Sorry that I'm not acquainted with any good GI docs, who really know their stuff, regarding the treatment of MC.
If you haven't already checked with the Austin Gastroenterology site, here's a brief rundown on Dr. Fractman:
http://www.austingastro.com/docbios/frachtman.html
and here's some info on Dr. Lubin:
http://www.austingastro.com/docbios/lubin.html
Good luck,
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've been eating Whole Foods 365 Sesame Rice Crackers after carefully checking the ingredient list:
"Rice flour, sesame seeds, sesame flour, expeller pressed safflower oil, salt."
Quite acceptable.
This week I read the list again, but this time I read the separate Allergen Information:
"Contains soy ingredients." Yikes!
Apparently soy is an ingredient that they chose to omit from the regular list of ingredients. HOW CAN THEY DO THAT???
I'll be reading both lists from now on.
Gloria
"Rice flour, sesame seeds, sesame flour, expeller pressed safflower oil, salt."
Quite acceptable.
This week I read the list again, but this time I read the separate Allergen Information:
"Contains soy ingredients." Yikes!
Apparently soy is an ingredient that they chose to omit from the regular list of ingredients. HOW CAN THEY DO THAT???
I'll be reading both lists from now on.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
I don't believe that they can do that, at least not legally.Gloria wrote:Apparently soy is an ingredient that they chose to omit from the regular list of ingredients. HOW CAN THEY DO THAT???
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.
Thanks Jan, Tex and Luce for your wisdom.
I checked the label on the NutThins and they contain butter flavor (contains milk) So you are right. I was told by someone I have seen, butter was okay for me. I need to get tested by enterolab to get a clearer picture.
Jan, its good to know you are another central Texan.
Sue
I checked the label on the NutThins and they contain butter flavor (contains milk) So you are right. I was told by someone I have seen, butter was okay for me. I need to get tested by enterolab to get a clearer picture.
Jan, its good to know you are another central Texan.
Sue
Sue,
I saw Dr. Lubin also and he tested me for everything imaginable I thought. He tried me on Prednisone, Entocort, Imuran and some others. He finally gave up and sent me to Dr. Schiller in Dallas who is supposedly the guru of hard to treat D cases. Ha Ha is all I can say for that. He did some expensive tests and said well I want you to take Imodium again ( 9 a day didn't work anymore) and then said if that didn't work he would put me on a tincture of opium. No thanks. I was tested at Enterolab(at the beginning of seeing Dr. Lubin, he encourages it because it might work) and am supposedly gluten intolerant, but I never could tell that not eating gluten did anything for me. As a matter of fact I feel better and have better BM's if I do eat gluten. Crazy! I am hoping to post soon on the treatment forum about my new treatment. Stay tuned. Sorry if I can't help too much with Dr. Lubin. He seems like he really wants to help and is open but he is still pretty much traditional. I think he is very well respected in central Texas.
Pat
I saw Dr. Lubin also and he tested me for everything imaginable I thought. He tried me on Prednisone, Entocort, Imuran and some others. He finally gave up and sent me to Dr. Schiller in Dallas who is supposedly the guru of hard to treat D cases. Ha Ha is all I can say for that. He did some expensive tests and said well I want you to take Imodium again ( 9 a day didn't work anymore) and then said if that didn't work he would put me on a tincture of opium. No thanks. I was tested at Enterolab(at the beginning of seeing Dr. Lubin, he encourages it because it might work) and am supposedly gluten intolerant, but I never could tell that not eating gluten did anything for me. As a matter of fact I feel better and have better BM's if I do eat gluten. Crazy! I am hoping to post soon on the treatment forum about my new treatment. Stay tuned. Sorry if I can't help too much with Dr. Lubin. He seems like he really wants to help and is open but he is still pretty much traditional. I think he is very well respected in central Texas.
Pat
Pat, you say that you are still having D and tested positive for gluten sensitivity with Enterolab and going gluten free didn't seem to make a difference. Have you been tested for diary, soy, yeast and eggs at Entorolab? If you haven't, you might want to try. I mention this because my primary sensitivity was to dairy, and this was even before I learned I had MC. When I cut it out, I improved dramatically for several years, but then the D came back with a vengeance and I was finally diagnosed with MC. At that point I got tested by Enterolab and was positive for gluten, soy and yeast as well. I eliminated all those, did well for a while, and then found that corn was a problem. Now I have been off all of those for several months, and am doing fine without any drugs, even Imodium.
Tex and others have mentioned here their experience that you have to first identify the primary food issue, because that is what the body is mostly fighting. Then when that is eliminated, after some time the body starts tackling the next food sensitivity, and symptoms recur. And so on. In many cases here it's gluten, but not always. For example, for me I was most sensitive to dairy, even though I unknowingly at the time had other food sensitivity issues. If I had tried to eliminate gluten first, I wouldn't have seen any improvement because my body's immune system was focused on dairy. So you might want to try either getting tested or doing elimination diets on the other common sensitivities like dairy, soy and eggs to see if that's the case with you.
It's such a complex disease, but some general themes have emerged that give all of us tools to find our way.
Rosie
Tex and others have mentioned here their experience that you have to first identify the primary food issue, because that is what the body is mostly fighting. Then when that is eliminated, after some time the body starts tackling the next food sensitivity, and symptoms recur. And so on. In many cases here it's gluten, but not always. For example, for me I was most sensitive to dairy, even though I unknowingly at the time had other food sensitivity issues. If I had tried to eliminate gluten first, I wouldn't have seen any improvement because my body's immune system was focused on dairy. So you might want to try either getting tested or doing elimination diets on the other common sensitivities like dairy, soy and eggs to see if that's the case with you.
It's such a complex disease, but some general themes have emerged that give all of us tools to find our way.
Rosie
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time………Thomas Edison
Thanks, Rosie,
I have eliminated all of the above. Dairy was eliminated first because I could tell it gave me reflux. I was tested for everything Enterolab tested for and I was sensitive to all but eggs. Actually I eliminated everything but chicken and buckwheat cereal and did the best, but I couldn't stay on that diet for more than a couple of days. I really wanted gluten, soy, dairy, corn or something else to be the problem but after eliminating all those and more (and I was extremely careful) I really didn't improve. Eliminating fructose gave me the most improvement. But it didn't improve the D. I gave up rice as a last resort in Sept. and started eating gluten and that has helped quite a bit. I am going to post my most recent round of treatments on the treatment forum. I guess that is technically where it belongs.
Pat
I have eliminated all of the above. Dairy was eliminated first because I could tell it gave me reflux. I was tested for everything Enterolab tested for and I was sensitive to all but eggs. Actually I eliminated everything but chicken and buckwheat cereal and did the best, but I couldn't stay on that diet for more than a couple of days. I really wanted gluten, soy, dairy, corn or something else to be the problem but after eliminating all those and more (and I was extremely careful) I really didn't improve. Eliminating fructose gave me the most improvement. But it didn't improve the D. I gave up rice as a last resort in Sept. and started eating gluten and that has helped quite a bit. I am going to post my most recent round of treatments on the treatment forum. I guess that is technically where it belongs.
Pat
Pat,
For some reason or other, we don't have your Enterolab food intolerance test results listed with all the others. Apparently I couldn't locate them when I was tabulating the list. Would you mind posting, (or PM'ing), your test results, so that I can add them?
Thanks,
Tex
For some reason or other, we don't have your Enterolab food intolerance test results listed with all the others. Apparently I couldn't locate them when I was tabulating the list. Would you mind posting, (or PM'ing), your test results, so that I can add them?
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.
Thanks for the clarification, Pat. It sounds like you and I share the same Enterolab food testing results.
FWIW, you might look at what supplements you are taking. Back when I was first diagnosed with MC I went into remission after eliminating all of my food supplements. At that time, I was eating everything but dairy. I initially thought that I wasn't gluten intolerant, but eliminated it after testing positive figuring that it wasn't doing me any good. I've recently tried adding things back, being very careful to avoid any of my sensitivities, which is hard to find. After several tests, I've discovered that for whatever reason, I can't handle the flax or fish oils. Even though I've found a gluten, soy, yeast, dairy, corn, nut and sugar-free version, I start having problems when I just take 1 capsule. So I suspect that the fish and flax oils were what caused the original flare. It doesn't make sense becuase these oils are supposed to be anti-inflamatory to the digestive tract. However, I find in general that high fat meals such as a nice grilled steak cause problems too. I'm trying to put on weight, so am disappointed that fat appears to be a no-no. Maybe after I recover for a few more months I'll be more tolerant.
Rosie
FWIW, you might look at what supplements you are taking. Back when I was first diagnosed with MC I went into remission after eliminating all of my food supplements. At that time, I was eating everything but dairy. I initially thought that I wasn't gluten intolerant, but eliminated it after testing positive figuring that it wasn't doing me any good. I've recently tried adding things back, being very careful to avoid any of my sensitivities, which is hard to find. After several tests, I've discovered that for whatever reason, I can't handle the flax or fish oils. Even though I've found a gluten, soy, yeast, dairy, corn, nut and sugar-free version, I start having problems when I just take 1 capsule. So I suspect that the fish and flax oils were what caused the original flare. It doesn't make sense becuase these oils are supposed to be anti-inflamatory to the digestive tract. However, I find in general that high fat meals such as a nice grilled steak cause problems too. I'm trying to put on weight, so am disappointed that fat appears to be a no-no. Maybe after I recover for a few more months I'll be more tolerant.
Rosie
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time………Thomas Edison
Rosie,
I've tried eliminating all supplements and over the years have found that I tolerate my multi, cal +D, fish oil, and my bioidentical hormones. I too wanted to put on weight and am back to a more normal weight for me. Still thin but I always was. I use olive oil a lot. It helps. I put it on my vegetables and cook with it.
Tex,
I will try to find them.
Pat
I've tried eliminating all supplements and over the years have found that I tolerate my multi, cal +D, fish oil, and my bioidentical hormones. I too wanted to put on weight and am back to a more normal weight for me. Still thin but I always was. I use olive oil a lot. It helps. I put it on my vegetables and cook with it.
Tex,
I will try to find them.
Pat
Ok, I found them pretty easily:
Fecal Antigliadin IgA 50
Fecal Antitissue Transglutaminase IgA 37
Quantitative Microscopic Fecal fat score 422
Fecal anti-casein IgA antibody 40
HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 1 0201
HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 2 0301
Serologic equivalent: HLA-DQ 2,3 (Subtype 2,7)
Fecal anti-ovalbumin IgA 7
Fecla Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae IgA 7
Fecal Anti-Soy IgA 16
Fecal Antigliadin IgA 50
Fecal Antitissue Transglutaminase IgA 37
Quantitative Microscopic Fecal fat score 422
Fecal anti-casein IgA antibody 40
HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 1 0201
HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 2 0301
Serologic equivalent: HLA-DQ 2,3 (Subtype 2,7)
Fecal anti-ovalbumin IgA 7
Fecla Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae IgA 7
Fecal Anti-Soy IgA 16