So happy to find you!

Mags · Post by **Mags** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:11 am

Hello Everyone! I had no idea you were here: it's nice to finally be around people who get it. Briefly, here is my story. In 2007, I had severe, accute appendicitis. I underwent a 4 hour appendectomy. One month later, I was back in the hospital, literally dying of c. diff. After losing my very good job, finding another, going on medical leave, demanding another colonoscopy: I finally got my diagnosis. Microscopic colitis: collagenous and lymphocitic. I was 35. Here is where I am today! I am allergic to steroids. Mesalamine does not work for me. I am lactose intolerant. However, I am very aware of food and food safety issues. I have done a massive amount of research and believe that most of our soy and gluten intolerance comes from the fact that most of these are genetically modified. By keeping GMO foods out of my diet, I have significantly reduced the amount of flares I have. I get organic, non GMO protein shakes, mix them with lactose free milk and fruit, and consume three a day (instead of one.) The large amount of protein keeps my stool solid (yay!), and I am able to eat fruit again. I only had 4 flares in 2010, and was able to get them under control within a few days. I only had to throw away a few pairs of underwear---no actual clothing.... Sorry that this first post was so long but nobody else understands.

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:38 am

Glad you found us! I bet most of us have thrown away underwear.. I did that in the beginning.. til I resorted to adult diapers:)

The neat thing about this site is that we each find our own way to remission (there is no cure for our colitis). I am one who used entocort for several years.

Although no one diet will help everyone.. there is so much helpful information available and most of all there is HOPE and ENCOURAGEMENT!
grannyh

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:11 pm

Hi Mags,

to this internet family of caring and sharing!!!

I'm so impressed with how you've found your own way to deal with MC - congratulations. I'm curious about how long it took you to figure out what would work for you?

This forum has over 5 years worth of people's stories, plus lots of info and tips on how to live with MC, so take your time and read lots here. Looking forward to your future posts.

Love,
Kari

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:26 pm

Hi Mags,

Good for you for taking control of your own health. Most of us have had to do that, in order to get our life back.

Welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:24 pm

Hi Mags,

When I found this forum I felt like I hit the jackpot. It truly-uly helps to be around people who "get it". Can't wait to hear more of your story!

Celie · Post by **Celie** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:09 pm

Welcome Mags!
This is a wonderful group. I am sorry you need us, but it is very comforting to find others who understand us!

Celie

Mags · Post by **Mags** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 8:50 pm

Thanks everyone!

I'll get a pic up as soon as I can. Okay Kari- I'l try to make this as succint as possible. I've spent the vast majority of my life in the food and wine industry. I became very interested in the slow food/whole foods movement quite a few years before I got sick. I am 5'8" and usually weigh between 120-130, so people never believed I ate the way I did--whole milk, butter, etc. I just never ate a lot of bread, pasta, potatoes or that sort of thing. After I got sick, I quickly fell below 120 pounds and could never put any weight back on again. I could still have my butter and lactose free milk, but the c. diff. had taken away my ability to digest beef, and I would have trouble with other random things. I also missed my fruit and veg. I went searching for something to help me put the weight back on. All the shakes I looked at had whey or something else I felt uncomfortable with. I finally found a product that was vegan, soy and gluten free, and 100% organic. It was also not "molecularly distilled", so I felt comfortable with its integrity. Lo and behold, the big D got under control, I started maintaining at 125-128, and I started adding fruit with no nasty side effects! Don't get me wrong, I'm not in remission, but I do have very good symptom control. I still have a lot of pain, and had a flare at Xmas because I was already sick with something else + lots of stress. I have a couple other things going on that exacerbate the situation. I take meds for severe GERD, anxiety, and PTSD, but all in all it could be much worse.

Hey Tex--Stephen Jay Gould will always be one of my heroes---I am a super nerd. I once horrified a date at Fernbank Museum here in Atlanta by pointing out that their [i]hallucigenia[/i] was upside-down!!

Hey Celie--don't be sorry. So many people are in so much worse shape. I have a great family and doc (not my GI--what a joke--but my shrink who has taken over as my GP).

I discovered the whole GMO thing by trial and error. Did you guys know that ALL of the wheat, soy, corn, and canola is GMO? Its one reason why our body keeps reacting when we think we have pulled the food we think we are reacting to out of our diet. I recommed using only olive oil (the "pure" olive oil is good for baking). They use bacteria and viruses to modify the DNA of the organisms. Remember the tomato scare and the lemon scare? GMO at its finest. Okay--I am stepping off my soapbox now.....

I am commited to researching this. I am applying for disability (this was the last straw) so I have a lot of time to research.

Thanks so much!!!!

Mags (Maggie)

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:46 pm

Mags,

That's so interesting. I only recently started thinking about the relationship of GMO foods to GI inflammation. We eat LOTS of tortilla chips in my house, but we've started buying them at Whole Foods, where I believe they don't allow any GMO ingredients. Can't say I've noticed a difference, but I'm still eating too much raw fruit and veggies to achieve remission. I'm GF/DF and mostly soy free, so corn is one of my staple grains that I know I should start suspecting.

We stopped cooking with canola oil. It's all olive oil, coconut oil, and occasional grapeseed oil now. The kids get butter and whole fat dairy too. Oh how I miss yogurt!! It hurts to watch my kids eat honey yogurt with frozen berries almost every night. I want some!!

What is the brand name of this protein shake you have discovered? What is the protein source?

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 10:15 pm

Mags,

Well, since you mentioned it, no, I wasn't aware that All wheat was genetically modified. In fact, I wasn't aware that any of the cultivars available for commercial production have been genetically modified, (unless you feel that selective breeding qualifies as a GMO process). There has been a lot of talk about it, and I'm sure that a lot of research is being done in this regard, but in the last reports that I've read, both Canadian and U. S. wheat boards were opposed to the introduction of GMO wheat varieties, and I wasn't aware that a single GMO variety had been released into commercial channels.

We're still planting the same wheat varieties that were developed roughly 30 years ago, (mostly from foundation stock developed at landgrant colleges), and wheat producers desperately need some new varieties, but none seem to be forthcoming. Yes, during the last 5 or 6 years, GMO corn varieties have rapidly increased in acreage, to the point where they pretty well dominate the market today, primarily because they have production advantages that make competition difficult for farmers who plant non-GMO varieties, but I wasn't aware that anything had changed significantly in the availability of wheat varieties.

Also, GMO crops have only reached significant, (dominant), market shares in the last 5 or 6 years. Many of us here have had MC for twice that long, or longer - harking back to a time before most GMO seeds were ever even released for commercial production, let alone before they constituted a significant market share. Anyway, that's why I doubt that GMO technology has significantly affected the incidence of MC. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be concerned about GMO developments, but I doubt that any of us have developed MC because of consumption of a GMO product. That's just my opinion, of course.

Tex

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 10:21 pm

Been here 8 years.. so don't think it was the GMO corn. However, I did find that corn oil caused me problems after the last colonoscopy and diagnosis.. switched to olive oil.
grannyh

Mags · Post by **Mags** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:53 am

Hey Guys--

I [i]never[/i] said that GMO products caused MC. I just know that it makes mine worse. Tex, as for the wheat thing, do some research on a company called Monsanto. They have also bought up many of the seed companies.

If anyone is still interested, I get my products from a company called Genuine Health. The shakes are called Vegan Proteins+. They contain a complete protein source with a balance of amino acids from organic, non GMO pea, cranberry, sprouted brown rice, alfalfa, and organic hemp. The texture is not as smooth as most shakes as they don't put it through the molecular blending process, as this can damage the integrity of the product. The website is [url]genuinehealth.com [/url].

I'm sorry if anyone misunderstood what I was trying to say. I know you guys have been here much longer than I have.

Mags · Post by **Mags** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:57 am

There are many great documentaries out there but the most important one is "The Future of Food"

Post by **tex** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:58 am

I never said that GMO products caused MC.

I have done a massive amount of research and believe that most of our soy and gluten intolerance comes from the fact that most of these are genetically modified.

True, you didn't explicitly say that, but you certainly inferred it, since food intolerances are the most common trigger for our symptoms, once the disease develops.

Tex, as for the wheat thing, do some research on a company called Monsanto. They have also bought up many of the seed companies.

Apparently you don't realize that I've been involved in agriculture and agribusiness all my life. Trust me, when you have to deal with a company and it's products as a primary part of your livelihood for over half a century, you learn a lot about the company. Have you ever actually bought any wheat seed? Or corn seed? Over the years, I've bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth, and yes, Monsanto "owns" the corn seed market, because they own the GMO varieties. That's not exactly true about the wheat seed market, though. If you know of even a single genetically modified wheat variety that's commercially available for planting, please share the name with us, (I'm always looking for new varieties with enhanced production characteristics).

Perhaps you should do a bit more research on Monsanto. I'll give you a head start with this article - notice the date:

ST. LOUIS | Thu Nov 4, 2010 1:21pm EDT

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Monsanto Co could start field testing genetically modified wheat within one to two years, but remains cautious about future commercialization, according to one of the company's top wheat technology executives.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A34K220101104

If farmers around the globe are going to continue to feed the world's growing populations, on continually decreasing acreages of available farmland, then yes, the Future of Food is GMO, whether we like it or not. (I don't like it either, but in agriculture, those who try to stand in the way of progress, usually get plowed under, by the economics involved.

Tex

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:14 pm

Mags! I have a special feeling about your name because I have a friend from high school who calls me Mags. I go by Marliss (emphasis on the first syllable), which has been my family nickname all my life. I was named Margaret Melissa after my great-grandmother, but my parents highly admired a woman named Marlys, so my father developed a nickname for me by combining my first and middle name. However, for some reason, in kindergarten I decided I wanted to be called Margaret, and in sixth grade, a boy said he didn't want to call me Margaret, that he would call me Maggie, and the name stuck through high school. A good friend that I reconnected with on Facebook still calls me Mags some 35 years later.

Yeah...GMO... I do my best to avoid GMO products. I have seen some rumblings about some GMO foods being banned in Europe, but I haven't spent much time on it. I have a good friend (also from high school, lol) who is a Ph.D. in St. Louis working specifically in the field of biotechnology research. His building is in the backyard of the Danforth Plant Science Center, and I toured both of them last spring. There is no doubt in my mind that their efforts are focused on improving nutrition for the people in third world countries. My friend knows personally and works with the senior executives at Monsanto, and is confident that GMO does not present a health problem but a solution.

That being said... I know that there are concerns about Monsanto's actions towards farmers who are perceived to be violating Monsanto's patents, and about Roundup-resistant crops being accidentally released into the wild, among other things. I personally think that when people start messing with things, it is important to go slowly because you may mess up something that will take a long time to fix (if ever). Hybridization seems to me to be a better solution than genetic modification. But time will tell, and hopefully, if GMO is as dangerous as some believe it to be, the money to be made will not blind people to what is best.

Again, welcome, Mags!!

Post by **tex** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:20 pm

Marliss wrote:I know that there are concerns about Monsanto's actions towards farmers who are perceived to be violating Monsanto's patents

You said a mouthful there - farmers don't like Monsanto any more than consumers of farm products do, but our stupid government, (read that greedy government), continues to grant them patents on genetic processes that should never be patentable in the first place. I place the blame on our government. Monsanto is simply doing what any red-blooded American Company would do - getting rich from their monopoly, based on the windfall granted to them by the full faith and force of the U. S. government, (and the government of most other countries, for that matter). It sucks, but the U. S. Patent Office, (as supported by the justice system), is the problem, not Monsanto. Monsanto is just doing what comes naturally - getting rich at our expense.

Tex