# How I successfully treated my microscopic colitis



## Beach (Mar 14, 2013)

Wasn't sure how to title this thread.  I'm not completely well.  It remains a work in progress.  At this point though I'm considerably healthier due to dietary changes made, along with supplements taken.  I'm well to the gut around 75% of the time I'd estimate.  With that thought this a good time to record my diet, & thoughts as I'm likely to begin adding new foods to the diet soon.  

For my story, I was diagnosed with MC around 20 years ago.  The condition started out relatively mild.  I lost a good amount of weight early on, 30 to 40 lbs, but had good energy overall, and wasn't in much pain.  As the years went by the condition worsened to the point where I could have flares causing me to use the bathroom around 50 times a day and be in excruciating pain.  (Happily that extreme didn't happen often!)  

Today, with diet modifications, I'm well to the gut most of the time.  My energy levels are not great at this point, and appearance has not returned to normal.  (Before the big flares began I had blue eyes and clearer skin)  Figure with time as I continue to heal I'll return to what I remember as being normal.  I've already begun to see appearance changes over the last few weeks.  

My current limited diet started in December includes:

Beef grass fed 
Turkey
Oranges 
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes 
coconut oil
coconut water
chocolate which uses beet sugar.  
cheeses (Asiago, gouda, edam, cheddar)
Tuna
Salmon
Olive oil
garlic
Probiotic rich Yogurt
bottled spring water
Imodium, the 5th food group  

Vitamins include:

Vitamin D
Kelp tablets
Fish oil (Barleans lemon flavored liquid)  
Krill oil
Magnesium
Coq10
Pregnenolone
Curcumin
vitamin K2-7 and K2-4  
Melatonin

Foods I'm concerned about today, and will be testing at a later point:

- Grains (wheat, corn, rice)  
-Pork/gelatin - I've been avoiding pork gelatin, cutting open vitamin capsules and squirting the contents into a vegetarian capsule.  
-Chicken, eggs
-Turkey - as strange as that sounds since I've been eating it off and on of late.  Since not completely well I've sometimes wondered if turkey is a mild stomach agitator for me.  Hopfully not, but everything is under suspicion. 
-Pumpkin seeds (I probably will not test this one.  The reaction in the past to pumpkin seeds was severe.)  
-Fiber rich foods.  Imagine this will be less of an issue food with time.  
- Nuts.  Imagine this will also be less of an issue with time.    
- cinnamon 
- cane sugar
- tap water 
- Mint genus family (mint, basal, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, savory)   

I've been pretty good at being able to stick with this limited diet.  In the near future I'll begin adding new foods, recording how I feel.  With a little luck I'll be able to expand on this list soon.


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## araceli (Mar 14, 2013)

Beach, I am glad you are doing good.  I hope your health keeps improving. Thanks for sharing.


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## Beach (Mar 18, 2013)

I'm going to change things up a bit on the diet.  Since I'm taking the effort to avoid gelatin, I'm going to also avoid beef and dairy for the next few months.  (gelatin is manufactured from beef and pork hides and bones.)  Figure this is the time to do so.  It would be silly to not do this avoidance at the same time with pork.    

Overall, I'm doing well to the gut on this diet.  Been well most of the time.  The negative has been my energy levels remain low.  I've been hoping this would improve over time, but so far that hasn't been the case.  The fatigued feeling has been hanging around.  Appearance can be haggard too.  Has me thinking there might be another mild problematic food being eaten, possibly beef and dairy.    

With the avoidance of now beef and dairy, I'm going to add a few new foods, grapes, sauerkraut, and will look into taking a probiotic once again.  I've wondered sometimes if it isn't the probiotics found in the dairy I've been eating that has been helpful.  Then again dairy products tends to be a natural constipating food.


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## Beach (Mar 25, 2013)

Last week I decided to make a change with the diet, removing beef and dairy.  The reason being that I've been feeling more run down and fatigued than I should.  Something was not right.   I suspected that possibly the reason for the improvement in my gut was due to the probiotic rich foods being eaten, or simply possibly due to dairy products having a constipating effect.  

I'm glad I made the dietary change!  Since avoiding beef and dairy, my energy levels are greatly improved.  The aches and pains I can experience have all but gone away.  

It's hard for me to say if this improvement is due to an allergy to bovine products.  There are some writing indicating that dairy products can be problematic for most people.  Regardless of why I'm experiencing this health improvement, I'm pleased and plan to keep the course for awhile.    

The gut is doing well too.  I'm well around 50% of the time now.  I'm not as well as I was when eating dairy products, but I'm not in pain with the gut, nor terribly ill either.  With any luck, I'm hoping this situation will improve in the coming weeks.   

At this point feel it would be wise on my part to begin a daily food journal.  I'll record what I dine on and how I feel.  Next time at the store I plan to purchase a note book.  It is nice to not only have a gut doing better, but now to also feel healthy and energetic.  I better record what I'm doing right in detail.  

Also with this new found energy, believe I'll put it to use on some projects I've been avoiding.


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## Ya noy (Mar 25, 2013)

I never thought of gelatin as being something to avoid.  It is supposed to be good for teeth, joints, hair and nails.  If you've stopped dairy, including yogurt, there's always water Kefir  and kombucha, although regular milk kefir has always worked best for me personally.  

A food diary is an excellent idea.  That was the first thing my nutritionist had me do to isolate my allergy triggers. 

Best of luck!


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## Beach (Mar 25, 2013)

Thanks Ya noy,  

I'm not out of the woods yet, but feel I'm moving forward.  Thanks for the suggestion about dairy free kefir & kombucha.  I'll have to see about finding some locally.


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## Beach (Apr 15, 2013)

It has been awhile since I last wrote how things are going with the diet and stomach health, so thought to briefly make a mention on how everything is going.  Overall, 2013 has been a very good year for my gut health, with the situation continuing to improve.  With a little bit of luck that improvement trend will continue.  

Since last writing I have changed up the diet a little.  Now I avoid all bird foods - chicken, eggs, and turkey.  There are a number of other items not being eaten also, but the main foods I'm paying attention to in avoidance are bird items.  I've been eating this way for awhile now.  As a result I've been well to the gut around 80% of the time I would estimate.  (Thought to mention, being well to the gut is relative.  I consider well anything outside of the dreaded liquid diarrhea.  Sometimes I'm completely well, but often I'm somewhere in the middle.  So long as it is something I can control, along with little cramping, and don't find myself in a panic to find a bathroom quick, I'm pleased.)

Since last writing I've noticed:

-  improved energy
- I seem to be able to concentrate better.  This is a subjective item to mention, but since avoiding bird foods it appears I'm able to concentrate easier, as if a mild fog has lifted.  I've noticed this in particular to writing, where in the past I could have great difficulty expressing thoughts.  I'm still not the best writer in the world!  But it is nice to see improvement in this area.    
- I sleep better, most nights.  
- I've put on some weight, around 5lbs.  I figure this comes from better absorption of foods.  Overall I'm still pretty lean.  
- My hair has changed.  It used to be that my hair was often dried out.  Additionally it has been growing thin over the years, often I believe due to part to poor nutrient absorption.  Now my hair often appears brighter and darker in color.  Undoubtably this is a positive development, but with the thinner hair kind of chuckle at now seeing my white scalp more easily!  Some improvements are not for the best.  Hopfully my hair will thicken back up.        

Going forward, I'm hoping the gut will continue to see improvements.  Additionally, It would be nice to have even more energy. 

I've ordered over the internet a juicer.  It should arrive in a few days.  Soon I'll be adding to the diet many new fruits and vegetables as a result.  I'm hoping this goes well, and imagine it will.  

I'm still writing a food journal, recording what I eat and how I feel health wise.  While it is not always easy to do, figure I'll continue with the journal so long as i continue to do well.


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## Beach (Apr 29, 2013)

This morning thought to quickly update how I'm doing.  I've made some mistakes with my diet.  The good news is that it appears most turkey products are safe for me to eat after all.  Previously I mentioned concern over eating turkey.  What appears to have happened in causing me confusion is I was mistakenly eating turkey lunch meat after I would do some weight lifting that had a controversial additive   Carrageenan was in the lunch meat.  Yesterday i wrote about this issue in this thread:

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=50010

Since avoiding this brand of turkey lunch meat I have not noticed problems with turkey.  Hopfully that will remain the case going forward.    

The bad news, not long after i wrote the last update I became ill to the gut, and remained ill for a few days.  The liquid diarrhea returned.  Being newer to the diet, I removed pork and gelatin from my diet once again.  Soon after doing this the stomach problem went away.  

This was interesting from a couple respects.  It appears that my intestine had healed enough such that for awhile I could handle eating pork.  Then once the gut issues returned, and once pork was removed from the diet it didn't take long for me to become decently well once again.   

I discovered another problem that happened during this time of eating pork that I found interesting.  My gums bleed very easily.  Simply brushing my teeth would cause bleeding.  Using dental floss would lead to a good amount of blood into my mouth.  I also found small scrapes from doing chores in the house and garage didn't heal very well.  Kind of reminded me of what is read about hemophilia.  Of course it isn't that.  But the bleeding gums, and poor wound healing have gone away since avoiding pork.  

Well, in conclusion, my mistakes highlight the difficulty in pin pointing trigger foods.  I still have a good ways to go on this diet.  I'm doing quite well of late.  I'm more well since last writing.  My energy levels can be fantastic at times.  Energy is a strange one actually.  Some days I can have an endless amount of energy it seems. This is a new development.  I didn't have energy such as this till recently. Other days for some reason I'm about as exhausted as they come.  I'm not sure why the feast or famine with energy levels, but have a few theories.  

Fingers crossed that I continue to do well.  I'm glad i'm now writing a food journal.  It is helpful in seeing trends now that I'm well to the gut most of the time.


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## Beach (May 10, 2013)

Being somewhat of a milestone week thought to post, this marks the first week where I've been well the whole time.  Well, I say that, I had one day where I experienced some pain and stomach discomfort, but it was mild, and believe I can squeak by with counting it as a healthy day.  So good news, and further reinforces that the diet I'm following is working.  

Other positive notes to mention are, I've noticed my tennis play of late has greatly improved.  Makes sense that this would happen.  It has been good fun hitting the tennis courts of late.  I've also noticed that I'm able to read books and articles more often.  In the past, being sick and tired were not good ingredients for making long reading sessions.  I'd often fall asleep quickly with a book in hand.  That hasn't been the case of late.  

On the downside, I'm still having trouble with eating fiber rich foods.  Hopfully my gut will continue to heal, and with that I'll be able to add vegetables and fruits to the diet in greater quantity.  When that happens, my diet will really open up to new meal possibilities.  I also have not seen the blue eyes.  I've noticed in the past when I've gone on extreme limited diets and became well to the gut, that over time my eyes changed color, turning blue.  That will be a psychological boost to see.  

Overall, doing well.  Every once in awhile i get doubts about the diet.  It is a slow healing process.  While well nearly all the time now, being well has become the norm.  At the slightest bit of illness, I find myself quickly forgetting what it used to feel like just a few months ago.  What has helped when the doubts come is to look at my food journal and see the improvements I've made.  

And with that, hope the positives continue.  I suspect they will.  There is always the worry that someday the body will adjust, and begin rejecting this diet that is working so well for me today.  I hope that doesn't happen!  I should remain positive at all times, but after all that I've been though, it is hard to erase all doubts.  Time heals wounds.


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## mccindy (May 10, 2013)

Hi Beach,
congratulations on your happy week!  It's always good to hear a success story.  That blue eyes things is crazy, I can't imagine seeing your eyes change color.
You give me hope that as things get better, I might be able to reintroduce some foods back into my diet.  I don't know that red meat is a trigger food (thinking I'll need to experiment, but I'm nervous) but it would be nice to have something more than the few foods I'm tolerating right now. 
I'm so glad that you are enjoying some more foods!


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## Beach (May 10, 2013)

Thanks for the support mccindy.  I appreciate it.  It certainly was a pleasant surprise when the glow in the dark blue eyes made an appearance the first time.  When it happened I doubt few believed when I said the color change was due to a new diet.  The accusation didn't happened, but I'm guessing they thought I had bought colored eye contacts - or had become possessed.  

Very best of luck on your dietary trials!  Hope you get everyone sorted out soon.


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## Beach (May 22, 2013)

Thought to write an update on how things are going this morning.  Made another change with the diet.  I've been up in air about turkey, is it good for me or not.  So not long ago decided I'll stop eating it, and instead pick eating more salmon in its place.  Doing so has had some interesting effects, positive and negative.  

On the good news, my gut slight swelling has gone down.  Most noticeably, my pants are looser.  Also a slight rash of red bumps has gone away, white dots on finger nails are no longer there, and in the evening I see slightly blue eyes.  All good to see, and suspect I'm absorbing nutrients better.  Most importantly, the gut is healthy, and I'm using the rest room even less than before.      

On the bad news, at times I can experience great fatigue.  I'm not sure what is going on with this sudden fatigued feeling.  Some days I can have great energy - and other times it takes about all I have to keep my eyes open.  The tired feeling being experienced is similar to how I feel after eating to much fiber rich foods - minus the D.  With that, suspect with being well of late, possibly sometime can rub the intestines wrong, leading to a fatigued exhausted feeling.  Hard to say why this is happening, all from avoiding turkey of late, but hopfully it will pass soon.  

Bad timing to have periods of overwhelming fatigue.  I have a number of family members coming to visit over the next few weeks!  I'll being fitting in with grandma though, nodding off in a chair at a moments notice, I suppose.


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## mccindy (May 22, 2013)

Those blue eyes are coming back!  I think that is intriguing, you should post a picture.  

I certainly understand what you mean about the fatigue - last night I was feeling stressed, having some belly pain, and all of a sudden I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Slept so long in one position I could hardly move this morning!  

Where do you get the rash of red bumps?  If you don't mind me asking.  I'm curious because lately I've noticed I have a rash of small red bumps across the right side of my right buttock, a few scattered across my calves and shins, and a few on my chest.  I've never had them before and wondered if it has anything to do with my flare or my night sweats.  

Have fun with the family visit.  I'm sure grandma will enjoy your company during her naps!


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## Beach (May 22, 2013)

Yeah, it isn't everyday where one talks about eye color change.  If it happens, once the color change become more pronounced, I'll gladly take a photo.  The pretty blue eyes were probably inherited from grandma too.  I guess there are some in past generations know with blue eyes, in particular a great grandfather on the other side of the family that others have commented that I look similar to a good deal - but of the current family only grandma has them - and me I suppose too.  

That does remind me, I had a DNA test a few years ago with 23andMe.  It came back saying I had the genes for blue eyes.  So hopfully I can get them to express once again soon.  Figure it likely a nutrient issue.    

I had the red rash bumps across my chest mainly.  

Thanks!  Despite the fatigue, it good fun to see everyone once again.


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## Beach (Jun 24, 2013)

It has been awhile since I last updated, so with some dramatic changes going on thought to give an account.  It has been rather nice for me the last few weeks.  At the beginning of the month I made another dietary change.  What I did was remove beef and dairy products from the limited diet and re-added pork.  As a result my energy levels have increased greatly, and muscle fatigue all but gone away.  

I suppose not all was well with the dietary change early on.  In the first week I found myself ill frequently to the gut when I made the beef to pork switch out.  Now though I find myself back to being well most of the time, with the added bonus of very good energy levels.  

So in summary, my diet testing evolves more, and my situation continues to improve.  I'm well most of the time to the gut, and now have good energy levels to boot.  Overall this is how I want to feel.  Lately, even when I have a bad day to the gut, my energy levels still remain high.  That hasn't been the case in the past.  In the past a bad day with the gut meant a bad day with energy levels also.  Hopfully over the coming months my situation will progress further in a positive way.  The blue eyes still have not made a full blown appearance, but figure with time that will change.


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## Beach (Jul 5, 2013)

As with much of my posts on this thread, this mention is more of a reminder to me when referencing back - I still find myself well to the gut, doing good most days, theories still being formed on why that might be, and I remain working to continue doing even better.  

As some further food testing the last few days, this time eating a good amount of spicy food, in particular garlic and onions, I found myself terribly ill for a few days.  The awful old symptoms returned, stomach turned inside out, chills, nausea, thumping gut, in general just plain feeling sh^&*y.    

I've had in the back of my mind that possibly the garlic family, sometimes used to spice up the meats I eat, or buy, could be an issue item.  To some extent I've discounted this idea as late last year and early this year I made it a point to do my best to avoid spices for 3 months.  That idea didn't work I thought, but it was a few weeks later after that avoidance that I began finding myself well to the gut.  From my notes, during those weeks after I stopped, I still ate little to no garlic or onions most days.  So this is something to consider and keep an eye on.  Possibly it took that long for my gut to heal.  

My body still isn't giving up its secretes easy.  It is wonderful to continue doing well in general.


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## mccindy (Jul 5, 2013)

I'm pretty sure that onions are a food all Crohnies should avoid.  They are not even that good for normal dietary eaters.


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## Beach (Jul 5, 2013)

Avoiding garlic and onion completely from the diet isn't easy, but I'm giving it another go, and see what happens.  

I have noticed too that I seem to smell a bit after eating foods I sprinkle garlic upon.  Maybe now I'll be the sweetest smelling sweaty tennis play in town.:smile:


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## Beach (Jul 27, 2013)

Thought to write a bit more about my stomach health this morning.  I think I'm making progress once again.  For awhile I've been in limbo, unsure of why I'm well most of the time to the gut but not seemly able to recover further.  I still lack energy mainly and can experience muscle pains.  As I've been joking, i'm so frustrated to be well!          

Last time I wrote I mentioned being concerned about spices.  Likely spices are not a big problem for me.  I'm not eating many at this time, but from how things have gone on avoiding garlic and onions, that wasn't moving me forward, I believe.  

I thought to re-exam a previous mention, that avoiding beef, gelatin, and aged dairy products made me feel much better.  What I ended up doing last week is the opposite, instead of avoiding I ate a good deal of cheese and beef for a few days to see what would happen.  Sure enough the painful muscle aches returned, felt chilled, and the general feeling of fatigue set in.  I wasn't all that sick to the gut though.  

That has been a worry of mine, that likely I am able to eat some of the offending food(s) without causing the main concern, stomach pains and diarrhea.  

I've done a beef, gelatin, and dairy avoidance this year, but only lasted a month doing this.  It appears best if I go much longer than a month to see what happens.  At the very least I'll avoid the painful muscle aches and pains that seem to be associated with eating cow products.       

I'm guessing too that possibly there are other offending foods.  Eggs and chicken come to mind as foods I'm afraid to eat.  So I'll try to stick with my safe bland foods as much as possible, see what further recovery I can get, and go from there.  

I was thinking also this morning that if I do end up having a sensitivity to milk and beef that I'm not the only one with this in my family.  

Early on I figured out the drinking milk caused my eyes to become blood shot red.  A few days ago I ran across a mention that IBD conditions can sometimes effect the eyes.  I had not read or heard that before.  The example picture shown of a patient with IBD effected eyes looked similar to what I used to experience when younger.   

When I was a child I had a good deal of problems with my eyes becoming red and itchy.  I didn't experience stomach issues just that my eyes were typically red.  Doctors didn't know what to make of it, other than it being suggested the problem was caused by something in the air.  Family thought I was likely sensitive to chlorine, as I swam in pools often.  The problem was never considered serious.  (I used to joke with friends that the red eyes were caused by smoking weed - something I didn't do!)  Early in dealing with my IBD,  I discovered milk caused the red eyes - aged dairy didn't, but regular milk, even a tiny amount could make the eyes blood shot red.  

So possibly my gut condition is something I was born with and manifested its self later in life for some reason.  Just a guess, and as always time will tell.


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## Beach (Aug 17, 2013)

Thought to give an update on the diet and my condition.  I'm doing quite well.  I haven't been ill pretty much at all, over the last week.  Hopfully I didn't just jinx myself with that mention.  Rather nice.  

Made a few changes to the diet.  I subtracted coconut water, and citrus from the diet.  Coconut water seems to slightly upsetting the gut in the delayed manner.  

Avoiding citrus has resulted in a pleasant surprise in that I feel more energetic, have been well more often to the gut, and a slight congestion I've grown to live with seems to have gone away.  

So, I'll see where these small changes takes me in the future.  Planning into the future with an IBD condition can be perilous at times.  Thinking though with more energy I'll plan beginning next week to tackle some more laborious tasks I've been putting off around the place.   Plus I've been meaning to do some bicycling this summer but keep putting it off.  With summer skies still around, healthier gut, and more energy, thinking I'll hit the bike paths and do some exploring.


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