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Dear List Mates;
I apologize for the late summary about diets for someone with celiac and
colitis.  The responses were interesting and informative.  There definitely
is a relationship between microscopic colitis and celiac desease.  Several
responents cited studies by Dr. Fine at Baylor University that found
microcopic colitis preceeded or followed a celiac diagnosis.  Bear in mind
there other types of colitis, frankly I don't understand the differences,
but microscopic colitis appears to be the most desirable type - if there is
anything desirable about being sick.

The treatment for microscopic colitis appears to be less dependent on diet
than other forms, though some respondents reported problems with fiber,
onions, beans, spicy foods.  Dr. Fine treats patients with daily doses of
Pepto Bismol, others report good results from acidophilis pills.  I thought
the acidophilis pill treatment interesting, because that is what my wife
used for limited relief before she was diagnosed celiac and before she was GF.

The Baylor web site listed below was recommended, and it has some good
additional information regarding microscopic colitis and a connection to
celiac.
   http://www.bhcs.com/bumc/intestinalresearch.

My summary doesn't encompass every response, so I have pasted many of them
below for your information and reading pleasure.  Some of these posts
describe real life health experiences and treatment results better than I
could summarize, and I thought some of you might benefit from them.

Finally, on a personal note my wife visited the GI doctor in NY,NY -
colonoscopy biopsy results not back yet, but bleeding ulcerations were
found, cause as of yet, unknown.------Another interesting twist, I, the
nonceliiac husband participated in the Univ of MD nationwide blood
screening, that I am sure most of the US subscribers are aware of.  My IgA
is sightly elevated (19.7); the Comment Section said retest in 6 mo. I took
the test results to NY showed them Dr. Green - he recommended biopsy; 60%
percent chance of me being a celiac.  My sister also participated in the
screening, her IgA was 26. I know the ratio of celiac desease is roughly 1
in 200, but it seems like it is everywhere I look.


I have both diseases and it is a challange. I can eat some fresh fruit and
veggies, never know when it will be a problem. Infections ( abcess tooth, ear
, throat) will trigger problems.I have good success with Flagyl and Cipro. I
don't know why but both have helped. Colitis drugs (asacol, pentasa ) have
not helped.I also use budeside suppositories that help. I will not take oral
steriods unless ALL else fails. Chemical fumes ( pesticides, exhaust, paint)
also trigger problems.

Actually there are three diets that address colitis, all very similar. One
book has been out of print for two decades and another is currently
available only in German. That leaves this choice:

Elaine Gottschall has written a book entitled Breaking the Vicious Cycle,
Intestinal Health through Diet. She says it is a diet for Crohn's disease,
ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, and
chronic diarrhea. It is published by the Kirkton Press in Kirkton, Ontario,
Canada, 1994, ISBN 0-9692768-1-8. The telephone number is 519-229-6795. The
fax is 519-229-6969.

Also: Kirkton Press, 942 Military St., Suite A, Port Huron, MI 48060;
800/332-3663.

It has been discussed in the alt.support.crohns-colitis newsgroup with 75%
reporting success and 25% not. The author says that one month is long
enough to tell if the diet is helping, but it then takes longer to "cure".

For sites on the book see: http://www.GFlinks.com/#gott

There is a mailing list for the various IBD diets, of which there are
several, but it mostly covers the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (or Gottschall
Diet). To subscribe send in a message body SUB SCD yourfirstname
yourlastname to [log in to unmask]

The basics of the diet are (snipped from crohns-colitis newsgroup posts):

From: [log in to unmask] (Michelle Gray)

Basically, you only eat monosaccharides which means simple sugars, so that
everything is digested with no leftovers, like fiber. These leftovers are
believed to feed to bacterium and "flora" in your intestines which then can
get out of control (the bad ones) and make further digestion even harder.
Their overabundance causes them to produce extra mucus which covers up the
microvilli which break down complex sugars. So more is undigested, they eat
more, they grow more, a "vicious cycle." My GI said he thinks the theory
has some validity, but no controlled studies have been done, so no proof,
and not everyone who you would think would benefit does. Hence, the
experimental side of it.

i have both and take 6 asocol pills a day-any gluten free food is fine as
far as i am advised although too much spicy food may aggravate colitis-also
depends what type of colitis you have.Mine is microscopic and only flares up
every now and then-there are more serious kinds.

What exactly is colitis and how is it different from the irritation and
inflammation caused by celiac? I guess I am skeptical of these catch-all
terms that mainstream doctors love to put on people, such as IBS, when they
really don't know the cause of the problem. Are you positive that your wife
doesn't have other food intolerances besides gluten which are causing her
continued symptoms? You can find out by having the IgG4 food allergy panel 90
which is administered by drawing a simple vial of blood and having the doctor
send it to a lab that does this testing. It doesn't test for gluten but since
you already have the CD diagnosis you will know that your wife can't have
wheat etc. even if she is not actually allergic to the grain itself. Do not
trust traditional allergy testing to tell you anything. Those tests are
completely different and usually worthless for celiacs...

http://www.healingtherapies.com/colon.htm...go get cleaned out and try
a few treatments..then u will be clean...

Where did you get information for a colitis diet?  My GI diagnosed
me with microscopic colitis, gave me medicine and told me there was nothing
else I could do and that I could eat anything I wanted to. The medicine
controlled the diarrhea, but did not eliminate it. I found by food
elimination that gluten was the culprit. If I eat it I get diarrhea and if I
don't, I don't.  I quit the medicine and just follow the gluten free diet. I
joined a colitis group on the internet and we have a Dr. Fine working with
us and doing research with a number of people in this group. One of his
findings was that microscopic colitis is often found proceeding or following
a diagnosis of Celiac. For a long time I had to be careful not to eat too
much fiber, but that is getting better as time goes on. Personally, I think
my GI was a jerk....I've found more help on my own. I also have trouble with
citrus and casein, but those are common problems with the celiac condition.
Otherwise I am doing fine.

I was diagnosed with CD 3/97 - finally after 10+ years of suffering - and
was told that I would miraculously feel wonderful after just a few days on a
gluten-free diet.  I was so disappointed when my diarrhea did not stop.  I
re-checked medications and everything I ate and my second endoscopy showed
that there was substantial healing of my villi.  So that confirmed that I
had been following a gluten-free diet.

My GI has put me on just about every medication short of Prednyzone (sp?)
which I refused to take.   I came across an interesting web site from this
list late last year.  It refers to a study by Dr. Fine at Baylor University
Medical Center and the use of Pepto Bismol for colitis.  Check it out, it's
at http://www.bhcs.com/bumc/intestinalresearch.

I went through the treatment of 8 pills/day for 8 weeks and felt much, much
better, however, my symptoms returned after I stopped taking the Pepto
Bismol.  So now I take 2-4 tablets per day (ok'd by my GI) and it pretty
much controls the number of trips to the bathroom, however, I don't think I
will ever be "normal".

 The Paleolithic Diet Page:   http://www.PaleoDiet.com/
 PaleoFood Recipe Collection: http://www.PaleoFood.com/

My husband's doctor has him on BACID acidophilus and he was to take two
pills three times a day with meals. He ate the yogurt at night for a
snack before bed time. Not too much research has been done on using
Pepto Bismol as a drug the way he was treated so it is best to be
supervised by your doctor. That was the only thing that has helped him
reduce the number of times he spent in the bathroom. We have about 30
people in our support group that have colitis as well as celiac and
like I said he has been treating them with this last round of
experiments. Doing some testing on them is when he discovered that they
all had too much bad bacteria in their colons and not enough good and
has been treating them the same. Some have responded better than others.