Microscopic Colitis: Condensed Version

By Wayne Persky

All the basic information that your doctor didn't tell you about microscopic colitis, including the description of the disease, the diagnosis details, and all known treatments, including medical treatments, treatments that require no medications, and treatments using a combination of medications and diet changes, can be found in this book. The book answers the questions you had after you received your diagnosis. Much of the supporting information in the original unabridged version has been omitted in this version, but it still contains all the basic details needed to understand most of the complexities of the disease. If more detail is desired, please refer to the original full version of the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayne Persky
• Release date: May 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781732822085

Wayne Persky

Wayne Persky was born, grew up, and currently lives in Central Texas. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, College of Engineering, with postgraduate studies in mechanical engineering, mathematics, and computer science. He has teaching experience in engineering, and business experience in farming and agribusiness. He has 20 years of experience researching published medical research articles to discover novel ways to resolve health issues that are inadequately treated by mainstream medicine.Microscopic colitis (MC) is an inflammatory bowel disease more widespread than Chron's disease, yet the most popular medical treatment used by doctors results in an 85 % relapse rate. He promotes treating MC by diet changes, with a better than 95 % success rate. Over 15 years ago he founded and continues to administrate an online MC discussion and support board. In 2015 he founded the Microscopic Colitis Foundation, and he continues to serve as it's president and as a contributing author to the Foundation's Newsletter. He lives on a farm in Central Texas, where he continues to do research and write.

Book preview

Microscopic Colitis

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Microscopic Colitis

Condensed Version

Wayne Persky

Persky Farms

United States

First published and distributed in the United States of America by:

Persky Farms, 19242 Darrs Creek Rd, Bartlett, TX 76511-4460. Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone]. www.perskyfarms.com

Copyright: This book is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976, as amended, and all other applicable international, federal, state, and local laws. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of an audio recording, nor may it be transmitted or otherwise copied for public or private use, other than the fair use purposes allowed by copyright law, without prior written permission of the publisher.

Disclaimer and Legal Notice: The information contained in this book is intended solely for general educational purposes, and is not intended, nor implied, to be a substitute for professional medical advice relative to any specific medical condition or question. The advice of a physician or other health care provider should always be sought for any questions regarding any medical condition. Specific diagnoses and therapies can only be provided by the reader’s physician. Any use of the information in this book is at the reader’s discretion. The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or application of any information contained in this book.

Please note that much of the information in this book is based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Although the author and publisher have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content, they assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. If you should choose to use any of this information, use it according to your best judgment, and at your own risk. Because your particular situation will not exactly match the examples upon which this information is based, you should adjust your use of the information and recommendations to fit your own personal situation.

This book does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned anywhere in the book. This information is provided for educational purposes, and reliance on any tests, products, procedures, or opinions mentioned in the book is solely at the reader’s own risk.

Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement when these terms are used in this book.

Copyright © Wayne Persky, 2019. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN 978-1-7328220-8-5

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of Sally Read, who was a visionary and one of the first people to utilize an Internet discussion board to share her experiences with others who had been diagnosed with microscopic colitis. Apparently the earliest Internet source of support for people diagnosed with the disease was created by Judy Malinowski, who founded a newsletter service known as the MC/CC Club, back in August of 1995. Archives of posts to her site can be found at the URL below:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030506015942/http://www.malinowski.com/colitis.htm

Of course, Sally was a member of the MC/CC Club. After six or seven years, Judy began to devote her time to writing books on snorkeling; her last newsletter was posted on February 23, of 2003. In order to provide a place for patients with microscopic colitis to continue to meet online, to share experiences and support, Sally created a website and added what was arguably the first true discussion forum about this disease.

She was truly one of the pioneers of the concept of Internet discussion and support groups dedicated to finding treatment solutions for a disease that was considered in those days to be rare, and for which no long-term treatment that was both safe and reliable was available, at the time of her diagnosis back in 1999. Her personal story can be read at the URL below:

http://web.archive.org/web/20021203062107/www.microscopiccolitis.org/sallyread/id9.html

Sally’s efforts helped to pave the way for all of the discussion forums dedicated to the support of patients who have microscopic colitis that followed. Her open-minded approach and the atmosphere of compassion and unconditional love that she maintained on her website helped to make life easier for countless others who found themselves walking the same path, trying to find support, and searching for ways to control their symptoms when their doctors were unable to help them. Those of us who have microscopic colitis owe both Judy Malinowski and Sally Read a huge debt of gratitude, for their pioneering efforts to make life easier for others suffering from the disease.

Sally left this world in December of 2009. Those of us who knew her can’t help but wonder if the massive heart attack that took her life might have been associated with the side effects of years of treatment with corticosteroids that she took to control her microscopic colitis symptoms. She died far too young but she left a legacy of happy memories in our hearts. We are so grateful that she shared a part of her life with us. The inspiration and the hope that she brought to those of us suffering from what seemed to be a hopeless disease, and the empathy for others that she taught us, is priceless.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Description of the Disease

Chapter 2

What Causes the Disease?

Chapter 3

Diagnosing the Disease

Chapter 4

Conventional Treatment Methods

Chapter 5

Treatment by Diet

Chapter 6

Difficult Cases — Mast Cells and Associated Issues

References

About the Author

Introduction

This book is a condensed version of Microscopic Colitis, which to the best of my knowledge, was the first book ever written specifically about the disease and it's known treatments. I am the author of that book, so much of the text in the original book is quoted in this condensed version, and many parts of the original book are omitted, because they are not essential to a basic understanding of the disease. Chapters 1 through 4 are quoted verbatim here, and chapter 5 (chapter 6 in the original book) and chapter 6 (chapter 14 in the original book) are mostly quoted in this book, with very few changes. The other chapters in the original book provide supporting information and explanations, and they have been omitted from this book. This book describes the disease, its diagnosis, and all known treatments. The original book contains 16 chapters (381pages). If you would like to gain a more complete understanding of the disease and it's treatments, please read the original book.

Microscopic colitis has been misunderstood, under-diagnosed, and inadequately treated ever since it was first described over four decades ago. Even many medical professionals misunderstand how life-changing the disease can be for many patients. Many question whether it's a true inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), since the inflammation that causes the disease is only visible under a microscope. But celiac disease is also an IBD, and the inflammation associated with celiac disease also cannot be seen without the aid of a microscope. Because it's so poorly understood, microscopic colitis receives only a fraction of the resources devoted to the other IBDs. Recent statistics suggest that the disease is at least as common as Crohn's disease, and far more common than celiac disease. Yet a search of the literature will reveal that available (and reliable) information about microscopic colitis represents only a fraction of the information available for Crohn's disease and celiac disease. Much of the information presented about the disease, often with the best of intentions, is actually misleading, or a half-truth, and some of it is just plain incorrect.

This is probably because microscopic colitis (MC) was considered to be a rare disease for decades, and some medical professionals have been slow to recognize that mistake. Some even question the classification of MC as an IBD, since the damage cannot be seen with the naked eye during a colonoscopy. They tend to view the disease as a nuisance disease, rather than the debilitating syndrome that often develops. And because many doctors often don't respect the disease enough to bother to learn much about it, they don't understand it well enough to provide the information that most patients need after their diagnosis. Those patients leave their doctor's office with a diagnosis and a prescription in hand, but very little information about how to actually live with the disease.

Unfortunately, many patients discover that rather than it being a nuisance, MC often turns out to be a life-altering disease that dominates their lives, and affects every decision. When they discover that their doctor's approach doesn't provide effective, long-term control, many patients go from doctor to doctor, trying to find one who has a better understanding of the disease. Or they develop their own treatment plan. Some just try to live with the symptoms.

But with the popularity if the Internet, and social media, many patients are finding alternative treatment methods that are effective for treating diseases that fall through the cracks of the medical profession. When mainstream medicine doesn't offer effective solutions, patients tend to look elsewhere for help. And many are finding the solutions that they need. When existing medical treatments aren't effective, one must remain open-minded. It may be time to think-out-of-the-box.

With the foregoing information in mind, this book is a compilation of the information learned by the author while living with the disease and learning to control it, and the knowledge gained while administering an Internet discussion and support group for microscopic colitis patients, created in 2005. I'm not a medical professional. My formal education was in engineering, mathematics, and computer science. I only began to research medical journals later in life, after I developed the disease and my gastroenterologist was unable to help me. I was so sick that I couldn't live like that, so I began spending much of my time reading all the