Anybody diagnosed with microscopic colitis?

@pb50 I am so very sorry you are going through this. You will learn ways to deal with it. Somewhat. But, yeah. No to travel during flare-ups. I’ve had it now for over 35 years.

@donnagail I don’t know. I had a CAT scan of my gallbladder. The downside of that CAT scan was they found an abdominal aortal aneurysm at the same time!

@ndough Oh no! I don't mean to scare you but a friend in my hiking circle had that, too. Her doctors were 'watching' it. She had just finished a hiking trip about 2 months ago in Zion National Park and was sitting in the airport waiting for her flight home when it ruptured. She passes away right in the airport.

I don't understand why the didn't repair it verses just keeping an eye on it. Maybe because it was the aorta which is a major operation. Make sure you are seeing a specialist that focuses on your condition.

No worries. It really surprised my doctor, then both the cardiologist and vascular surgeon I had to see because I am absolutely not the poster child for cardiovascular problems. Very low weight, very active, try to eat very healthy foods when I can, low blood pressure, low Cholesterol, etc. (I did find out later that having MC for any length of time can cause cardiovascular disease. I did not know this. I’ve had it more than 35 years). Anyway, I had to have a triple AAA bypass (bypass around the aneurysm and both femoral arteries) because they were complete stopped up, On top of that I had a heart attack during surgery (I guess that’s the best place to have one). I found out later about the only surgery worse than what I had, pain-wise, was open heart surgery. I will never go through that again. I guess I’m okay now other than being on blood thinners and constantly being told “no, you can’t have that. No, you can’t do that.” That’s like waving a red flag in front of a bulls face for me. 🤣

@ndough apologies!!
I certainly didnt intend to whine. I am pissed I have it, but realize I am blessed I have it under control - at least so far.

35 years. I didn't even know it had been a thing for that long. !! Bless you!

Thanks for your reply!

@pb50 you are more than entitled to whine. The reason you didn’t know about it, as well a a number of my GI’s over the years is because basically, we’re women. The research and studies on more than one kind of colitis didn’t even begin until the late 1980’s. Mostly women get microscopic colitis so it just wasn’t important enough. I will never forget one GI I saw said I was being hysterical, making things up when I simply had irritable bowel (I’m pretty sure there’s nothing simple about it). The next new GI I see will be female. Period. I’m tired of being treated like a child.

@ndough amen my friend. The GI who diagnosed me must have been raised by strong women because he is one of the few who don't patronize me. And the older i get, the worse it gets. In the past two years I have fired a young male gynecologist (what was I thinking), a pulmonologist who told me my newly developed cpap-related aerophagia was a “rookie problem” (i’ve had apnea and been on cpaps for 7 years), and an imaging lab following bad bruising from a traumatic mammogram.

Getting old is hell on many levels 🙂

@pb50 Absolutely agree. Word of the day is “ageism”. The older I get, the more I am treated like a child by medical professionals. I have even told them “hey, there is nothing wrong with my mind!”. The one specialist I have that really surprised me when I had to start seeing him is my cardiologist. He is in the ballpark of my son’s age, maybe a little older, but he will take the time to explain, in medical terms, what’s going on with me in every visit. We also sit and talk about current events, music, books we like, etc. I adore him.

@donnagail The gall bladder did show up on the pancreas mri and looks fine. I was given PERT prescription enzymes to take with or just before the first bite. The past 3 days has been good. I am very hopeful the enzymes are making a difference.

I can’t get into my account. I haven’t changed my password or my email, but you won’t let me in!