Hi @poppy73. MP is a rare condition/auto immune disease. Just speaking from personal experience, the radiologist that read my CT Scan was kind of "excited" because he had never seen an actual case, he had just read about. Knowing that this condition has a name was really helpful to me. That meant it probably had a treatment. The first thing my doctors did was put me on Prednisone for 3 months. That helped with reducing the inflammation. I had a few side effects, but nothing I couldn't handle. The next thing I did was change my diet. I use what's called the FODMAP diet. http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/ That was a great guide how to start eating again. Then little by little I could try some of the foods on the "no" list. Although it says it's for ibs, it does work for MP, as well. I feel very fortunate that my MP was caught fairly early. What I deal with now are occasional flare-ups, but not very often. I was diagnosed in May of 2016. I have discussed with my doctors that I thought I was predisposed to this condition because my dad had Crohn's disease and my mom had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. So this being an inflammation of the lymph nodes in the messentary connected to the intestines seemed to be a perfect storm. We are lucky because the messenatry is getting a lot of attention and research. It was discovered by a Dr. in Ireland that the messentary is not just a bridge between from the intestine, but an organ unto itself. So that will help discover why some people get this and how better to treat it.
I hope this "dissertation" has helped you a little bit. There is another support group for MP and SM on Facebook if you are interested in being on more than one site.
Take Care,
bertbiz