If your flaring you should read about possible relief

Context of my flare : Holidays and bad decisions and then accidentally eating leftovers from before Christmas. The grip I had on a budding flare was lost and I was in free fall. One gulp of water triggers a UC attack and subsequent sprint to the restroom right ? 20-30 times per day? Uh-oh. I am in trouble now. Tense conversation at work or home same result every time right ? Straight through the night. Up staring at an old non-empty bottle of prednisone and old ( useless ) rectal meds. Boy was I desperate. Not making that kind of decision at 2:00 am.

Psyllium seed powder, Qing Dai & Suflasalazine kept me from an emergency room flare. Work became difficult in this condition and things continued to worsen which was my primary concern. Where is this headed ?

Then I self diagnosed as Bile Acid Diarrhea and found this link :

flowingfree.org/diarrhea-no-more-leave-the-toilet-behind/#Controlling Diarrhea Through Diet

It is a great link. I kept the core treatment above and went to APPLE PECTIN pills that had the lid off for 3 years and calcium while switching out my whey protein for hemp protein with pseed powder with VSL3DS.

I was sitting at work at the end of my rope wondering what the best thing to do about my situation. When suddenly my energy was back my stools were formed and no blood. I felt so good I began abusing myself with coffee and other energy drinks again to get busy and get things done.

I can see I am still healing but its been 24 hours now and it is still working and I slept like a baby last night and for the first time in years awoke feeling re-energized.

I continue to down APPLE PECTIN pills I bought years ago and stored in my pantry with many useless snake oils. Too much Psyllium 'Husk' was making urgency more dire where APPLE PECTIN allows me have control. I stuffed a large pizza down my gullet over lunch with a future business partner. Of course later in the hour I thought I should go to mensroom but did not need to interrupt him until he left. OMG what an improvement.

I still have UC and healing will take a while but I never bounced out of a deep flare so abruptly before.

Filtered water did not help.
Perfect tooth paste did not help.
Mojave bentonite clay did not help.
Hydrolized ( pre-digested ) whey protein for meal replacement did not help.
GBF - Germinated Barley Foodstuff did not help
The list is long and it is clear what is working now.

Good luck

Candex did not help
Wormwood did not help
Borage oil did not help
Omega-3 oil did not help
Fish oil did not help
Chlorella did not help

"so did you have a "deep flare" or "bile acid diarrhea" ?"

hmm hard to say. I would like to continue the BAD therapy with Calcium Carbonate ( So it does not absorb well and much winds up in the large intestine ) however while lifting today I started having unusual muscle cramps that felt like a muscle 'tear' which i certainly do not want to invite.

I need advice on how to best balance out the calcium but magnesium is not an option right now. Except I do have a magnesium liquid that is absorbed through the skin. But I might need potassium to balance out electrolytes.

If I can do the balancing act I can remain on the Calcium part of this and then I would present all of it to my GP who had me sign the 'Directing my own care' memo. Then I could get him to write a test prescription for sequestrants :

Diagnosis of BAM

BAM is diagnosed definitively through the use of a procedure called the 75SeHCAT scan. This is a nuclear medicine test in which a patient is given a capsule to swallow orally and then undergoes a full body scan. A repeat scan is scheduled seven days later. The capsule contains SeHCAT, which is used to assess the ability of the small intestine to retain bile acids. A retention rate lower than 15% is considered to be indicative of the presence of BAM. This procedure is not available in the United States.

When the 75SeHCAT scan is not available, physicians may diagnose the condition based on the results of a trial of BAM medication.

Treatment of BAM

BAM is treated with a class of medication known as bile acid sequestrants or binders. These medications appear to work on the symptoms of BAM by binding to the acids and thereby reducing their effects on the large intestine. These are the current members of this class:

Cholestyramine (Questran)
Colesevelam (WelChol)
Colestipol (Colestid)

Andrew Weil, M.D. said...
Along with your calcium supplements, be sure to take magnesium (half the dose of your calcium supplement); without it you may find that the calcium is constipating.

Andrew Weil, M.D.

Wow no way am I consuming that much magnesium into my GI tract. I better go with the salt bath or spray on magnesium.

Post Edited (aguywithuc) : 1/8/2015 8:32:02 PM (GMT-7)

Hey aguywithoutuc,

I had similar issues with magnesium and many of the commercial forms use the "oxide" or "citrate" form which can be hard on the gut. What you want to look for is some transdermal or elemental form. These have higher bioavailability and are easy on the gut. I use this form and it works out reasonably well for me. At worst, it just loosens the bowels.

I have some apple pectin laying around, so I might try that. Good suggestions.

Best.