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Charcot-leyden Crystals

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/3/2019 7:48 AM (GMT 0)
My UC is supposedly in remission, but over December I was starting to not feel well and my BMs were getting weird. I still go on average 2-3 times per day depending on what I eat. The stools are usually formed, not amazingly solid like the good old days but they're formed. And they still really reek. Yet I'm in remission? So OK...

I get a stool test done and it finds "many red blood cells, many white blood cells" and something called charcot-leyden crystals. My RBC and hemoglobin have both gone down a bit and my iron is getting used up. So something is not right. I have occult blood happening and an immune response.

I googled charcot-leyden crystals and they represent eosinophils in the bowel, suggesting an allergy, inflammation or parasite. Now, I've had MANY stool tests over the years and I've never seen these crystals show up. PLEASE don't google it for me and paste info here, I've already done all that, unless you know some super secret info about it.

Has anyone here had these show up in their stool test, and what ended up happening? If not parasites, then I wonder if it could be a food allergy. How weird is this!
Posted 1/3/2019 1:04 PM (GMT 0)
What did your gasteroenterologist say? New to me.
Posted 1/3/2019 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
Or inflammation...

Do you have results of past pathology? Sometimes each pathologist reads and presents info differently....
q
Posted 1/3/2019 6:58 PM (GMT 0)
Quincy just beat me to it. I was about to ask the same thing - what have results of old biopsies shown? Any comments in them about increased eosinophils?

This is a non-specific finding that could indicate all sorts of things: allergies, as you mention, or parasite, as you mention, but also so-called autoimmune diseases, including UC but including many others as well, can have increased eosinophils in the tissue.

So it may be nothing new, really, or it may indicate you have something going on other than, or in addition to, your UC. Further investigation is warranted, starting with looking at all old biopsy reports.
Posted 1/3/2019 9:57 PM (GMT 0)
darn, i thought Charcot-leyden Crystals was going to be a new woo-woo alternative therapy.

Hope either way it's nothing serious!
Posted 1/4/2019 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
I read my old biopsy reports and no mention of these crystals. I actually have a GI doctor on my social media and he said he doesn't know much about them either. Apparently this is a really big under researched area. They can identify them but they don't really know what they're about?!

My understanding from reading about it on Google is that eosinophils enter the bowel in response to parasites or allergies, and when they die their insides form a crystal that lingers in the bowel environment for a long time. There's something called eosinophilic colitis but it's super rare and I doubt I have that.

Still a mystery though!!
Posted 1/4/2019 5:13 AM (GMT 0)
Sorry, I didn't mean for you to read your old biopsy reports to look for mentions of these crystals. I meant for you to look for mentions of eosinophils being found in the biopsied tissue.
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