Lymphocytic colitis is a type of inflammation in the colon with a variety of causes. I’ll explain exactly how it’s diagnosed, what triggers it, and why your gastroenterologist isn’t giving you much help for it.

One of the things we see a lot of is lymphocytic colitis. And we don’t just see it, we also have a lot of success treatment it and helping people to get better. Unfortunately, for most people that’s not what happens.

What Is Lymphocytic Colitis?

Lymphocytic colitis is a type of inflammation that is diagnosed from a colonoscopy. It’s not seen during the colonoscopy, but it’s seen in the lab when the biopsy that was taken during the colonoscopy is examined under the microscope.  

That’s not completely true. “Colitis” literally means “inflammation in the colon.”  The inflammation may have been seen during the colonoscopy, but the specific type of inflammation that led to the diagnosis of lymphocytic colitis was not seen during the colonoscopy. That requires the presence of lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell.

If lymphocytes are seen in the biopsy that is being examined under the microscope, that is how you end up being be diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis.

What Does Lymphocytic Colitis Mean?

If you are diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis, it means that your immune system (those white blood cells), are responding to something bad that is happening in your colon. That’s literally all it means.

It does not tell you the cause of your lymphocytic colitis, or what should be done to treat it. But in most cases this is where patients stories end. With great satisfaction, your gastroenterologist states that you have lymphocytic colitis, and then moves on to the next patient.

And maybe you get some type of anti-inflammatory treatment, but you certainly don’t get a treatment for the cause of the inflammation in your colon.

What Is the Cause of Lymphocytic Colitis?

I’m not a gastroenterologist. I’m a specialist who helps people figure out the cause of lymphocytic colitis.  Those are two completely different things, and I encourage you to pay close attention to that difference. Gastroenterologists help you diagnose it. And knowing that you have lymphocytic colitis is very helpful, because now we can focus on finding the cause and treating it.

Many, many different things can and do trigger the immune system (your lymphocytes) to create inflammation in your colon. And those things are not seen during a colonoscopy, and are also not seen in the biopsy.  

And because there are so many different causes of lymphocytic colitis, there is no one size fits all treatment that you can simply go do to get rid of your lymphocytic colitis.

First, we have to figure out what is causing the inflammation. And although you probably think that you’ve already had all of the important tests for this and seen the right experts, I can guarantee that you have barely scratched the surface of what causes lymphocytic colitis.

And when we do find the cause, people with lymphocytic colitis miraculously get better. Ok, it’s not really a miracle. It’s finding specialists like people at the IBS Treatment Center who have experience helping people solve this challenging issue. And if you want to call that a miracle, then so be it.

If you’d like to find out more about how to treat your lymphocytic colitis, give us a call today at 206-264-1111, and my team will answer all of your questions and explain how we can work with you from nearly anywhere via telemedicine.

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