Microscopic 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 microscopic colitis. And we don’t just see it, we also have a lot of success treating it and helping people to get better. Unfortunately, for most people that’s not what generally happens.

What Is Microscopic Colitis?

Microscopic 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.  Thus the name, microscopic colitis

Actually, that’s not completely true. “Colitis” literally means “inflammation in the colon.”  It’s possible that inflammation may have been seen during the colonoscopy, or it may not have been visible to the naked eye.

Either way, the specific type of inflammation that led to the diagnosis of microscopic colitis was not seen during the colonoscopy. That only happens in the lab when looking at your tissue sample under the microscope.  

What Does Microscopic Colitis Mean?

If you are diagnosed with microscopic colitis, it means that your immune system is responding to something bad that is happening in your colon and causing inflammation. That’s literally all it means.

It does not tell you the cause of your microscopic 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 microscopic colitis, possibly takes a guess at the cause, 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 a good explanation or a clear treatment for the cause of the inflammation in your colon.

What Is The Cause Of Microscopic Colitis?

I’m not a gastroenterologist. I’m a specialist who helps people figure out the cause of microscopic colitis.  Those are two completely different specialties, and I encourage you to pay close attention to that difference. Gastroenterologists help you diagnose it. And knowing that you have microscopic 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 to create inflammation in your colon. 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 microscopic colitis, there is no one size fits all treatment that you can simply go do to get rid of your microscopic colitis. But there is a specific cause for your microscopic colitis, and there is a solution for it.

First, we have to figure out what is the cause of that inflammation. And although you probably think that you’ve already had all of the important tests for that and seen the right experts, and maybe you’ve read that there are a few possible causes, I can guarantee that you have barely scratched the surface of what causes microscopic colitis.

How do I know?  Because we’ve seen lots of people with microscopic colitis, and I don’t think that we’ve ever failed to figure out what was causing their inflammation or to help them get better. And no two patients have been the same.

I know that getting better sounds like a miracle. But it’s really about 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 we’re happy to provide miracles. We think of it as doing our job.

If you’d like to find out more about how to treat your microscopic 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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