Collagenous colitis is a type of inflammation in the colon. It’s not nearly as scary as it sounds. And I’ll explain exactly what it is, how it’s diagnosed, and what you can do about it.  

One of the digestive issues that we often see is collagenous colitis. And we don’t just see it, we also have a lot of success treating it and helping people to get better. And I’ll explain why we have such an unusual success rate for treating collagenous colitis.  

What Is Collagenous Colitis?

Collagenous colitis is a type of inflammation in the colon 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.  

What the lab technician sees under the microscope includes two things. They see evidence of inflammation in the cells that line the colon, and thus the name “colitis”, which literally means “inflammation in the colon.”

The other thing they see under the microscope is an unusually thick layer of collagen within those cells.  And that’s how you get the full name “collagenous colitis”, which is a fancy way of saying that there is inflammation in the colon that includes collagen.

What Does Collagenous Colitis Mean?

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

It does not tell you the cause of your collagenous colitis, or what should be done to treat it. But in most cases, this is where patients’ stories end. With great confidence your gastroenterologist states that you have collagenous colitis and tells you that the cause is unknown and that it’s not really curable.

So you get a treatment for your symptoms. And maybe you get some type of anti-inflammatory treatment such as sulfasalazine or the steroid budesonide, but you certainly don’t get a a good explanation for why you have it and how to solve it.  

What Is the Cause Of Collagenous Colitis?

First, I want to be sure that you understand that collagenous colitis is a symptom, not a cause. Don’t let anyone let you believe otherwise. Something else caused this type of inflammatory reaction in your colon. It didn’t just randomly happen.

And know that gastroenterologists are great at diagnosing things like collagenous colitis. That’s their specialty. But they are terrible at helping people figure out why they have it in the first place. That’s not their specialty.

That’s our specialty. At the IBS Treatment Center, we help people figure out the cause of collagenous colitis.  

Gastroenterologists are very important. Because knowing that you have collagenous colitis is very helpful. But it’s not the end of your healing journey. It’s only be the beginning, because now that we know you have it, we can focus on finding the cause and treating it.

Many, many different things trigger inflammation in your colon. Those things are not seen during a colonoscopy, and are also not seen in the biopsy.  

And most people are surprised to learn that their GI doc isn’t the one who can help them with this. That’s because this is a very highly specialized issue, and it takes time that they don’t have. It’s a detective process that is far different than the one that they are doing.

But since you’ve probably had quite a bit of lab work, you may think that you’ve already turned over every stone when it comes to solving your problem.  I can tell you that that is highly unlikely.

There are literally hundreds of causes of collagenous colitis, and because of this, there is no one size fits all treatment or diet that you can simply go do. But there is a very specific cause for your collagenous colitis, and there is a solution for it that is unique to you. And our job is to help you find it.

Why do I sound so confident?  Because we’ve seen lots of people with collagenous colitis, and we’ve helped them to figure out what was causing their inflammation and helped them to get better.  

I know that getting better sounds like a miracle. But it’s really about finding the right specialists who have experience helping people solve this challenging issue. Once you’ve done that, the rest is easy.

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