Lettuce = Upset Stomach?

[~alex~]

I've been wondering about this for awhile and thought I'd ask in case anyone had any ideas. A couple weeks ago I made a chicken salad for supper and within few hours of eating it I had an upset stomach and then had D a bit throughout the night and into the next morning. Everything in the salad I have eaten before without any problem so I'm quite sure it wasn't gluten related and my fiance ate the same thing without illness so I'm assuming it wasn't a food borne illness thing.

The only thing I could think of was that it was too much lettuce. I'd had only small side salads up until that point so maybe it was too much lettuce -- to much fibre? I really don't know. I've been avoiding lettuce since then. I occasionally get seemingly random D but it usually doesn't last all through the night like this time so it concerned me more and made me think it must have been something I ate.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Alex

[jerseyangel]

The lettuce is a possibility--many times while our systems are healing, raw veggies can cause problems. If it was much more than you normally eat, that could have been it.

Did you have anything for lunch or earlier that day that could be suspect?

A simple food diary can be helpful in tracking down the sources of random symptoms. Just jotting down what you eat and how you feel daily will be very helpful to see if something you're eating on a regular basis is a problem. Be sure to make a note of any new personal care products, too.

[Lisa]

Alex,

Patti had a great idea about a food diary. It can help you pinpoint some food that can be a bother to you.

I did want to say, that I am sooo glad that you are up to posting. That's a good thing.

[Karen B.]

What kind of lettuce? I've been told iceberg lettuce is one of the most difficult foods to digest. Pre-diagnosis, iceberg lettuce is the only food that would routinely give me D. Gluten didn't bother me but iceberg lettuce would do me in. Other lettuces give me no problem.

[~alex~]

Thank you for the idea about the food diary. I wish my GI had thought to suggest that to me. When I don't feel well it's hard to figure out whether it is just because I'm still healing or if something else I'm eating is bothering me. Having a written inventory of food eaten and symptoms sounds like a smart idea. I hope I can figure out what isn't agreeing with me. Right now besides gluten I'm only avoiding dairy and soy. I think I miss dairy more than gluten.

Thanks also for the info about iceberg lettuce; I will definitely keep that in mind.

Alex

[saaa-wheat<3]

Hey Alex,

Do you by chance use the pre-bagged lettuce?? Reason why I ask is that if I eat that type of lettuce and it hasn't been RINSED first, I get a belly-ache with D. Lots of people don't realize that if one uses this kind of lettuce, even if it says "washed" on the bag, it still sits and festers, so you still need to rinse it before use. I discoverd this when I got salad bar for lunch one day at the grocery store and had D right after. I noticed that it was a salad mix, so the next time I went I set the lettuce aside separately and rinsed it when I got back to the office and that time I was fine. You might argue CC, but I retested this theory one night when my sister in law didn't rinse the unopened bagged lettuce that she used for salad with dinner, and I had the same problem. I forgave her though, cuz she is awesome about making sure I can have every ingredient on the dinner menu and even has gone so far as traveling to the store special because the creamed corn she had on hand one night for shepherd's pie had modified food starch and she remembered that was one of my "red flags" and so got a type that specified where the food starch source was from