There's Nothing Left To Eat Without Feeling Sick

[sweeeeet]

I have had digestive symptoms for at least 15 years. Doctors aren't sure what I have. But the past year it's been much worse. I tested negative for celiac twice, btw. I know I have IBS, but there was no test for that, they just took my word and told me to drink more water.

I have chronic diarrhea or constipation, (usually about a week of constipation, then four days of diarrhea, then constipation again) stomach gas, cramping, severe bloating, and my stomach makes horribly loud gurgling noises, it sounds like there's water in there sloshing around.

I drink several large bottles of water per day, and take a probiotic called Ultimate 10, that the manager at the Vitamin Shoppe recommended. Nothing has changed.

At first I thought my reactions were due to wheat flour so I gave up stuff like bread, pasta, pizza, etc. But I was still feeling lousy so, since I had chronic diahrrea, I thought it might be lactose, so in addition, I gave up dairy. Still felt lousy, always bloated and queazy. So I thought it might be some kind of meat because I felt so bloated after I ate dinner, so I gave up meat too, deli meat, steak, hot dogs, chicken, etc. Today I am now down to eating a banana for breakfast, a blueberry yogurt for lunch, and nothing for dinner because I am scared to eat something that will set off my symptoms and my stomach is all cramped up and this diarrhea won't stop. I was invited to a party the other day, and just sat there and drank water because I knew I'd rush to the bathroom if I ate even a small piece of cheese or a cracker.

I tried doing an elimination diet last week, like eat one food and see what happens 6 hours later, and so far, milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, nuts, popcorn, crackers, bananas, apples, beans, cereal, meat, potatos, mayonnaise, mustard, etc. keep me feeling bloated and having stomach cramps and all those problems. I do work out all week, at least 5 hours of cardio, walking and step aerobics. But my scale always says 140. I could eat nothing for a week and it would still say 140.

Anyway, I am so frustrated because there's nothing left to eat! I am so hungry right now.

Anybody have any feedback? Do you have these symptoms too? What is your diagnosis? And what could I possibly eat now????????

[GlutenFreeManna]

The tests can be wrong. In fact they are frequently false negatives.

Have you tried a gluten free diet for longer than a few days? You should try a strict gluten free and dairy free for a month at least before challenging with gluten. You won't feel better right away. Most people feel better after two weeks, but some people take longer to heal. It's more than just not eating bread, you need to check everything you eat and watch out for sources of cross contamination like from old cookware, toasters, food shared with gluten-eaters, etc.

Also, I'm not sure I understand what kind of elimination diet you did. The ones I have always read about involve eating a few very simple foods (usually meat and veg) for a week or two and then challenging with one thing per week.

As far as what to eat right now, have you tried eating cooked veggies? Go for easy to digest things like steamed carrots or baked and mashed sweet potatoes.

[lucia]

At first I thought my reactions were due to wheat flour so I gave up stuff like bread, pasta, pizza, etc. But I was still feeling lousy so, since I had chronic diahrrea, I thought it might be lactose, so in addition, I gave up dairy. Still felt lousy, always bloated and queazy. So I thought it might be some kind of meat because I felt so bloated after I ate dinner, so I gave up meat too, deli meat, steak, hot dogs, chicken, etc. Today I am now down to eating a banana for breakfast, a blueberry yogurt for lunch, and nothing for dinner because I am scared to eat something that will set off my symptoms and my stomach is all cramped up and this diarrhea won't stop. I was invited to a party the other day, and just sat there and drank water because I knew I'd rush to the bathroom if I ate even a small piece of cheese or a cracker.

I'm so sorry to hear about your issues - sounds horrible, but familiar.

You said that you gave up wheat flour. Did you give up gluten? Gluten is found in all wheat derivatives, as well as rye and barley. Check out this list for all of the places where gluten can hide:

https://www.celiac.com/celiac-disease/forbidden-gluten-food-list-unsafe-ingredients-r182/

If you have celiac/gluten intolerance, you'll need to give all of these up before you feel better. Sounds like you already have down to just bananas and yogurt, but you already know you need to eat more than just that. In the beginning, most of us concentrate on whole, unprocessed foods and a lot of fruits and veggies.

Welcome!

[Ahorsesoul]

I tried doing an elimination diet last week, like eat one food and see what happens 6 hours later,

6 hours is way to short a time. I suggest you decide on what you want to do and stick with it for a few weeks. This problem will go away in a few hours.

[tarnalberry]

oh yeah, 6 hours is nowhere near long enough to see what's bothering you. food takes up to a few days to get through your system, which is why they highly recommend doing elimination diets and challenges with new foods no more than once every few days (three or four at the most, a week is better). waiting only six hours doesn't actually allow you to test any individual food.

[sweeeeet]

Well what I meant as far as eliminating certain foods is, I would eat one food, like, say, a fried egg, then wait 6 hours to see if I had any reaction. Usually, I would know within 10 to 15 minutes if I would have a reaction. Eggs give me horrible reactions, btw. Then the next day I would eat two crackers and wait 6 hours and if I had a reaction I'd know it was probably wheat related. Most crackers are a huge problem for me, especially Wheat Thins and Rye Krisp.

BTW, I should not have had yogurt yesterday because of the lactose. I am not touching any lactose anymore, and I need to read up on all foods which contain lactose. Today I had a small fruit cocktail for breakfast, and my stomach was very calm. Thank God for that. I felt really great. My lunch consisted of a small handful of almonds. No problem there. For dinner, I had a baked potato. So far so good.

So aside from me going out to Trader Joes or ordering from a mail order place, what natural foods are gluten free wheat/yeast free, casein free lactose free? If I can find at least a few foods to eat for a while that won't bother me, I'd be very happy. BTW, celiac runs in my family, 3 other people have it, so I was kinda surprised two tests came back negative.

[kayo]

You could have non-celiac gluten intolerance, food allergies (either short or late onset), food intolerances, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, parasites, malnutrition, etc.

I agree with the others, 6 hours is not long enough. It's also not a proper elimination diet. You need to establish a baseline for several days, a week would be better and then introduce just one new food every 2-3 days. It takes a long time but without a baseline you're just shooting darts all over the place.

I highly recommend this book: 'IBS - Free At Last' by Patsy Catsos. It includes info on how to do an elimination diet and introduce new foods, and it includes shopping lists. Makes the experience more tolerable and less overwhelming.

[sweeeeet]

You could have non-celiac gluten intolerance, food allergies (either short or late onset), food intolerances, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, parasites, malnutrition, etc.

I agree with the others, 6 hours is not long enough. It's also not a proper elimination diet. You need to establish a baseline for several days, a week would be better and then introduce just one new food every 2-3 days. It takes a long time but without a baseline you're just shooting darts all over the place.

I highly recommend this book: 'IBS - Free At Last' by Patsy Catsos. It includes info on how to do an elimination diet and introduce new foods, and it includes shopping lists. Makes the experience more tolerable and less overwhelming.

Sounds like a really good book, I will definitely look for it. Today I was with my mom and she wanted to go to Friendly's, so I blew it and had a small quesadilla appetizer and a half of a Fribble. Big mistake, I was miserable about 6 hours later.

I don't have all the same celiac symptoms like my relatives who have celiac or my friend, I mean, they get "chicken pox" like scabs and stuff, I don't get that. Oh well, I am able to handle fruit cocktail, pineapple, watermelon, blueberries, etc.

[sweeeeet]

I guess you're right, also, I need to fully eliminate one thing for some time, like just gluten, or wheat, or just lactose. But how exactly can I figure out what it is eventually? I mean, lets say I give up lactose and dairy for a whole month or two, BUT eat a Wheat Thin or two and some toast, and get sick, then do I figure it must be wheat related and not lactose related? Or do I have to give it a month or two and then stop eating wheat and introduce lactose to see if there is any change? And if there isn't, might that mean I am probably sensitive to both? If I give both up and feel great after a month or two, I wouldn't know which it was or if it was both, you know what I mean? I sound like a complaining pest I'm sure, but I just want to figure this all out. I've done the glutengest, ez-gest, Beano, all the various enzymes out there, and it isn't working. I just got a 15 billion strain probiotic up from the 13 billion capsules I was taking before, I'll start on it tomorrow. We'll see. For now, It's fresh fruit, I guess. And lots of water. Still can't geet the needle on the scale to budge below 140, but I look better than I did when I weighed 132 last summer.

[kayo]

I know what you mean and I had the same questions too.

The trick is to establish a baseline diet (they explain this in the book better than me ). For me it is lean protein and rice or potatoes, bananas, strawberries, quinoa, cucumbers, leafy greens, tea, etc. You stay on that base diet until you start to feel better. Then you introduce a food you suspect is bothering, like milk. Don't add any other suspects at this time because it will skew the results. If it doesn't bother you then you can add it into your meal rotation, keep an eye on how you feel. If it does bother you wait 2-3 days or longer before trying another suspect food.

It takes a while but it's worth it. I keep a food diary and a spreadsheet of foods that are 'ok', 'maybe' and 'no'.

I feel so good on my base diet I have been reluctant to try foods in the 'maybe' column. Fortunately my 'ok' list has nice variety.

[Tina B]

I guess you're right, also, I need to fully eliminate one thing for some time, like just gluten, or wheat, or just lactose. But how exactly can I figure out what it is eventually? I mean, lets say I give up lactose and dairy for a whole month or two, BUT eat a Wheat Thin or two and some toast, and get sick, then do I figure it must be wheat related and not lactose related? Or do I have to give it a month or two and then stop eating wheat and introduce lactose to see if there is any change? And if there isn't, might that mean I am probably sensitive to both? If I give both up and feel great after a month or two, I wouldn't know which it was or if it was both, you know what I mean? I sound like a complaining pest I'm sure, but I just want to figure this all out. I've done the glutengest, ez-gest, Beano, all the various enzymes out there, and it isn't working. I just got a 15 billion strain probiotic up from the 13 billion capsules I was taking before, I'll start on it tomorrow. We'll see. For now, It's fresh fruit, I guess. And lots of water. Still can't geet the needle on the scale to budge below 140, but I look better than I did when I weighed 132 last summer.

You can eliminate the lactose question quickly by having a formal lactose tolerance test:

Open Original Shared Link

[Skylark]

The classic elimination diet goes all the way down to just three or four foods, to avoid exactly what you're talking about. Most common is lamb, rice, and pears. I ate leaf lettuce too when I did mine. You eat only those three foods for two weeks and see if things settle down. You could include the bananas if you're sure they agree with you but definitely no dairy.

After two weeks if everything settles down you add foods back one at a time, usually three days apart. You always challenge with simple, single foods. You want to test eggs, you eat a plain egg and not an omelette with seasonings. Cooked foods can be different from raw too, so you test both with foods you eat either way. Also, six hours is nowhere near long enough to wait between foods because food intolerances are often delayed. A delay of up to 24 hours is common; up to 48 is possible.

[GFCeliacMom]

Hope this helps.

One of mine has a very sensitive tummy and we have found a yummy snack that he tolerates well and actually thinks is a quite a treat. It's called Gudernoobs and they're made by WooHoo Foods. It comes in 4 varieties, but only 3 of them are 100% gluten free. I think it's the omega-3s in them that are helping my little one so much too.

Best of luck