This Is Tough

[vintegra90]

I've had a digestive problem for at least 4 years now (I'm 22). I found it embarrassing so I never did anything about it. Then it got REAL bad, so I knew it was time... I still refused to go to the doctor about 7 weeks ago. I just started researching like crazy. I decided it was celiac's since pasta ALWAYS triggered some intense problems, even though I love it.

It took a few weeks to completely eliminate the gluten... Then I realized that soy crushed me just as hard as pasta did... Then a few more weeks to figure out that I needed to quit dairy. I thought it was tough then...

Corn was always out. I tried white rice and that was terrible. I tried Quinoa and that was no good. I've tried nuts and they messed me up bad... Then I tried just fruit, vegetables properly cooked meat, and even THAT messed me up. I then read about salicylates and amines and cut out a bunch of fruits and vegetables. I am left with a very short list of foods that I eat.

-salt

-sugar

-brown sugar

-lemons

-olive oil

-balsamic vinegar

-eggs

-fish

-chicken

-lamb

-beef

-potato (eat without skin)

-red delicious apples (skinless)

-garlic (jumbo)

-onion (vidalia)

-lettuce (discard outer leaves)

-carrot (peeled)

-asparagus

I have had a few good days since I've started eliminating foods, but each good day included like 4 fiber pills... Even with the very little food that I eat now (I don't cheat), I am thinking of cutting out potatoes to see if that works. The safe-list keeps getting shorter and shorter and shorter....

I've went from 166 lbs to 154 lbs since I started modifying my diet. I am very active, and I really do feel great with this new diet (since adding sugar), but my digestive issue isn't showing improvement as fast as I want... How long will this take???????? This is terrible... I wish I could just eat rice, or nuts... or just a few more foods... I'm frustrated, but not quitting.

[lucia]

I started to have GI symptoms with everything I ingested at one point. Even drinking water gave me stomach cramps.

I treated it through the specific carbohydrate diet, assuming I had intestinal overgrowth. This diet is close to what you're eating, except that all veggies are cooked and sugar is banned. You can find more info online. The diet worked for me. The other possibility that I found researching these symptoms was colitis.

I suggest that you talk to your doctor, since both bacterial overgrowth and colitis can be tested for.

[gf-soph]

The short answer is that it will take time to see improvements. Whenever you change a lot of things at once it is hard to know what is doing what. Are you able to see a dietician to help you through this? It's important that you make sure you are meeting your basic nutritional needs, otherwise you will end up feeling unwell anyway. The fact that you are losing weight means you probably aren't reaching all your nutritional needs already.

It would be a good idea to see a doctor if you can, as a lot of people with celiac or gluten intolerance have deficiencies in nutrients like iron, b12, vit d, calcium etc, and this alone can make you feel unwell. Also, you are reacting badly to a lot of things, so you want to rule out other diagnoses like ulcers, bacterial overgrowth, crohn's, colitis etc if this keeps going on.

I went gluten free 2 years ago, I had some good improvements in the first few months, but by 6 months there were still problems with intermittant gut problems, brain fog, loss of appetite etc. If gluten is a significant problem for you it can take *months* to get the full benefit of going gluten free, so make sure you give it time.

About a year ago I started seeing a dietican to manage my continuing symptoms. I had some complications along the way, but now am on an elimination diet that's working. I am on the RPA diet that looks at salicylates, amines and glutamate. Sorry to do this, but the things you are eating aren't fully compliant with the strictest categories of that diet. There are some there that aren't allowed, and some that are in the moderate chemical category. If you're very unwell they recommend starting out on the strictest leve. That's another reason to see a dietician, as they can get access to the most up to date information about that diet. You can post on the site to look for someone good in your area if you like.

Not allowed in RPA strict category diet

Lemon (use citric acid in water)

Olive oil (use canola or sunflower).

No vinegar at all.

Fish - only some types allowed, can't remember the specifics. Also allowed calamari. Make sure you buy fresh and cook it soon to minimise amines. Don't brown it. Same goes for all meats.

Make sure you use white or brown sugar only, no raw sugar

Potatoes - only large floury white potatoes, thickly peeled, no new potatoes or coloured varieties.

No apples (moderate salicylates)- only allowed strict fruit is ripe pears (not nashi) without skin. No more than 2 per day. If canned, only use pears in syrup, not in juice.

Carrots are moderate in salicylates, can't remember about asparagus but I don't think it's low. I didn't improve until I cut them out.

You can add in swede, leek, bean sprouts, there are other allowed foods but I don't have my books with me.

You can google failsafe to get more information, and i think they have fairly up to date information, though the website is set up pretty badly. For me, it took 6 weeks on the strictest RPA diet to have a totally good day, and up to 2 weeks to recover from a food challenge. You have to treat yourself like a scientific experiment and change 1 thing at a time so that you can isolate how everything effects you. You also want to know how to conduct food challeges properly, there are specific guidelines for the diet.

I think that if you are going to be on such a strict diet you want some guidance, I know I would be stuffed without my dietician. I can understand wanting to find out everything at once, but you might end up cutting out things you don't need to if you are still recovering from the gluten. My recommendation would be to stay gluten and dairy free, and avoid anything that you know 100% makes you sick, but to eat as wide a range of foods as you can for several months.

If you get to several months gluten free and still have problems, start on a stricter elimination diet then. I was told by an expert to wait 6 months after going gluten free until I looked into other causes, as that is a fairly typical healing time. I had already had the endoscopy and other tests to rule out other nasty medical conditions though.

Either way, hope you get some answers and don't spend more time on a resticted diet than you need to. I'm amost 4 months into this diet and it is still hard when I have the full information that I need. Good luck!

Sophie

[GFinDC]

I'd suggest getting rid of the potatoes right off, and tomatoes, peppers, eggplants. They are all night shades and cause reactions in some of us. I know you are not eating those but want you to understand they are part of a group of potentially irritating foods.

I can't eat carrots or celery either, but plenty of people can. Food intolerances can be in groups by plant type or specific to a certain food. And everyone can develop any certain food intolerance, they can be randomly applied to each of us.

If you are constantly eating a food that is irritating to your system, it is likely that you will have reactions to lots of foods because you are always in an irritated condition (gut-wise). It's like rubbing sand in a wound. Hoits. So, if you can find foods that work for you, then after while you may be able to add other foods in one at a time for a week and see if you react. And that way slowly build up your safe food list.

[vintegra90]

thanks for the replies. finally seeing a gastroenterologist on tuesday.

i tried quitting potatoes but it didnt work out well. I thought i was going to drop dead from lack of energy. I am living off potatoes, yams, yuca, and meat.