Pain From Undigested Food?

[Yumeji]

This year I've been experiencing dull, but chronic, pain in the abdominal region for days after consuming foods like peanuts, almonds, potatoe chips, green grapes (seeds), coconut ice cream (coconut flakes), lychee, brown rice cereal, tomatoes, cucumbers, relish, or sesame seeds. Does anyone else experience this?

I can't figure out if it's IBS or gluten that is causing this. I find that even when I'm having 2-3 bowel movements per day (not diarrhea) I'm still in pain from these foods until they are expelled from my system. In addition, I've noticed that my stool is beginning to go from a dark goldenrod colour to a dark brown--not sure if this is gluten or IBS related.

Would digestive enzymes (i.e., NOW Foods Digest Platinum, Enzymedica Digest Gold) remedy this problem?

[Teri Lou]

Have you seen a dr lately? My Dad can't eat many of those things due to diverticulitis.....might be worth getting a check up to rule it out. Good luck!

[Yumeji]

Have you seen a dr lately? My Dad can't eat many of those things due to diverticulitis.....might be worth getting a check up to rule it out. Good luck!

I've seen several doctors and had a slew of tests done this year (i.e., physical, blood, urinalysis, stool, hydrogen breath, abdominal ultrasound, and prick testing). I was told by both GP and a gastroenterologist that I just had IBS and possibly some food intolerances. In addition, I was told I'm "too young" (late 20's) to have diverticulitis so both doctors credited the undigested food pain as part of IBS.

[eatmeat4good]

IBS

BS

Eliminate gluten and see how you do.

You could ask for a full Celiac Panel just to check you blood before you go gluten free.

Another food intolerance that would be consistent with those foods is salicylate sensitivity.

But you will have to do an elimination diet to find out.

Google salicylate sensitivity to see if you have other symptoms.

Or to find out how to limit sals.

But gluten is suspect too.

Good luck to you.

[ciamarie]

Looking at the first few items on your list, I'd suspect something like a sulfite sensitivity.

I posted some links on message 4 of this thread, in case it's helpful:

[Yumeji]

IBS

BS

Eliminate gluten and see how you do.

You could ask for a full Celiac Panel just to check you blood before you go gluten free.

Another food intolerance that would be consistent with those foods is salicylate sensitivity.

But you will have to do an elimination diet to find out.

Google salicylate sensitivity to see if you have other symptoms.

Or to find out how to limit sals.

But gluten is suspect too.

Good luck to you.

Looking at the first few items on your list, I'd suspect something like a sulfite sensitivity.

I posted some links on message 4 of this thread, in case it's helpful:

Coincidentally, I've been looking into these types of chemical sensitivities the past few days after experiencing a third anaphylactic episode this month. They usually start with dizziness/light headedness followed by shallow rapid breathing, a drop in blood pressure, collapse, then I'm unable to move. One was brought on by eating tomatoes, cucumbers and dijon mustard. The most recent was after consuming a lot of macchiato cafe followed by a peppermint oil capsule (supposedly good for IBS spasms). Initially I thought maybe I overdosed on peppermint oil, but I had only taken 3 within 48 hours (bottle recommends 3 per day with meals). My boyfriend said the next time this happens he's going to call an ambulance.

This may be unrelated and completely coincidental but one time my boyfriend gave me 4 Benedryl chewable tablets with lots of water the episode had suddenly halted. It almost seemed too instantaneous to credit the antihistamine so we figured that perhaps the episode just ran its course.

Are salicylates and sulfites related? Yesterday I tried provoking a response by consuming a lot of salicylates (i.e., prunes, lemon juice in water, grapes, oranges, kiwis, Ginger Chews) but didn't get the breathing problems I had previously. I simply bloated up, experienced diarrhea from the prunes, noticed a few temporary small red spots on my hand/arm after drinking the lemon juice, then today I'm a bit puffy in the face, bloated, and some temporary abdominal pain from the undigested prune and grape skins. I'm not sure if it's the salicylates or the sulfites that cause the anaphylactic episodes. Do coffee and Open Original Shared Link contain sulfites?

[ciamarie]

<stuff deleted> I simply bloated up, experienced diarrhea from the prunes, noticed a few temporary small red spots on my hand/arm after drinking the lemon juice, then today I'm a bit puffy in the face, bloated, and some temporary abdominal pain from the undigested prune and grape skins. I'm not sure if it's the salicylates or the sulfites that cause the anaphylactic episodes. Do coffee and Open Original Shared Link contain sulfites?

Well, was the lemon juice fresh-squeezed or from a bottle? If it's from a bottle, it'll probably have sulfites.

As for coffee, I started reacting badly to it, so I now drink black tea (red rose). I searched and searched, and found nothing about it having sulfites, but that doesn't mean it doesn't, it just means I didn't find anything that told me it does. There were some articles that questioned whether some coffee brands use MSG, and it turns out that those of us who are sensitive to MSG are also commonly sensitive to sulfites. No evidence of that either, but I just stay away from it most of the time now.

Sulfites do cause anaphylactic episodes, their use was banned at salad bars for this reason. Some of what I've read claims it only causes such problems for those with asthma, but I don't believe it. As for peppermint oil containing sulfites, I don't know. I just did a quick search and found one place selling peppermint oil (in Australia, but...) that shows 'contains sodium sulfite'. Open Original Shared Link

Click on the 'contraindications and cautions' to see it. So I'd check your bottle, it may be that it contains sulfites too.

Please look at the links on the post I linked to. And since you react so strongly, and the learning curve can be a bit steep with sulfites, carry some of those benadryl or whatever it was you used before. And perhaps look into getting an epi-pen, though those also contain sulfites so you'd have to get to a hospital asap after using it.