Think I have sorted my severe gut issues

[bertiedog]

At last I think I have found out what has been making my gut progressively worse to the extent it hasn't been normal all year. I have gone from IBC C to more IBS D with occasional constipation occasionally caused by codeine taken for migraine.

I have had so much suffering with my gut especially at night accompanied by insomnia and such severe gut pain I thought I must have something really serious going on. I also had a severe migraine on one night and felt very low but managed to do some thinking about when I wasn't like this and it went back to early 2018. Admittedly I did have more or less permanent constipation issues then but nothing like the pain and bloating I have been experiencing.

So having worked out when I didn't have these symptoms I thought what had I changed and the first thing was a Sourgham cracker at 10 pm with some cashew butter or peanut butter just as a top up because I eat my main meal around 6 pm. I used to have an oatcake with the nut butters for several years or I would have a little bit of cheese but had to give this up because of the migraines.

Could this one item be causing all this misery to me? I also frequently had the Sourgham crackers with butter for breakfast, only 1 1/2 but that meant that on many days I was actually eating that grain twice daily.

The other thing that came to mind was that I was wearing a Fitbit day and night as from February 18 but I couldn't believe that could be an issue but anyway I would take it off and go back to wearing my older Garmin tracker just in case.

Well cannot quite believe the change. It's like having a new gastrointestinal tract. I seem to digest my food very well, no undigested particles in my stool and cannot remember when that was the case. I also changed my digestive enzyme from Swansons to Lindens as I did a small experiment to see which digestive enzyme in warm water broke down an oatcake the best. I actually tried 3 different digestive enzymes I had in my cupboard and the Lindens one got to work immediately and completely broke down the oatcake in a very short time whereas one didn't do anything and the Swanson one also hardly did anything which I thought was interesting as it hadn't occurred to me before that maybe they didn't work!

The only bad gut issue I had was on one evening after I had tried dairy cream on some berries both at lunchtime and also with my evening meal but my gut really didn't like this and I got very loose bowels and felt uncomfortable. It wasn't helped by a small amount of homemade sausage casserole which contained a tiny amount of onion and garlic in a tomato sauce which can be a problem for me. That night I couldn't sleep till 12.30 pm and needed a small amount of clonazapan plus peppermint oil and some indigestion medicine because of some pains in my gut. However it was nothing like as bad as I was experiencing every night when eating the Sourgham cracker.

The other unexpected thing that has happened is that my sleep has massively improved and I am regularly sleeping from 11.30 pm to 5 or 6 when my body wakes me to take my thyroid and adrenal meds and then I am able to go back to sleep till 7.30 am. My sleep hasn't been like this for a couple of years when I had some quite good sleep.

At the moment I don't know if its just the change in the diet and/or the Fitbit that is helping me to feel better. My brain feels calmer but will still get revved up when I over walk and don't rest sufficiency.d Dare I mention it but the migraines are also a lot better.

I did look briefly into the Fitbit thing and there is some talk about the EMF causing an issue with some people but I really don't know what to think but will have to experiment to see if indeed it is an issue for me which I admit does seem a bit far fetched.

Pam

 

[andyguitar]

All sound very positive.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I did look briefly into the Fitbit thing and there is some talk about the EMF causing an issue with some people but I really don't know what to think but will have to experiment to see if indeed it is an issue for me which I admit does seem a bit far fetched.

It seems like from what your experiencing, that in fact you may have EMF issues from wearing the device. Plus some "typical" food sensitivities which come with the territory...of IBS related issues.

What I have observed in this body is that when tissue becomes inflamed, its far more sensitive to EMF issues.

The thing is on your wrist, and look where the wrist tends to be hanging out in proximity to.

This is now reminding me I do not actually wish to be wearing any such device on a continuous basis (and I thought I wanted a heart rate monitor).

I worked with someone who wore the cell phone on vibrate, in his pant pockets. His thigh ended up in a state of chronic misfiring vibration. This person is NOT someone who suspects any such thing. He told his doctor about it. Doctor dismissed. He quit wearing it.

 

[Wolfcub]

Well....it could have been the regular crackers (are you celiac or hypersensitive to gluten?) or perhaps to some additive in them?....it could have been the dairy (you mentioned butter on the crackers, and then the cream upset you too)
It could have been the EMF. Some people dismiss that, but I don't.

It's hard to tell what has helped !

But it's great news to be feeling better ! I hope this keeps up for you

 

[bertiedog]

t could have been the dairy (you mentioned butter on the crackers, and then the cream upset you too)

No its not the butter as I am still using that and can tolerate one amount of dairy cream in small quantities but not two. Actually I hadn't been having any dairy over this past year its only last week I thought I would try it with my new gut function.

I haven't had any gluten for 2 years but I think I am right in saying sorghum is supposed to be gluten free but will check that again. Anyway the birds are enjoying it for their breakfast every morning!

Pam

 

[ryan31337]

Have you experimented with low FODMAP diets @bertiedog?

FODMAPs are fermentable carbohydrates that cause people a lot of grief. They are especially relevant if your gut problems have advanced to Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). Trialling low FODMAP is generally the advice you will be given by NHS dieticians now and the expectation is that many cases of 'IBS' are actually SIBO or sub-clinical SIBO.

I mention it because onion and garlic are 2x of the worst high FODMAP offenders, just a small amount was like a nuclear bomb for me. Sorghum is relatively low FODMAP, but being a grain its likely to still cause some issue. A bad SIBO flare for me would involve being doubled over in pain all day/night long, with a lot of terrible flatulence and days of frequent loose stools to follow. Avoiding FODMAPs was a magic bullet and fixed everything, for a while at least until my underlying dysfunctions got worse.

Ryan

 

[ryan31337]

https://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/

That might be helpful to you. Have a look and see if the red list matches up with known problem foods.

Often when someone has been dealing with intolerances like this for a few years they've started to avoid high FODMAPs through trial and error without actually realising, I certainly did before I was told.

Ryan

 

[bertiedog]

Have you experimented with low FODMAP diets @bertiedog?

Thanks Ryan and yes I was aware of the low FODMAP diet but find I am fine with the vast majority of high FODMAPs but with the exception of onion, garlic and leek which I think are the same family. I have to be careful with spices too. Having said that about the onion I find if its ground up in the form of a nutritious soup then I tolerate it ok but if mixed with any garlic then its a problem.

Pam

 

[BeADocToGoTo1]

Have you tried taking Lactaid with anything dairy, including butter? Eating all your calories within a specific time period to give your pancreas and intestines a rest and allow for healing is almost always a good thing. Have you tried eating all your daily food within a 10-12 hour window? Eating before bed is usually not a good idea. How is your blood glucose balance and A1c level (as a rough indicator)?

 

[ryan31337]

Ah i'm glad you don't struggle with too many of them.

Onion, garlic and leek are all Fructans (the 'F' from FODMAPs). Here's a list of other high Fructans, it would be interesting to see if any others from those list are problematic.
https://alittlebityummy.com/fructans-the-low-fodmap-diet/

Also it gives you an idea of how many grams of fructans would be in 100g of that particular food. Often with these sorts of intolerances you can tolerate a little, but not a lot of something. As you can see, leek is quite a bit lower fructans per 100g than garlic, but you tend to eat an awful lot more leek than you do garlic per serving!

Ryan

 

[bertiedog]

Have you tried taking Lactaid with anything dairy, including butter? Eating all your calories within a specific time period to give your pancreas and intestines a rest and allow for healing is almost always a good thing. Have you tried eating all your daily food within a 10-12 hour window?

I did try a lactase enzyme but it made no difference so I think my problem is casein hence no yoghurt, milk but a very small amount of Edam is ok at breakfast.

Unfortunately I have adrenal insufficiency and I am steroid dependent and I am very sensitive to where my blood sugar is so I have to eat a few times in the morning and have a snack mid afternoon and the one at 10 pm. One of the worst things I ever tried was to eat a ketogenic diet as I had permanent migraine and made me feel like death. It was also some of the worst dizziness I had in years.

My A1c level is still fine thankfully as my diet would still be considered fairly low carb.

Pam

 

[bertiedog]

@Ryan All I know is that Inulin in the form of a powder is disastrous for my bowels! I eat a variety of salad vegetables each day with no problems and also cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, green beans, occasional peas.. Cabbage is fine too and mushrooms so I think I am fairly lucky.

To try and get more fibre in my diet I have added in some organic stewed apple from my garden together with a very small amount of organic plums again from my garden. I add to this some oats and yoghurt I make with organic soy milk and Alpro as the starter and again this is fine as a desert. The other desert I make is with mixed berries from my garden with the yoghurt mixture and maybe some chia seeds and psyllium added.

Pam

 

[PatJ]

@bertiedog What are the other ingredients in the sorghum crackers? Sometimes a sensitivity can be caused by a secondary ingredient or additive.

Sorghum is gluten free but might be cross-contaminated if the grains were ground into flour on machinery that is also used for grinding wheat.

 

[bertiedog]

What are the other ingredients in the sorghum crackers? Sometimes a sensitivity can be caused by a secondary ingredient or additive.

It has to be the grain itself because they only contain sorghum 98.8%, hemp and sea salt, all ingredients are organic. Naturally because they are gluten free I didn't even consider they might be a problem for me and have been eating them over the past 18 months or so.

I am ok with gluten free toast on some mornings but only have half a slice and I am fine with oats but wheat, spelt, rye are a disaster for my gut and haven't eaten them for several years.

Pam

 

[ryan31337]

@Ryan All I know is that Inulin in the form of a powder is disastrous for my bowels!

Inulin is a fructan. Onions, garlic etc. all contain it. Interestingly its often found in processed food as well, its tasteless and can replace other ingredients. Its not a bad thing if you have a healthy working gut, it has good prebiotic properties. But if something isn't working right then it can become quite problematic.

I made a mistake earlier, sorry, the Fructans are oligosaccharides, so the 'O' in FODMAP.

To try and get more fibre in my diet

Funnily enough I discovered recently that fibre was making me a whole lot worse. My problems had progressed enough to warrant an urgent colonoscopy, so I went on the low-fibre prep diet for a few days and suddenly everything improved! Its a real pain when things change and you suddenly start having issues with things you hadn't before. But on the other hand, since I went low fibre my gut does seem to be progressively 'healing' in some way, so I hope for you too that this recent discovery gives it a break and helps it rebuild

 

[Rufous McKinney]

but with the exception of onion, garlic and leek which I think are the same family.

For me, onion garlic leek: must be cooked thoroughly. Then I have little problem with it. Cooked food is much more strongly tolerated and I avoid salads and uncooked vegetables especially at dinner.

so I went on the low-fibre prep diet for a few days and suddenly everything improved!

Same here...don't do well on alot of fiber.

And the last time I ate oatmeal, the entire problem seemed to be- it did nothing in my system and I"m starving having just eatten oatmeal. Starving.

 

[bertiedog]

But on the other hand, since I went low fibre my gut does seem to be progressively 'healing' in some way, so I hope for you too that this recent discovery gives it a break and helps it rebuild

I have heard that before and I do cut right back on the fibre if my gut flares at all. The reason I was trying to add some back was that on recent stool analysis over the past 3 years they showed I had very low levels of butyrate, bifido bacteria and lactobacillus.

One thing that has improved according to my last UBIOME test in July was that my diversity was up to 89% from 50% 3 years ago so it was frustrating to have the persistent problem of low beneficial bacteria.

Pam

 

[Sarahloudobby]

That sounds great I hope you continue to feel better
x