What happens when you eat a food that doesn't agree with you?

I'd really like to ask the same. I wish I could help you, but so far there is no consistency. I will lose bowls of blood for a few hours, then have a solid and liquid stool in the same BM, feel fine one minute and then rather uncomfortable the next. All this within the span of a few hours and no change in diet. IF there is a change then it doesn't stay consistent with the ingredients. I tried dairy the other night and felt fine. I tried it later and did not feel fine. It's all rather irritating if you ask me..I have no idea how to tell at this point :(

yeah the whole just-try-it-and-see-what-happens mentality is very annoying LOL. I get concerned i'm doing damage but i'm not sure what else to do. I've been on a prednisone taper and i'm down to the last few weeks, so last thing i want is to try foods and have it throw me back in a full flare. I am on Asacol as well so hopefully, that will keep me from having any major issues as long as i'm careful with what i try.

I'm also on a prednisone taper so I wonder really what is having a truly negative effect? I suppose the easy way would be to continually stick with one food and try it for a few days. Although that's rather difficult sometimes I think. Especially when you're on a drug like prednisone. I swear this appetite...

You may find keeping a food journal handy, so it's more easily recognizable as to which foods/beverages don't agree with you...research has shown that there are definitely things that can exacerbate symptoms of IBD, trying to cut all of them out completely and going from there may be beneficial in finding what other things (if any) also don't agree or will exacerbate...things like; caffeine, animal fats, processed foods/beverages, fast-foods and for many even alcohol (it's hard on the colon) and sugar as well as sugar substitutes/artificial sweetners, especially sugar alcohols which are anything ending in "tol" xylitol, sorbitol malitol, ect.

It's not impossible to substitue many things, like instead of butter use extra virgine olive oil (soooo healthy and beneficial), I also find using honey or Stevia as a sweetner healthy and beneficial as well...

Infact you may find that once you've altered your diet in the way of avoiding the things mentioned above, not only might you notice extream improvements with your crohn's but you'll more that likely notice more energy and altertness....there's nothing but benefits to eating/drinking all healthy from the inside out, mentally, emotionally and even the appearance of your skin improves...don't think of it like you're "giving up guilty pleasures" either because believe it or not your entire body adjusts to these changes and your taste buds are included.

:)

pb4 said...
You may find keeping a food journal handy, so it's more easily recognizable as to which foods/beverages don't agree with you...research has shown that there are definitely things that can exacerbate symptoms of IBD, trying to cut all of them out completely and going from there may be beneficial in finding what other things (if any) also don't agree or will exacerbate...things like; caffeine, animal fats, processed foods/beverages, fast-foods and for many even alcohol (it's hard on the colon) and sugar as well as sugar substitutes/artificial sweetners, especially sugar alcohols which are anything ending in "tol" xylitol, sorbitol malitol, ect.

It's not impossible to substitue many things, like instead of butter use extra virgine olive oil (soooo healthy and beneficial), I also find using honey or Stevia as a sweetner healthy and beneficial as well...

Infact you may find that once you've altered your diet in the way of avoiding the things mentioned above, not only might you notice extream improvements with your crohn's but you'll more that likely notice more energy and altertness....there's nothing but benefits to eating/drinking all healthy from the inside out, mentally, emotionally and even the appearance of your skin improves...don't think of it like you're "giving up guilty pleasures" either because believe it or not your entire body adjusts to these changes and your taste buds are included.

:)

Thanks for the input, pb4! I did start a food journal when i left the hospital but got out of the habit, i must admit. I should probably pick it back up again and stick with it. I stay away from the obvious offenders for the most part. It's so hard sometimes finding out how my "new" gut responds to things now. The stuff i consumed before would scare the hell out of me now (Thai style fried rice extra hot, couple brews with friends, chicken fingers, etc)

I started on 40 mg the first time and went down 10 mg a week, but that just made me flare up again. I did eat a LOT on that one though seriously. I hear you about the five meals a day and snacks. God that was wonderful. After it stopped working though I stayed on 40 mg a good part of the summer just to be able to stay awake more than 4 hours a day and now I'm tapering down from 40 mg again. Currently on 25 mg going down 5 mg every Saturday. I'm a little afraid to see what happens this time eh. How is your taper now though? Hopefully it's not taking away the good effects???

When you guys eat something to find out if it doesn't agree with you how long do you wait until you know? I was wondering because sometimes I will eat something and then feel sick afterward, but I think it's barely been enough time for that food to have been registered by my stomach..OR it will be say that I eat the usual bland crackers or something along that line, 5 minutes later have diarrhea, then eat something not so good like chicken alfredo and an hour later go with semi-formed stools and no cramping. There is no consistency :(

The food is only a part of the equation. The larger part is the state of your gut. If permeability is high, all kinds of problems follow. If permeability is low, food does not matter so much. Following is a quote from a paper titled "Mucosal antibodies in inflammatory bowel disease are directed against intestinal bacteria."

We have previously shown that during
relapse of CD intestinal permeability is
increased3-5 allowing access of luminal constituents
to the mucosa. The acute inflammatory
response is, however, quantitatively an
order of magnitude greater than in other
conditions with similarly increased intestinal
permeability.5 This is probably caused by
increased intestinal immune responsiveness
caused by the underlying disease. The importance
of the interaction between luminal
antigens and the mucosal immune system as
the mechanism of relapse in inflammatory
bowel disease (IBD) is suggested by the following
findings.
(1) Known causes of relapse (intestinal
infections, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, and stress) all increase permeability
across the epithelial cell layer or have the
potential to do so.5 6 Moreover, normal intestinal
permeability in patients with CD predicts
a long remission, whereas increased permeability
heralds relapse.4 7

It gets a bit technical after that, but you can see the importance of maintaining low gut permeability. Another paper - "Inflammation rather than nutritional depletion determines glutamine concentrations and intestinal permeability" states:

Results: The presence of inflammatory activity had significant negative effects on glutamine concentrations in contrast to the presence or absence of nutritional depletion. Similarly, intestinal permeability increased during active inflammation but not in depleted patients. FFMI but not inflammation was related to villus height.

So people who have inflammation have increased gut permeability - adding fuel to the fire in your gut. Getting the inflammation under control, keeping nutritional levels high and using a glutamine supplement all help to lower gut permeability. How to control inflammation is the tough question.

Post Edited (Keeper) : 9/2/2008 12:54:56 PM (GMT-6)

BTW, I strictly control my diet because if there is any increased gut permeability, foods that you react to make the problem worse by causing an allergic inflammatory response.