Foods to avoid?

Hi, I found this forum by chance looking for information on the long term effects of Mercaptopurine (puri-nethol). Found myself reading all the threads for about 2 hours. Strange to find so any people that understand the pain...

A common theme mentioned was diet and foods to avoid. I have had Crohns for about 10 years I only avoid chilli, coffee and red wine. Fruit holds no appeal so I don't eat much. Citrus fruits don't seem to react very well with me. I don't drink milk either.

Are there other things you guys avoid or eat more of that make you feel better?

Recent stress at work has caused another flare up. There's only one staff toilet and its adjoined to the lunch room. Embarrassing somtimes.

Post Edited (Specticackle) : 10/2/2012 9:38:04 AM (GMT-6)

Diet is entirely individual in Crohn's. There is no one food which is all good or all bad for Crohn's sufferers, so you might as well as eat anything you feel like within reason. Black coffee would be murderous to many Crohnies, but it doesn't trigger anything with me, so I drink it. Likewise, I've been on a gluten-free diet and it never did anything for me; I haven't been on a dairy-free diet, but I'm 99% sure that I'm not lactose-intolerant so I'm not really motivated to try it.

I don't seem to to be that sensitive to individual foods, admittedly. I'm cautious with spicy foods and fibrous foods, that's about it. Do eat veggies, but avoid them in undercooked crunchy form. Do eat mildly spicy food, but nothing too hot. Now that autumn has arrived, I'm back to eating soup again to try and boost my veggie intake without bothering my stricture too much.

Re avoiding milk. Where I live (UK), all the supermarkets stock lactose-free dairy products now. I've tried the milk and it tastes fine. But I've gone back to regular milk, 'cos the lactose-free stuff honestly seemed to make no difference. Anyway, if you can get a hold of it, lactose-free milk, cheese, etc. may be worth trying.

a gluten-free diet should be promptly started.

Er, no.

A gluten-free diet should be suggested, maybe. That's as far as I would go. Personally, that's a single study with a small sample - more studies need to be done to conclude anything about the comorbidity of Coeliac and Crohn's, imo. (Could be interesting, though.)

Also, hospitals seem to do routine screening for Coeliac Disease in Crohn's patients or at least mine did. A few years ago my GP thought I had tested positive for Coeliac Disease; he sounded quite convinced I almost definitely had it (the reason why I went on the gluten-free diet in the first place). But when I brought it up with the hospital a few weeks later, they just sounded a bit puzzled and said I had already tested negative for CD according to their records - and at the previous hospital had tested the same way.

When diagnosed, it's probably worth asking your GI if you were screened for Coeliac Disease.

I have problems with heavy food...like a meal where everything is fried or really creamy sauces. Even if I eat these things the worst that happens is that I throw up a few times and may have 1 or 2 movements that are pure D.

I was tested for celiac also, by blood and also biopsy, and was told I did not have celiac disease. Still, my GI encouraged me to try a gluten free diet, and some people here had experiences like mine where they did not have celiac disease but were still gluten intolerant - I gave it a go and was completely gob-smacked at the result. My rheumatologist kind of gave me a weird look when I told him at my last check-up about this (he was the one who did the blood work for celiac) but I am not going back to eating wheat anytime soon. I may do a barley trial to see if beer can get back on my list some time soon.

I went alcohol free fro 3 months, not a sip! Had no change in symptoms at all. I do find though that I suffer heightened symptoms if I drink beer that is not naturally fermented, and I'm sure the red wine issue has something to do with the sulfur content.

I suppose my concern is that if I always have symptoms and don't go into remission it will cause scarring and possibly a stricture or something similar. This is especially disconcerting as my mum died (just before I was diagnosed) due to a complication (error after error on the hospitals part) during a colonoscopy examining her stricture (for the second time in a week even though there was a complete blockage).

hello,

I have crohn about 20 years now and untill now I did receive remicade every 6 weeks, now I start with cimzia. I can eat a lot of things. A lot of ""forbiddeen things" I don't like, so in that way I'm lucky. I live in belgium and I don't like choclate and waffles !!! what I do like is fruit. and now in autumn the apples are so juicy and tastfull, but I know that they cause pain. But last week i couldn't resist one and I did eat an nice shining apple as dessert. Oh my God, the next morning I coun't stand the pain anymore and I had to go to urgencies, later that day they let me go home, feeling so stupid for eating the apple AND knowing it in advance. Only a few times a year I really can't resist something to eat and tha I must pay for it.
chantal

Its stress that triggers it. Just took over the general manager position where I work, at the same time the previous GM left the only other manager (there were 3 managers including me) was going on maternity leave. The office went from having 11.5 years experience in there to 3.5 years. Our Cafe supervisor had left the week earlier to care for her mother and our retail supervisor was on annual leave. now I'm just trying to avoid heightening my symptoms. Many people keep mentioning celiacs...

1 stressful week = many weeks of pain and recovery

Ok i'm with you now kazbern. Gluten intolerance is not now simply considered celiac but can in fact be an idiopathic gluten sensitivity. Good link thanks