Safe foods, need help

Hi

I am suffering from a lot of IBS pains and nausea at the moment. I have GERD too so need a bland diet or I get bad reflux and also have a very sensitive stomach so I can't eat many fruits and vegetables as they cause a burning pain in my stomach.

I'm am finding juggling all 3 conditions too hard and desparetly need help. My GERD, stomach and IBS are not settling because the things I need to eat for one make the others worse.

I've been battling with bad nausea for the last few weeks and the only thing I can seem to stomach is potatoes, but I'm getting bad pain under my ribs, especially the left one, and it radiates down i can feel my entire colon. I think due to this diet. I usually cook a big batch of potatoes then refrigerate them and reheat them, could this be a bad idea? I just read that reheating potatoes causes problems but I eat every 2 hours or so to help the nausea and not sure I can cook fresh potatoes for every time.

I can't drink a lot of water because it makes my GERD worse, but I drink as much as I can, I have tried a few vegetables like brocolli but they make me really nauseous so don't eat any at the moment and just take some vitamin liquid when I can stomach it.

I tend to do best ona low fibre diet in terms of the pain and that usually means eating pasta or rice krispies with soy milk, but at the moment they seem to make the nausea worse. I can't eat rice because I have a reaction to it. I don't have any more ideas of what I can eat that is low fibre and easy on my stomach. Quinoa is too fibrous and it needs to have a soft texture so it doesn't irritate my stomach so can't really have oats.

I'm losing a lot of weight as I'm naturally a very lean person and need to eat a lot to maintain. I can't stomach eating anything fatty as it gives me bad pains immediately and usually followed by diarrhoea. I need to find some safe food that I can eat to try and stop losing weight and alleviate these problems.

Hi

Yes I'm on nexium at the moment, domperidone and remeron but still getting the nausea.

I think I'm on low fodmap atm because I don't really eat anything, no veg as so many cause me problems and make me feel more nauseated. I eat gluten from time to time but can never figure out whether it's a problem because I feel so up and down that it's hard to pinpoint whether it causes a reaction or not. I tried some a couple of days ago and now feel a lot worse but that does happen from time to time even if I eat the same diet.

The stomach acid meds are definitely working as I'm in considerable pain when they're not, and antacids don't seem to help it. My Dr is useless, he just pushes me to go back to work to take my mind off it and thinks it will magically get better I think. I don't think it is anything serious as ive had thorough investigations over the last year and all they found was minor bowel inflammation and a hiatus hernia which explains the Gerd.

I might try a gluten free low fodmap diet more strictly for a couple of months and see if I get better. Can't hurt I suppose and maybe I just haven't tried a GF diet for long enough to see if it really works. I did go GF last year but had problems as I didn't realise at the time but I can't tolerate rice or rice flour which is in pretty much every GF substitute.

Andy, I notice you also have anxiety and depression, are you currently on any medication for either of those?

I mention it because often our state of mind can have a huge impact on our digestive system, particularly in relation to anxiety and heartburn/indigestion. It may be worth looking in to a medication such as amitriptyline which has fewer stomach side effects than other medications for similar conditions, and it has been shown to be really quite beneficial for some ibs patients with emotional involvement. Amitriptyline isn't used often by psychiatrists these days to treat depression because there are more effective or stronger medications available (depression was treated with massive doses of amitriptyline in the past) but there are many gastroenterologist who still prescribe it for Ibs in smaller doses such as 10-25mg.

Anyway just a thought, you could always do a little bit of research and find out for yourself whether it might be helpful :)

Ah sorry I just noticed in your signature you list your prescriptions, my apologies I'm not a frequent used of forums so I didn't pay attention!

I used to be agoraphobic and have anxiety and panic attacks (my doctor reckons this caused my ibs and even now that I'm pretty much cured anxiety-wise I still have lingering effects in my digestive system) so I understand your situation and can empathise. There are a number of great books and websites I can recommend which might help change your perception a little bit and perhaps help you feel like your situation isn't as desperate as I know it can feel sometimes.

Anxietynomore.co.uk is a great place to start and has a lot of information, particularly credible since the author himself had anxiety issues for at least a decade perhaps longer. Anxietycoach.com is the website of Dr David Carbonnel who is a psychological specialist in panic and anxiety (particularly phobias). Both have written wonderful books which helped me enormously, along with Stop Thinking, Start Living by Richard Carlson - this one is mainly aimed at depression which I did not personally have but it was extremely beneficial nonetheless.

Most importantly always try to bear in mind that your condition now is temporary, you can change it and you absolutely are capable. You're alright :)

I failed to notice you can't do rice. You can try and bake things using almond, tapioca or coconut flours