How restrictive is an ileostomy diet?

Yet another question:) I have been in the hospital for 12 days with a severe flare up of UC and I have decided to go the surgical route to cure my disease. As far as the surgery is concerned, I am leaning towards a permanent ileostomy.

I have been hearing so many different things about the diet with a permanent ileostomy and I don't know what to believe. I also have Celiac Disease, so I am used to dealing with a restrictive diet. Fortunately, I live in a metropolitan area with lots of gluten free restaurants and health food stores, so I really do not feel that deprived. There are endless gluten free choices from pizzas to pastas to sandwiches. I eat very well (when I am not in a UC flare that is:)

However, it sounds that people with ileostomies have some trouble eating certain foods because of blockages? Will I be able to go out with friends and eat a sandwich or an entree at a restaurant? Or will I have to eat only a few bites and take the rest as a leftover? What about Chipolte burrito bowls or Indian food? Tacos? I love lentils and black beans. Are those completely out of the question? I have even heard pizza is bad. How is this possible, it is basically cheese, sauce and bread? Can I still eat raw salads which I absolutely love? I am afraid I will have to survive on rice and steamed carrots. Please tell me this isn't so. I also have heard about gas build up. If you eat a food that bothers you, do you just have to excuse yourself to the restroom to let a bit of gas out of the appliance? Is this hard? Is it worth eating a troublesome food?

I realize that initially after surgery the diet is restrictive and that is okay. I am posing this question regarding what I would be able to eat after a year or so of healing and getting used to things.

Thanks for the help.

for the first 6 weeks you have to be kind of careful stay on a low residue diet, after that you can eat whatever, but its best to add foods slowly.

I eat everything, i just had a bag of popcorn for dinner, and i had nuts last night. The only thing i have ever had problems with are fried cheese sticks. But i eat them anyway, lol. I just suffer later!
Its just very important to chew and chew and chew and drink lots of water.

I had my ileo about 3 months ago. I am eating pizza, burritos, Indian food, Italian food, Mexican food, fast food, salads and pretty much whatever I want.

I have occasional gas. There are pouches out there with filters, but they usually clog after a day or two with an ileostomy because they get wet. Burping the bag is not hard to do, but you have to be careful not to accidentally make a mess. A little caution and you will be fine.

I have had less gas with time. I had a lot at first. I installed ez-vents on my pouches to deal with it - but that is a whole nother discussion.

Believe me, you will feel sooo much better when the UC is gone!! Good luck to you. Let us know how you do.

-Eric

I can eat whatever I want, but choose to go easy on popcorn, because of its sharp edges.

I love salads, too, and eat one for lunch or dinner almost every day! I have no problems with romaine lettuce and spring greens mix. I peel fruits and veggies with hard or stringy skins (like apples, cucumbers, and celery), but that's just a personal preference of mine. I don't like to eat things that I can't chew up well.

The only time I had blockage issues was from scar tissue (adhesions) that had grabbed a hold of my small intestine and caused it to kink. When that happened, I had to have it fixed surgically, but have been great ever since. That can happen anytime you've had abdominal surgery. Ask your surgeon if he/she uses an adhesion barrier during surgery. That will really help lower your risk of having post-op adhesion problems. They did not use it for my proctocolectomy, but did use it when I had the surgery to fix the kink.

Hope you're home from the hospital by now. Keep us posted on how you're doing!

Cecilia

Hey first of all congrats, your life WILL be back as I am a 20 year old and have had my ilestomy for 3 and a half months now and I am living and absolutely NORMAL life... I was racing motocross before and I'm opting to wait until after the second surgery just because I don't feel comfortable but other then that nothing is different, of course there is some things such as making sure I empty before leaving the house, and still feeling weird about emptying in public places! haha but I just do it as fast as possible and all is well....

Anyways diet wise, I am eating ANYTHING, I had about half of a large pizza just last night... I'm eating salads, steak, chicken, mexican food, chinese, ANYTHING I want and it feels great.... corn doesn't bother me besides the fact it comes out JUST as it went in haha that's kind of a freaky thing the first time... I'm sure different people react differently so if you have any doubts about a food just eat in small amounts at first and see how it goes!