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Best Electrolyte Replacement Method

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Posted 3/13/2011 2:09 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I'm new to this forum. Hopefully am on the way to remission from a recent flare. I have a question about, say, Gatorade types of drinks to restore possible electrolyte imbalance. Is there anything in them that will make my colon angry?

It's nice that you have these forums. My doctor(s) don't seem too well informed on this, and I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times.

Some background:
Have UC for 3 1/2 years. Prednisone stopped initial symptoms in late 2007. Then remission for about a year on 3 400mg asacol tabs 3 times a day, azathiaprine (forget dosage), and 1 omeprazole 20 mg ec in morning. Then flare. Stopped Azathiaprine, increase asocol to 4 tabs 3 times a day, and prednisone to stop flare. Remission for about 2 years, then flare starting 1 1/2 months ago with constipation and no pain for two weeks. Then alternate diarrhea/constipation and mild pain for several days. Then constant pain and bloating and severe pain at certain times. It should be noted that during this time I continued to drink alcoholic beverages, smoke, eat spicy foods, etc., until the pain (and starting to get a bit scared) compelled me to visit the doctor, as well as drastically change my eating, drinking, etc. habits.

Until yesterday, the past 10 days or so have been about the worst in my life (I'm 63). During that 10 days I've been taking 40mg prednisone every morning, as well as 3 400mg mesalamine ec 3 times a day. Three days ago I changed my diet (I actually hadn't eaten or drunk much at all in the preceding week) based on stuff I learned via the internet. (Peeled and cooked potatoes and carrots, applesauce, banana, fresh baked white bread like cuban bread, papaya nectar, apple juice, baked fish, water). When I started this diet much of the pain associated with eating didn't recur. Of course I guess the prednisone was increasingly having an effect also.

At 7AM this morning my gut was starting to get sensitive again after the first day and night with almost no pain. At 8AM had baked tilapia with cuban bread and applesauce -- and 40mg prednisone. Pressure, but no real pain. I'm curious when/if diarrhea will stop.

In closing, I should add that I'm of the opinion that the single most important precursor to this flare was my steady increase in drinking alcoholic beverages -- which I've resolved to stop completely.

Best wishes to everyone.
Posted 3/13/2011 2:46 PM (GMT 0)
My electrolyte of choice now is Coconut Juice 'Brian and Amy's tall cans.

It is perfect.

I should be an expert on this because dehydration and UC contributed to a stroke last September, it is absolutely vital I get the re hydration figured out correctly.
Posted 3/13/2011 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Don't know if Gatorade has high fructose corn syrup but HFCS does a job on me. Also I would be wary about eating bread since so many are sensitive to gluten. Hopefully you are not gluten intolerant.
Posted 3/13/2011 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
@ aguywithuc
Thanks, I'll check it out. I remember reading somewhere that during an active, more or less severe, flare that coconut might aggravate the pain. But maybe just the juice with no pulp is ok.

@ BabeintheWoods
Thanks. I think HFCS does a job on me as well. Apparently, in 2010 HFCS was omitted from Gatorade, replaced by a sucrose/dextrose combo which should be ok. I'm going to try it and see. Since I'm on prednisone, and apparently improving, its ingredients shouldn't cause any undo pain or harm.

Just wanted to see who might currently use the stuff and what they have to say about their experience. I'll advise this thread regarding mine.

Wrt the bread. Just fresh baked white bread, from what I've read. And it seems to cause no upset or pain. In fact, I actually felt better after eating it -- dipping it into the juice from boiling the potatoes and carrots.

Your, and others, signature is most helpful. Lots of research to do.

Best wishes to all.
Posted 3/13/2011 4:41 PM (GMT 0)
I normally drink smart water which has electrolytes in it and on occasion i will get electrolyte packets from my vitamin store and mix that with the water as well
Posted 3/13/2011 10:48 PM (GMT 0)

blksteeda said...
I normally drink smart water which has electrolytes in it and on occasion i will get electrolyte packets from my vitamin store and mix that with the water as well

Thanks blksteeda. According to Wiki, Smart water has crystaline fructose in it which I think I should avoid at this time. I just drank 12oz of Gatorade. Substituting Gatorade for tapwater most of the time should keep my electrolyte levels high enough without any added pain.

The electrolyte packets sound like an interesting alternative. Must get to vitamin/health store in next few days.

I'm piecing the puzzle together slowly. My current understanding is that the initial symptom (constipation, beginning 6 weeks ago) was probably caused by exceeding my personal safe dehydration level. I was very active. Playing lots of tennis. Drinking lots of tapwater. And beer. Eating lots of fatty and sugary foods. And paying no attention to proper electrolyte replacement.
Posted 3/13/2011 11:19 PM (GMT 0)
Pedialyte or Gatorade should both be ok. I've drank Gatorade in the past, it never bothered me & usually made me feel better.
Posted 3/14/2011 12:38 AM (GMT 0)
Vitalyte. It's the only electrolyte beverage sold in the Grand Canyon.

Sue
Posted 3/14/2011 1:14 AM (GMT 0)
Someone told me that coconut water was better than any sports drink for replacing electrolytes. Maybe try googling it...
Posted 3/14/2011 3:44 AM (GMT 0)
I drink Gatorade when I run, but switch to Powerade Zero when not working out because I don't want the extra sugar. It does have sucralose (Splenda) in it, so if you are sensitive to that I would skip it. I am waiting for a tube of nuun to arrive. It's tablets you drop in water, supposed to have a higher concentration of electrolytes, and is sweetened with sorbitol (a sugar alcohol). I'm curious to see if I can tolerate it or if the sweetener will cause problems. We shall see.
Posted 3/14/2011 6:35 AM (GMT 0)
I hear coconut water is a good electrolyte replacement.
Posted 3/14/2011 12:21 PM (GMT 0)
I've read your background and agree with your idea to stop alcohol. It seems to affect my gut also.
Re diet: keeping a food journal is a very good idea although it will be hard to determine what particular food is bothering you without doing a full elimination diet (google for info). The Specific Carbohydrate Diet with modifications has been my lifeline since meds have done little over the past 10+ years.

I try not to eat/drink anything artificial so Gatorade would be a "no" for me. Drinking lots of water is very good for my gut and I also used to play a lot of tennis and I live in Florida and sweat a lot playing. I've switched sports to one I enjoy more (pickleball) but still drink water often every day.

I cut out bread and gluten even though like you I had no bad symptoms detectable and I considered a safe food. Surprisingly it turned out to be a reason for bleeding, which stopped after removing those.

Good luck.
Posted 3/14/2011 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
I dink a Gatorade each morning...I am always so parched first thing in the morning. It seems to be ok but I am in a flare now so who knows.
Posted 3/14/2011 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
Whole foods sells something called "Electrolyte Water." They have 3 different sizes and I believe 2 of the sizes can be purchased in a case. I've been drinking it fairly frequently and I noticed that I get less of the "muscle twitches" that no doctor ever cared to investigate for me.

However, I am presently starting to get a bit crampy here and there, some twinges of pain throughout the day, the occasional mid-day urgent bathroom break at work. Woke up at 4am this morning with a weird "vascular" or blood flow type pain/aching in my gut that I mean to address in another post. The only reason I bring this up is because I fairly recently started this water, but most of the UC symtoms I'm talking about started when I began taking Lialda which didn't work out and had to go back on Colazal.
Posted 3/14/2011 6:26 PM (GMT 0)
Sorbitol is known to cause diarrhea in a lot of people. I use sugar and other sweeteners, but avoid sorbitol like the plague.
Posted 3/15/2011 6:16 PM (GMT 0)
I would avoid anything with fructose. Gatorade is sucrose and dextrose (plain sugar) sweetened so it is absorbed in and processed in the upper intestines. Fructose, not just HFCS, is not absorbed and processed till it reaches the colon and can cause fermentation, which can cause more gas and more problems. During my most recent flareup and my worst in 14+ years of UC I did a lot of research into fructose intolerance ... as much as 50% of the population may be fructose intolerant.
Posted 3/15/2011 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much to everyone. Largely due to this forum, I'm no longer feeling fearful and helplessly ignorant. Below I address each reply briefly.

@ Eva Lou -- Thanks. Gatorade seems ok for me so far.

@ suebear -- Thanks. I'll check out Vitalyte.

@ MomWithUC -- Thanks. coconut juice and/or coconut water is on my list to check out.

@ run4pancakes -- Thanks. more stuff to check out.

@ blueclassring -- Thanks. the coconut water suggestions are accumulating.

@ imagardener2 -- Thanks. apparently a little wine or beer was ok in small quantities during remission. During this flare and healing (hopefully) process a definite no no. Anyway it's off my list of things I might ever again ingest. Will check out SC Diet. Gatorade seems ok, in fact beneficial, so far. Interesting about the bread and gluten. Even when more or less normal (ie., when I was in remission and ate virtually anything, and I ate lots of different breads) my stool would often have blood. Lots of experimenting to do.

@ Duckstar -- Thanks. I'm drinking more Gatorade than anything (also drinking tapwater, apple juice, and papaya juice) now. When I was in remission I started the day with at least a quart of water and a bm. The water seemed very necessary in order to have the bm. But periodically the diameter of my stool would steadily decrease at which time I would take Walgreens or CVS psyllium husk fiber a couple times a day and that seemed to increase the stool diameter. Then, trying to save a few bucks, I had the VA PA prescribe some fiber. It was Metamucil. Taking it seemed to have a negative effect and was correlated to the time of the onset of severe constipation which began about 6-7 weeks ago. I'm thinking that maybe it had bacteria in it which aggravated my UC and caused my bowel to close. But this could be a red herring.

@ doors12 -- Thanks. Whole Foods is definitely a destination when/if I feel ok to travel an extended distance. I'll check out any post(s) on your recent situation that you mentioned.

@ Judy2 -- Thanks. re sobitol and diarrhea, I would welcome diarrhea. What happened today is that I made a stew with only lean beef, potatoes, carrots, about 2 TBspns olive oil, and a quart of water. Had some this morning (didn't eat the beef, just chewed and discarded it), before my 40mg prednisone dose. No discomfort. Then the pred dose, then more stew (same way), then a bit later cornbread and margarine with apple juice and papaya juice. Around 2PM my gut was very distended and intense pain. Tried to bm but couldn't. Drank lots of water. Pain intensified and had diarrhea bm. Still pain. Threw up some of the water, drank more, and had intermittent 'dumps'. Still feel like I'm constipated, but at least the gut has gone down and no pain now. Drinking Gatorade now which seems to have a soothing effect. The distension and pain seems most related to the cornbread and margarine, but the stew liquid could have contributed. On the other hand, I actually had a bm (albeit diarrhea) -- one of only 4 or 5 in the last approximately 6 to 7 weeks. Anyway, I think no more cornbread and margarine for the foreseeable future. Will try drinking another quart of tapwater shortly.

@ Tigerdan -- Thanks. Your statements concur with my Google researches. I'm not ingesting any fructose now, and will greatly limit it if my gut heals.
Posted 3/15/2011 11:47 PM (GMT 0)

kiolm said...
Emergen-c is a powder you add to 8 oz's of water. It has Vitamin C and other stuff in it. That's what I'd recommend along with Water. I take a gallon of distilled water and pour into a pitcher and add a tsp of baking soda and a dash of Sea Salt. I pour a glass and add some lemon aide. Not too much.

I would do the same with the Gator Aide. It's tough on the gut. Cut it 4 parts of water to 1 part GA if you drink it. It was never meant to be drank straight Unless your playing football for UF in the middle of August.

Red wine dries me out like nothing else does. Even modest amounts kill me.

Thanks kiolm. I'm going to try your solution instead of Gatorade and see what happens. I can get my potassium from the apple and papaya juice, and banana. Having done more research on this, Gatorade just seems like a waste of money.

What does the baking soda do? Regulate the PH? Also, does it have to be Sea Salt, or is regular table salt ok?

Post Edited (johnnymg) : 3/15/2011 5:50:10 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/16/2011 12:44 AM (GMT 0)
Johnny!

Gatorade makes my colon angry....so, I would try one of the drinks on this thread instead..... scool
Posted 3/16/2011 1:33 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, Judy, I agree. That's why I'm a bit curious to see how I tolerate the nuun. It's supposed to be a small amount of sorbitol, so it may be ok for me. I know way back in the day when I was trying to do the Atkins thing I found I couldn't tolerate large amounts of the sugar alcohols (I think it was mostly malitol they used in the Atkins products?) but small amounts seem ok. Also, sorbitol is found naturally in fruits like peaches and prunes so perhaps it's a more natural form they are using and it might not bother me. We'll see when it gets here, I guess. :-)
Posted 3/16/2011 1:56 AM (GMT 0)

ENIGMAWRAP said...
Johnny!

Gatorade makes my colon angry....so, I would try one of the drinks on this thread instead..... scool

Thanks ENIGMAWRAP. I was almost out of Gatorade anyway. While I was drinking it there were no negative effects, but I agree with you. I've got the apple and papaya juices, and plain water of course, and just mixed a quart of water with a few drops of lemon juice, and a tiny bit of iodized sea salt. We'll see how that goes.
Posted 3/16/2011 7:20 PM (GMT 0)
I bought 4 cases of coconut water on sale 1.50 per tall can if you buy Brian and Amy's.

This stuff is great and I am going to get lab confirmation. This months direct labs bundle includes many things like electrolyte testing and CBC. 50 some tests in all.

"CWP: #1 ordered test - year after year!
Over 50 individual laboratory tests to provide a thorough Biochemical assessment of your health, and includes the basic cardiovascular tests as well as diabetes testing: Lipids (cholesterol, HDL, LDL, the risk ratio, triglycerides), Complete Blood Count (CBC's), Fluids and Electrolytes, Thyroid w/TSH, Liver, Kidney, Glucose (Diabetes), Mineral and Bone."

and much more..
Posted 3/16/2011 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
Ummm . Apple Juice is Fructose ... and fruit or fruite juice is fructose ... when I'm not flaring apple juice is great, but during flareups I would avaoid the fruit juices and stick with gatorade and water. Have a better day.
Posted 3/16/2011 11:01 PM (GMT 0)
@ aguywithuc -- thanks, I checked the Brian and Amy's coconut juice out and will definitely be getting some.

@ Tigerdan -- thanks, I'm learning as I go. As you note, fructose is in all fruits and fruit juices (afaik), and somewhat higher in apple juice and bananas. Fructose But the amounts apparently aren't so high as to cause undo bloating in my gut (I'm diluting 1 part pure apple juice with 2 parts water), and it's got other good stuff in it (and it tastes good). White grape juice and strawberry juice look like they might be good also. As well as the coconut juice that aguywithuc mentioned. Anyway, I'm diluting everything, so what I'm mostly drinking is tapwater. Of course, anything containing high fructose corn syrup is to be avoided, even if I were to go into full remission. Wrt the Gatorade, I've learned that it just isn't necessary for electrolyte replacement. The same for other sports drinks.

@ kiolm -- thanks, I'm using tapwater not distilled. Got some sea salt which I use in your suggested solution. Also I'll use the sea salt when boiling chicken with potatoes and carrots (nothing else added). The liquid solution that I drink between meals has about the proportion or less of baking soda that you suggested. No undo bloating or noticable changes from any of this so far. My gut seems to be healing ... slowly.


My current assessment regarding eloctrolyte replacement is that Gatorade and other sports drinks are not the preferred way to do this. At least not for me.

Anyway, it's a learning process that I've only recently begun. Any further suggestions are most welcome. And thanks again and best wishes to all.
Posted 3/17/2011 6:18 AM (GMT 0)
Why do you need to drink an electrolyte drink? If one is eating properly with fluids...one shouldn't need it. I understand they're used for extreme loss of perspiration or extreme loss of fluids from diarrhea...but otherwise they don't make sense to me.

q
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