bad gas and bloating - what's the cause?

I've recently switched from Salofalk (3000mg-4500mg/per day) to Asacol 2400/mg per day and Salofalk enemas 4g per day (more on this here: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2375952). I switched a week ago, last Saturday, and since Monday, I've reduced to 1-3 BMs per day, none of which have had any blood and only some have had a little bit of mucous....so everything seems to be working well!

On Tuesday, 3 days after switching the meds, my naturopath also started me on a strict diet with new supplements, and starting Wednesday evening, I've had really bad gas. It seems to start around noon and go all night. Farting every 10-15 min (they smell bad, but not REALLY bad like when I've been in bad flares where my farts smell like death) and it's been so bad the last two nights that I can't keep my enemas in me. I do the enema before bed, around 1030pm, and I battle and cramp and feel bloated because I'm scared to fart and loose the enema fluid...but the gas builds up and becomes extremely uncomfortable. I've been holding out as long as I can but the last few nights I couldn't handle it and ran to the toilet and farted for 15min straight and the only thing in the toilet afterwards was the Salofalk enema! Very frustrating...

Anyways, I need to figure out what's causing all this gas...I'm pretty sure it's something in this new diet or supplements I'm taking that's causing it. So anything from this list you feel is a known causer of bad gas??

Diet:

3 Shakes per day. Each shake contains:
     1 scoop metabolic cleanse (http://www.douglaslabs.com/pdf/pds/57462.pdf)
     1 tsp glutagenics (http://www.metagenics.com/products/a-z-products-list/Glutagenics)
     1 scoop Cal-Mag essen min (http://www.integranutrition.com/index.php/products/product-list/vitamins-a-minerals/185-calmag-essemin-powder)
     1 cup of Ceres Mango juice (100% pure fruit juice)
     1 cup organic german chamomile tea

Snacks:
     1x per day: 1/2 cup of soaked, raw, organic cashews (soaked overnight)
     3x per day: 1 cup organic pear sauce (homemade - not canned) with 1 tbsp organic hemp hearts and 1/2 tsp organic cinnamon

Supplements/IV:

RenewLife Ultimate Flora CC 50 billion (2 per day)
Omega-3 (2800mg per day)
Folic Acid 5mg
NFH B-Complex SAP (2 per day)
Vit D3 2,500 IU (with the all the other supplements, probably getting around 4000IU per day total of D3)
Thorne Mervia 500 (6 caps per day) (http://www.thorne.com/Products/%20Antioxidants-Flavonoids/Antioxidants/prd~SF785.jsp)
Slippery Elm (3600mg per day)
Melatonin (20mg per day)

IV vitamin Mini Myers: 30cc 2 x per week for 2 weeks
IV Glutathione 2000mg: 2 x per week for 2 weeks with Traumeel (2cc ampoule)

Medication:

Asacol (2400mg per day)
Salofalk Enemas 4g (1 per day)

This is the program my naturopath wants me on for 2 weeks to get me out of my current flare-up asap. We hope the switching of the meds would work on its own, but with the threat of prednisone/imuran looming if I don't pull out of this flare-up in 2 months, my naturopath suggested this program (Diet + Supplements + IV + the new meds) to try and get me into remission quicker. Everything seems to be working well (reduced # of BMs, no blood, hardly any mucous, only a little bit of D, some formed stools, etc), but the gas is killing me and effecting how well I can keep the enemas in me. Something in the diet/supplements much be causing all this gas, cause I started all that on Tuesday/Wednesday, and the gas started Wednesday evening.

I will also say that my naturopath suggested i buy VSL#3 and take 1 sachet per day along with 1 cap of the RenewLife Ultimate Flora CC 50 billion per day, instead of just taking 2 caps of the Renew Life. So I bought the VSL#3 and got it yesturday...I haven't started taking it yet because of this gas issue...do you think maybe the VSL#3 will help? Make it worse? Thanks so much.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

ditto....

I'd nix the naturopath for a while, actually. You're doing waaaaaay too much and waaaaay too many changes.

Let the meds do the work. eat a fairly basic diet. Keep the probiotics and fibre supplements but slow.

I think your body is in a state of confusion and you're throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it.

Basic...then go from there.

q

I noticed that I can only integrate one thing at a time with my body. Too many changes and adds at the same time and the gas are infernal!

Thats just too much for your body now. And because you have so many changes it would be difficult to find the guilty one that causes you bloating and farts!

Why don't you let the meds shine for a while??

Nothing wrong with a new diet however if this whole thing creates some discomfort for the enemas whats the point? You can always get the meds to kick in and settle and maybe try the diet later?

No actual food...just what i put under the "diet" heading (3 shakes, 3 cups of pear sauce, 1/2 cup cashews)/day...that's it. I just don't think its doing anything positive at this point. I started the asacol and enemas on saturday, and my BMs got better within 48 hours, no blood, less frequent, soft but formed, only a little D and very little mucous...then I started this diet and the only differences have been this enormous amount of gas and no formed stools and now getting D again. I'm thinking the D is from all the fiber coming from all the pears (each cup of pear sauce is like 3 pears)...and how could my body form any stools with no solid foods? So how will i Know if my meds are working if im getting D from my diet and perhaps not even from my UC??

i agree with you in that I feel i need to trust my body and axe this diet and let my body adjust to the new meds and eat a normal and clean diet. The last 2 nights I've had so much gas I haven't been able to keep my enemas in for more than a few hours....so it seems this diet is doing more harm than good. I'm just really frustrated with everything and being hungry all the time on this diet and having the gas/bloated feeling and watching my enemas go down the toilet is making it worse.

thanks for all your help...

Yes dont worry too much about the diet now. It took me quite a while to get used to meds even though they were beneficial. The enemas can cause some side effects too.

I have a history or infernal gas and bloating and its rather difficult to find the guilty ingredient in your diet!

Im not saying your naturopath doesnt give good advise but its all about the timing! At the end of the day its gonna stress you out more than anything and pears are realy high in fiber I wouldnt do more than one a day.
I had a nutritionnist once and she advise me to go slowly with fiber. I was low in fiber and lets say the average amount for an adult is like 25gr a day well she said to go very slowly. Even if fibers are good for you you cant higher the amount like this. Your body is just gona go bonker!!

Diet is an important part in our UC life but let the meds shine first and then youll have a great base to work with. And if I can be honest your new diet sounds more to me like the type of detox rich poeple do at a particular spa for a week!

I would say you're getting bad advice from the naturo....you need to get a really good dose of common sense. He's not going to cure you, and detox, etc isn't part of a necessary ritual.
Actually, I think what he's suggesting is sabotaging you in a way that you're believing it's your meds.

If you were to eat actual food...what would that look like for you? Maybe we can help you with a list of hopefully nongassy foods that will help you get on your way.

You can still add some supplements, obviously, but not to the limit of causing you problems.

You're not trusting yourself here....take a mental break for a while and regroup.

My opinion...you'll drive yourself into a mental state of confusion.

q

Your post made me laugh, only because I have been there!!! You might want to check the ingredients in your shakes. The only thing that would give me that much gas is soy!! I stay away from that poison!

I'm glad you are going back to what works for you!
I'm looking forward to have new feedback and don't put too much on yourself and be patient sometimes it pays off well!! :P

tournevice and quincy, thanks for the all the comments and i agree with everything you have said.

quincy, I love eggs and wish I could eat them regularly. Eggs are, unfortunately, a food that I have an allergy to...I've gotten two food allergy tests done (one in 2005 and one in 2008), and eggs always show up as ‘reactive’. I do eat them every now and then (once or twice a month) when I'm in remission without many noticeable side effects...but I avoid them completely during flares.

Yeah...eat real food.

Ask your doctor about increasing your Asacol. You're on a maintenance dose. You can go up to 4800 mg per day (12 pills).

yay....you are definitely one to keep track of things and obviously can see where things might have gone awry.

The cleanout wouldn't have helped anything...just had your digestive tract clean with no food digestion, etc. gave you a temporary break (although not eating for me is torture, that's why I do the gallon preps..lol).

Not saying that doing a special diet isn't a good thing...but your naturopath had you on stuff that would only cause gas...to me, that's not helpful no matter what the reasons. Suffering, however, is subjective. But if you can't keep in your medications, it's pointless.

You're feeling better...relax mentally and try not to believe you will have control over your disease. It will take time, and your doc did give you a nice time period to heal before reevaluating. You'll have more experience by then with what your body is doing.

Keep us posted how you're doing and stick to the basics of meds and supplements.

q