Trigger Food Discussion

Ok guys, again, I'm new to UC, have been diagnosed with severe UC only 3 months ago, i managed to gain all weight and muscle back- I'm a competitive bodybuilder so i eat Super clean year round anyway… however I'm starting to get frustrated… I will call my doc tomorrow on this but basically rewind to 3 weeks ago, started taking 1 Immodium per day, and with eating clean ( turkey, steak, eggs, whey isolate shakes with almond butter, and white rice and cream of wheat zero deviation) i managed to get into some kind of remission, even going completely normal Bm's which i was thrilled about. as the days progressed - I'm now getting closer to my 2 month remicade infusion- i have noticed that I'm getting worse, and was getting sick once a week with D… now the last 4 days including today have had bad D. its very frustrating… i was eating prior to learning my trigger foods - egg sandwiches with mayo,burgers, whey isolate, turkey, white rice, tortilla chips, frozen yogurt occasionally, and granola and oatmeal….. i should add, it seems i have no issue with artificial sweeteners either, i use VPX no synthesize a post workout shake with sucralose in it, and my whey isolate has sucralose as well, along with that i usually have 2-3 glasses of diet cran grape juice per day too….

now i eat ANY type of seasoning and I'm done for the day, have to go home early from work and stay in…. I'm pretty sure its garlic and onion in the seasonings that are ruining me , but makes no sense i was seasoning my food before with the same stuff the last month so is it possible that I'm getting close to the 8 week mark for remicade treatments that its wearing off?

anyway i would like others to add to the discussion if possible what are the trigger foods and spices you avoid, and if you eat them what happens… i notice a lot of people avoid nuts, i think i can eat almonds raw, but what happens, because it seems like i only get bad D, no stomach cramps, no indigestion, no heartburn, its like I'm a time bomb i eat one bad thing in any amount and I'm done for the day, i wasn't sure if its like this for others as well….

For heartburn I quit taking nexium because PPIs are so bad. I use apple cider vinegar.

The issue with nuts is the possibility of developing diverticulitis.

Caffeine is bad for me. Sometimes pop is ok, but coffee is a definite no. Some dairy. I'm ok with cheese usually and I think it's because it's a solid but I try to stay away from dairy milk. Spicy foods aren't so good as well as very greasy foods and popcorn is a DEFINITE no for me.

Be careful with the immodium by the way. People with uc who take anti-diarrheal meds have a very increased risk of developing toxic mega colon.

Hi limit,
I did the FODMAPS eliminating diet a month or so ago. I was so tired of trying to guess what made me sick and honey was huge culprit for me. HFCS too! It was amazing because I can say that I was kind of a honey addict and just ate spoonfuls of it and then I would get sick and wonder why . Fructose is probably worse for me than lactose. I tolerate very small amts of both but honey scares me now. It was a bad reAction. Check out Fodmaps, it takes time but worth it.

csantamaria: The things you mentioned are high in histamines. You may want to check out a low histamine diet or taking the digestive enzyme DAO while eating foods high in histamines. It has helped me tremendously. Many UC'rs are rendered histamine intolerant due to the disease although this is not well known.

The common culprits mentioned here are consistent with trouble for UC, and figuring it out is a full time job.
It is possible that you are metabolizing the Remi faster (weight change and increased activity). You may need to Up the dose or move to 7 weeks. There is a blood test you can take right before your infusion to see what the levels are.

I was searching for information on this issue from many days.

I get my DAO from Swanson. I usually take one capsule with every meal and more with meals I know are higher in histamines. Unfortunately, the dosage is not an exact science, mainly because the amount of histamine you are ingesting is really not known. They don't put this information on a label, mostly because the longer something ages, such as fruit, meat, and cheeses, the more histamines it has. The most I have ever taken is 4 capsules. I saw a video on it from I believe a doctor once who basically said it was impossible to overdose on it, even if you took 10,000 all at once. In order to stop the dietary histamine reaction you have to make sure you take enough to counter the histamines you are ingesting. If you take too much it does not harm you but it doesn't do any good either. It is just wasteful. Swanson's DAO costs about 20 dollars for a bottle of 30. I usually go through 3 bottles per month. I'm pretty sure the small capsules could be opened if you wanted to but I have never done that. There are several different types of histamines. Zyrtec would work on some but have little effect on dietary things while DAO would be highly effective on dietary histamines but probably zero effect on other types of histamines.