Diet help with my symptoms

Hello all,

I've been having some trouble lately. It started w/a tiny bit of blood on the paper, but perfectly formed stools. The blood went away then came back. Then instead of my normal 2x a day, I'd only go once or not at all and when I did basically all that would come out was a little blood.

Now I'm in the pattern on not going for a few days or hardly at all, then I'll go a lot w/some bleeding the 1st time, perfect stools after that. I've had periods of perfect stools for a day or 2, then back to just blood.

No cramping, pain, urgency, diarrhea, etc. I feel great otherwise and play tennis and do other exercise with no problems.

My diet has been to cut out sugar as much as possible except from fruits. Breakfast is plain instant oatmeal w/bananas, blueberries, and cinnamon or eggs and toast. Lunch is grilled chicken or hamburgers. Dinner I've been eating at Japanese places with teriyakai salmon, white rice, and miso soup or cooking salmon at home. Also angel hair w/olive oil and garlic. Since I'm constipated I added steamed apples w/cinnamon and also some basic steamed vegetables. I also have a couples yogurts throughout the day. I was taking the "good belly" probiotics for a while, but don't think they really helped.

Does anyone have any ideas on what else I can eat or do? I'm getting pretty tired this diet and of the bleeding. The blood has been ranged from dark to very light.

I'm taking 6mp, Align probiotic, and a multivitamin.

How do you feel about scrapping the diet thing altogether, eating what you want, and just avoiding a few foods which you know cause problems? You may have to take stool softening meds or foods.

I've read that cinnamon can be an irritant so I usually avoid it. Also watch out for seeds at the Japanese places and try to avoid fruit or veggie skins which can all get stuck or irritate inflamed areas. Personally oatmeal is too high in fiber for me but that's a whole other discussion. Ultimately we all are different and I wish you the best of luck!

imagardener2 said...
Sounds like constipation which can be brought on/increased by inflammation.

Try reducing the amount of fiber in your diet, increase good oils (olive, coconut), take a fiber pill (low quantity), and get an Rx for Canasa suppositories. If they cost too much on your insurance plan get them from Canada (you still need an Rx to send them by fax or mail).

Bananas and blueberries have insoluble fiber (not good) and apple skins do too (so skin them and keep eating a smaller amount). Cut out nuts and nut butter if you eat that.
You can get all these good vitamins if you juice your fruits and veggies until your constipation and blood go away then start adding whole fruits and veggies back in gradually.

Could you explain why reducing edible fiber but adding a fiber pill is recommended? Seems contradictory.

Also, I thought that a diet high in insoluble fibers was recommended for constipation? But you're suggesting the opposite. I'm not a nutritionist, so am just trying to understand.

The blood is both on the paper and in the bowl. Although sometimes there's no problem at all. I had similar symptoms a couple years ago and the GP checked for hemorrhoids and didn't find any. By the time I did the colonoscopy there was only minor inflammation.

Can anyone suggest a good probiotic? One of my doctors recommended Align.

The reason I was thinking more fiber is that I'm constipated. I like steel cut oatmeal and am willing to try it, but without the brown sugar I usually put in.

I heard cinnamon was an anti-inflammatory, which is why I've been trying it.

Whenever I'm hungry it's very difficult to figure out what to eat. I'm trying these foods I thought were good, but it seems like almost every food some people think is good and some bad. I don't know what's good or bad for me.

If I eat something and have no symptoms that day can I infer that what I ate was good? If I'm still constipated or bleed does it mean I ate the wrong thing? I just don't know how to figure out what's right for me or not

For UC'rs probiotics should have 50 billion CFU's or more per day. That pretty much eliminates the known name brands readily available in most stores like Align and Culturelle, etc.. Many GI's recommend these type of probiotics but basically these recommendations are for healthier people than those with UC. The ones with the much higher CFU counts aren't usually found in stores but ordered online. The common name brand ones are like a very small raindrop in a very large bucket. Most UC'rs have the problem of way too many bad bacteria in their colons versus good bacteria so you need the extremely high CFU counts to try countering the huge number of bad bacteria already present.

one word = fermented foods !

Look up suggestions for a low residue diet.
there are a decent amount of things we can eat while avoiding fiber.

Mashed potatoes and rice are two of my go-tos.

I also enjoy a small serving of pasta with olive oil... but sometimes use rice noodles instead.
Ive sadly found that I cant eat a lot of seasonings... i think they make my colon sneeze cuz they come flying out real fast :D

So my diet has been very bland. I do sneak in a little spice sometimes tho, hehe.

Google is your friend when it comes to Low Residue/Low Fiber food ideas.
print off some new exciting recipes! :)

Could you explain why reducing edible fiber but adding a fiber pill is recommended? Seems contradictory.

Also, I thought that a diet high in insoluble fibers was recommended for constipation? But you're suggesting the opposite. I'm not a nutritionist, so am just trying to understand.


I'm not a nutritionist either , just someone who has done quite a lot of testing on myself to get better and I have. I cannot explain why Citrucel did not aggravate my colon while fiberous foods did. My guess is that the amount of fiber in that little pill is way less than in foods I was eating. Some people like psyllium seed (and there are two kinds of that: Psy. husk and Psy. seed and people are very vocal in which one works for them. I tried both those and stayed with Citrucel.)

For 2 years I used to take 6 Citrucel a day, 2 with every meal. Now I don't take any fiber pills and am able to eat more foods with fiber and have no constipation or bleeding or any symptoms related to that.
I do still have IBS related to foods/drinks my gut can not yet handle but it's getting better over time.

Doctors who blindly say "Eat more fiber" do not understand how doing that in a badly inflamed gut is like eating glass. Remember that they get about a day and a half of nutrition study in med school and even nutritionists may not really understand how UC is complicated. What works for a healthy gut may not be good at all for an inflamed gut.

If you add a fiber pill please start with a low quantity and also cut back on fiberous foods at the same time. Eat more healthy oils and drink water and maybe some veggie juice. Constipation can be just as difficult as diarrhea but once you see results keep going in that direction. You can add a little food with fiber when the C starts going away.

I was going to suggest cutting out wheat....actually all grains, for a period of time. Besides the intolerance of some people to gluten, perhaps it is because wheat is commonly contaminated with fungal toxins? Dunno. Going gluten-free has helped some achieve remission and has been linked to UC symptoms. I know I feel much better, in all instances, since going GF.