Needing encouragement big time

Hi Everyone,

Today and yesterday have been absolutely miserable.  Yesterday I had diarrhea 14 times and today I've had it 10 times and its only 3:15pm.  I'm on Day 7 of trying that diet that eliminates sugars (fructose, sorbitol, mannitol, and lactose) and wheat bran fiber.  I know it probably takes a while to see results, but I'm feeling so bad I just want to give up.  I think I'm having withdrawl from the sugar, and I'm so dehydrated from all the diarrhea.  I don't want to call my doc b/c he'll just tell me diet isn't a factor and he may try to change my meds, which I don't want to do b/c I'm leaving for a vacation on Wednesday.  I'm feeling very down and could use a little advice or encouragement to stick with this experiment.  Please help. 

Katie

I think that the diet is a great idea. I have tried to cut most of that stuff out of my diet, but I still eat some sugars throughout that the day. Overall I've made a pretty drastic change in my diet since college and have only benefited from it. Do you think that the diet change is causing this? I'm going to assume that you must eating something else to take the place of some of the things you normally ate. Could this be part of the problems the past couple days? Have you tried taken something like immodium? immodium will usually bind me up for a day or so if i'm having problems. i wish i could be of more help, but i hope you can some rest the next couple days before leaving for vacation. i'm sure once you get away from everything you'll be in a better place mentally which will help physically. best of luck and enjoy your vacation.

Are you symptoms worsening?  How long will you wait to see if it works?  Two days from now, on vacation, will you even be able to follow this diet?

I don't know what is possible to eat on such a diet, but I'd suggest some sort of fiber, something nonchemical to slow things down.  Oatmeal? 

You can always try the diet some other time if you have to.  It's not going anywhere.

Seconder - I posted my reply before I saw your response. I read that for one patient it took a week to start seeing results, and for another patient it took a full month. The premise of the diet is that these sugars and wheat bran fiber are not digestible and that they ferment in your stomach, so the purpose of cutting them out entirely is to starve off the bad bacteria that's fermenting. So that's why it takes a while.

It won't be hard to follow the diet on vacation, because I'm going to my parents' condo which has a full kitchen. We tend to cook there rather than eating at restaurants. Aside from white bread and pasta there really isn't much else in the way of fiber that I can have. Its hard to say whether my symptoms are worsening b/c I seem to fluctuating a lot between very bad days and not-so-bad days. That's what's so frustrating - I'm having trouble deciphering what's working.

Hi Dakotagirl! I know the diet sounds odd, b/c of the white bread. The real trouble is with fructose malabsorption, which isn't found in plain white bread (fructose isn't). Small amounts of cane sugar are okay, but I'm even avoiding that for the time being.

Unfortunately applesauce and all other fruits have fructose, so that's out. That's what's really killing me - I love my fruit. I also adore peanut butter, but that seems to give me trouble, too. Why does it always have to be the things you love the most?? Ergh!

I was taking Digestive Advantage (a probiotic), but it gave me terrible bloating so I switched to plain acidophilus twice a day. That seems to be much more gentle for me.

Thanks so much for the well-wishes. Oddly enough, after having 10 bouts of diarrhea today, I went into a period of feeling absolutely no symptoms for the last six hours. This DD is just ridiculous sometimes. Well, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it continues for my trip. Thanks again!

Katie

I would do a strict sheldon's diet, if you wanna do a serious diet change to get you over the hump. Sounds like you could modify what you are doing now pretty easily to fit it, and get more and better nutrients in your body at the same time. Search vitamin E enema here. Have fun on your trip!!!!!

Hi again, Lemonhead! I replied to your post in my other topic about the diet. I also wonder if eliminating those sugars cold-turkey is what made me feel so awful. I can't believe how much of it I was eating before I eliminated it. Since then I've some awful days, and some absolutely horrendous bathroom experiences. There has been terrible smelling gas and nasty, almost-black poop (sorry for being so graphic), which makes me wonder if my body is ridding itself of all those bad toxins/fermented bacteria.

For those who didn't see my other reply to Lemonhead, after I posted my sob story here I started feeling dramatically better. Last night I was symptom-free and this morning has been very good (mornings are always the worst for me, typically). I don't know if its the diet or the meds or what, but I'm more determined than ever to stick with it now that there is some improvement. Thanks for all the encouragement and advice!!!

kiss 520-just wondering how long you have been on the diet so far??

Update - yesterday I only had 3 bouts of diarrhea! This is the first time in weeks I've had so few. I don't know if its the diet, the medicine, being on vacation... who knows. But I'm happy to finally being seeing SOME improvement!!! Yea!!!!