Determining "triggers"

How long does it take for you to determine which foods are good and which are bad and why (do u run to the washroom, or feel pain after instantly after eating trigger foods)?

How long does it take for you to digest certain foods (before having to go the washroom when u feel the urge to go) if they are a trigger for you?


I am having a hard time with this because I basically have only 1 initial bm in the mornings, and the rest of the day is ocassionally going to the washroom to let out the awful blood and mucus. Im currently in the middle of an elimination diet and testing foods to see how I react to them, but honestly, I feel like so hungry all the time! Im afraid to eat anything because the bleeding is so bad right now.

Well, it sounds like you are currently have a flare-up of your uc, as you are having all of that blood and mucus. You are going to be pretty sensitive to foods until it is back under control. I would say the important thing for now is to eat bland things and avoid anything high in fiber, anything spicy, and likely avoid alcohol and caffeine as well.

A trigger food (other than gluten or lactose) would likely hit you with 4-6 hours after eating it. Although you're currently flaring, so your transit times are likely much, much shorter at the moment. If you find a suspect trigger food, just make sure to eat it multiple times on different days and verify that you get the exact same reaction. As who wants to eliminate something delicious like pizza from their diet just because one time, and one time only it gave you discomfort or made you poop more.

To complicate the situation it can sometimes be possible that all foods can trigger the process to start and I also believe the brain is involved in this as well. I have noticed that sometimes I have to run to the bathroom just seconds after eating or drinking something. Sometimes it seems to happen before anything even gets into my stomach. That just doesn't seem physically possible unless the brain has detected food entering the mouth and sent a signal to my intestines to start doing something. This whole thing can be an extremely complicated process.

Maria2007, I'm sorry that you've had all this unmedicated time with your inflammation. I strongly urge you to go back to your GI and get more suppositories, or better yet, mesalamine enemas. You did well on this med four years ago, and hopefully it will resolve your flare this time too. Side effects from mesalamine are minimal.

You might consider having a new scope to determine how much inflammation you have.

In my opinion, you are not going to get into remission via diet alone. Rectal inflammation is quite stubborn and the food you eat will have little to nothing to do with what is going on in your rectum. In addition to meds, you should consider taking probiotics (VSL#3 perhaps) and add fiber to your diet. I use psyllium.

Maria, if you avoid medicine, your disease will most likely progress upwards in your large intestines and you might go from a mild grade IBD case to a severe.

I am a big advocate of diet change for UC. But avoiding meds is the worst thing you can do. A lot of us have been taking oral and rectal mesalamine/5ASA for years without an major side effects.

I would beg you to take meds. You can take natural supplements or alternate medicine with conventional medicine. I hope you act wise before its too late.

BadColon said...
Maria, if you avoid medicine, your disease will most likely progress upwards in your large intestines and you might go from a mild grade IBD case to a severe.

I am a big advocate of diet change for UC. But avoiding meds is the worst thing you can do. A lot of us have been taking oral and rectal mesalamine/5ASA for years without an major side effects.

I would beg you to take meds. You can take natural supplements or alternate medicine with conventional medicine. I hope you act wise before its too late.

Thank you BadColon. I was afraid of the meds but I guess I needed to realize that I do need the extra "push" towards going into remission. I have been noticing changes in my bm's as well as the awful stuff that comes out during the day. Ive been lucky so far in that I don't feel any pain or cramping that IVe read about (except when Im really bloated) but im afraid that things are beginning to progress upwards.

Hi..welcome to the forum.

You're making it all about food and it's not. You have UC, you're not on enough medication to deal with the inflammation, and you weren't using the med you initially got properly...well, the doc didn't prescribe it properly for you to continue it.

So....it's all a learning process, but it's not the food. It's the fact that you have UC.

Ask the doc for both oral and rectal mesalamine...I'd suggest the retention enemas rather than the suppositories. Save them for maintenance or support of the enemas if you need them.

Your fears are leading you to focus on the wrong stuff...you're also not in a position as of yet to even know what foods can cause you discomfort, etc. Just the fact you are flaring will have you expelling whatever is in the rectum...whether you starve or eat continually.

Just make your goal to get on the right meds. Hopefully, they'll get you into a remission and you can maintain that WITH THE MEDS (but tapered down) as/how  you need them.  That, in itself, is a process. 

One day at a time, but get back to your GI and have a good discussion of getting on appropriate coverage with rectal AND oral 5aSA.

q

Maria2007,

As many have mentioned here, UC is a lifelong thing and will not magically go away. Most people have not successfully been able to "beat" the disease through diet.

Go see a doctor and please get on a medicine regimen as quickly as you can, as mesalamines are harmless to most of the population. Just think of it as taking a tylenol a day or something.

You don't want to be facing the prospect of getting your colon removed when harmless medications can give you a perfectly, healthy and normal life without any restrictions.

I know because I did the same thing you did and am now facing surgery because I was not adherent to my medications.

Great advice so far and I hope you can get to see a doc soon and get on some meds consistently. It sucks, I know. I was never a pill person until this disease struck. And I've tried to go off the meds and got sick each time. The denial part is hard. Searching and searching for whyyyy I developed UC was largely a waste of time and energy, but maybe necessary for me to move on and accept the meds and be thankful that my UC is managed with mild meds.

Also want to heartily agree with those who have pointed out that you will not be able to identify problematic foods until you are in remission.
So, for now, put the elimination diet on the back burner, eat what doesn't make you feel worse, get on some meds and get well. Then revisit your plan for food triggers (I kept a food journal with success) once you're in remission.

I sympathise - I don't like meds either but avoiding them while in a flare is not going to help - as others have already said.

I would at this point be asking for a flexible sigmoidoscopy to see how far up the colon this has travelled, and a further colonoscopy if necessary. Also CRP and ESR blood tests to see how inflammation markers are doing.

The protocol now from the team I am with, for those who can tolerate mesalazine, is to take a high dose of Mesalasine, both oral and rectal until the inflammation subsides (though if your inflammation is only rectal, you may not need oral). With steroids as next line of treatment if mesalazine alone not enough. Previously I used to get put straight onto a steroid enema. The mesalazine does seem to get it under control for me. Once there is no blood and CRP and ESR are back in range, I reduce to a low maintenance dose of mesalazine.

If your liver and kidney function are monitored through regular blood tests, you don't need to worry further about mesalazine side effects. Don't forget that mesalazine is derived from salicylic acid, which is a chemical copy of willow bark, used by humans for thousands of years for pain and inflammation, so it is not the worst chemical out there. Some people are sensitive to or ever allergic to salicylates but doesn't sound like you are.

It would be incredibly rare to control UC through diet alone. The other thing that it sounds like would help you is looking at ways to relieve your emotional stress. Stress hormones do seem to affect UC for many, I suspect that the chemical changes they cause produce a good environment for the aggressive bacteria to proliferate.
If you have a spare couple of hours, watching this video as a start to learn about a technique called mindfulness would not be a wasted couple of hours I'd say.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_If4a-gHg_I

There are a lot of other meds too but I have never had to go on any of them.