Breakfast always makes me sick?

[Elizajp]

My last full blown flare was in March of last year and it left me with a huge fistula/abscess problem. I now have four setons that drain. Going to the bathroom is always a trigger for the fistula getting worse so if I can keep my bathroom trips fairly normal I can tell things are beginning to heal but the minute i go to the bathroom more than normal or its looser the fistula aches and drains so much more.

I usually go to the bathroom right when I wake up and i can tell it's very healthy and normal and doesn't cause pain to the fistula. But, without fail, I eat breakfast and I feel this gurgly sensation as I'm eating and after and then I have to go again but this time it's much looser and it leaves me with pain and drainage for the rest of the day. Then I don't have to go again all day.

So, I don't understand what is triggering this. I've tried all different things to eat (all in SCD diet)- was doing smoothies for awhile then even switched to elemental shakes in the morning. The same thing kept happening. It doesn't matter the food. It also doesn't seem to have to do with the night before because I always go so normally first thing when I wake up. I understand that the food coming out may not be breakfast but I absolutely know that eating breakfast is triggering it. I just don't know what about eating breakfast. Is my body just not ready to eat? i would just wait to eat but I'm chronically struggling to keep on weight and I'm always starving in the morning.

Does anyone else have this problem?? I'm so at a loss. I feel like finding a solution to this could actually give my fistula a chance to heal. It just doesn't make sense why everything else all day seems to digest just fine.

 

[FrozenGirl]

Breakfast has always been bad for me. Always causes bloating, D, and pain. I just avoid eating if I am not going to be home to manage symptoms. I assume it is an issue with food digesting overnight. I too go within 10 minutes of getting up then again if I eat. It's like food triggers the overnight digestive issues. No real solution I know of. Good luck.

 

[mramsden]

Blargh! That's no fun at all - I'm sorry you're stuck in such pain.

I used to never eat breakfast because it always left me with a cramp and a rush to the bathroom, but if I ate a bit later in the morning or at lunch, I didn't have the same problem. I don't know why that would be - maybe CD is an early riser and my bowel isn't? If you skip breakfast altogether do you avoid the problem, or is it just delayed until whatever time you first eat?

The pain with my last colo-rectal abscess was unbearable. After surgery, I had a nurse visit each day to unpack the wound and restuff it with gauze (a strange and terrible feeling), the idea being that it heals from the inside. It worked insofar as the pain was concerned, but it didn't stop the drainage - I had two fistulas that drained constantly.

But when I went back on Imuran, the drainage all but stopped. According to my GI Imuran doesn't directly affect the healing of a fistula, so the improvement is likely due to better frequency and quality of my bathroom visits. This would seem to fit with your bathroom experiences after breakfast triggering pain and discharge. My guts are by no means in great shape, but this one area has seen a real improvement. I suspect you're right to focus on the loose bowel movements, and whatever you can do to reduce those will probably really help the fistulas.

Hope you find a solution!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I've never been a breakfast person either. I have no appetite (and sometimes some significant nausea) for the first couple hours that I'm awake. Once I get past that, then I'm able to eat. So I do eat a bit of breakfast, but only after my stomach has settled and is ready to accept food. On a typical day, I'll get up at 6 AM and I won't eat or drink anything (except water) until I get to my desk at work at 8:30. That's usually enough time for things to calm down. And if I'm still not feeling super well by that time, then I'll start slowly with something like tea or juice and then move on to solid foods if that goes okay. That's what works for me. Good luck and I hope you can figure out something that works for you!

 

[UnXmas]

Both waking in the morning and eating a meal are common triggers for a bowel movement in healthy people, but healthy people can subconsciously suppress the urge if it's not a convenient time for them. With digestive problems, it can't always be suppressed, and may be diarrhoea. I'm not sure why for you it would be normal before breakfast but not afterwards though.

Have you tried any anti-diarrhoea meds? Loperamide acts quite quickly, so if you take it before breakfast, it might slow down the bowel movement that breakfast then triggers.

Or maybe try eating very small snacks throughout the morning.

 

[flypiggie]

I can't eat first thing in the morning. I actually dislike breakfast anyways but if I wait an hour or so I don't get that urgent morning poo as bad. And it has to be light. Yogurt light.

 

[Elizajp]

Good to know I'm not alone in this- but I'm sorry you all struggle with it too! This morning I ate a tiny snack when I woke up and then just rested and didn't eat for another hour or two and I was able to get through without the second bathroom trip! My day has been much less painful because of it. Thank you all for your advice!

 

[shamrock15]

I am a "three trip" in the morning sort of person. Once immediately, second normally within half an hour and quite often a third about 1.5 hours after waking up. then I can wait sometimes the rest of the day. It's almost like clockwork. If it develops a natural rhythm for you, just go with the flow. Hope everything gets better for you.