Does diet really matter?? Food does not effect me, anyone else like this??

[hurla31]

I can eat what ever i want, drink what ever i want and have no trouble at all. Hot peppers, pizza, salads, wine, you name it. I do have many troubles with my disease, but pain in my stomach and diarrhea aren't. I want to know what people think, do you think a diet change can help with the abscesses and fistulas i have? or the arthritis? I wonder if a diet change can really help with these issues!??

 

[elfgibson]

same here no stomach pains or diarrhea and don't want to go on the biologics either, going to Vanderbilt IBD clinic in a couple weeks hope they have an alternative meds. I have been watching my sugar intake, haven't been drinking soft drinks either

 

[Beatit]

I can eat what ever i want, drink what ever i want and have no trouble at all. Hot peppers, pizza, salads, wine, you name it. I do have many troubles with my disease, but pain in my stomach and diarrhea aren't. I want to know what people think, do you think a diet change can help with the abscesses and fistulas i have? or the arthritis? I wonder if a diet change can really help with these issues!??

Yes diet change helps with everything. I suggest you watch what you eat because medicine can cover up any pain etc but in reality hurting you as in abscesses and fisulas.

 

[Dukeis]

same here no stomach pains or diarrhea and don't want to go on the biologics either, going to Vanderbilt IBD clinic in a couple weeks hope they have an alternative meds. I have been watching my sugar intake, haven't been drinking soft drinks either

elfgibson, I won't count on those Vandy docs using alternative meds. I would think they would push the biologicals. Why I say this I had an appointment there this past summer and decided not to keep it after researching about the doctor and who was funding there research. I'm not against the biologicals (I'm on Humira) I just don't like the doctors that have funding coming from the pharmaceutical company for there personal research studies. Been to doctors like that and they seem to treat you as part of their study even if your not.

 

[UnXmas]

Diet does not cause Inflammatory Bowel Disease, but it can effect symptoms. It seems different foods worsen symptoms in different people though, and if it doesn't seem to effect you then I'm sure that's the case for some others too.

For me, insoluble fibre noticably worsens symptoms if I eat too much, for example, and this is known to be quite common for all kinds of digestive problems. Some people will have a lactose intolerance, or gluten or whatever. I've never had that kind of sensitivity. It just varies! I'd say you're lucky if you don't have to worry about food. Do you not even find, for example, that really rich food makes you feel a bit sick?

I want to know what people think, do you think a diet change can help with the abscesses and fistulas i have? or the arthritis? I wonder if a diet change can really help with these issues!??

I wouldn't have thought diet could help with abscesses, fistulas or arthritis. Unless maybe rough foods or spicy foods could irritate raw areas from abscesses/fistulas? You'll have to rely on trial and error, really. And definitely don't rely on diet for treatment - seek medical treatment too.

 

[Gianni]

drink what ever i want and have no trouble at all. Hot peppers, pizza, salads, wine, you name it. I do have many troubles with my disease, but pain in my stomach and diarrhea aren't.

Does that not jump out at you that maybe in-fact you cannot tolerate food as well as you think? Disease progression is a symptom and maybe because you don't feel that much pain doesn't mean you aren't harming your body through poor food choices. I was diagnosed with severe Crohn's but never had much problems with diarrhea or pain really (at first). I had 3 abscesses a fistula to my bladder etc etc and I didn't start feeling pain until after a 4 week hospital visit. Just because pain and diarrhea aren't a symptom doesn't mean you are doing your body any good, other symptoms will occur like disease progression in your case.

I want to know what people think, do you think a diet change can help with the abscesses and fistulas i have? or the arthritis? I wonder if a diet change can really help with these issues!??

Absolutely they can. If you build up your immune system your body can take care of the infections in the abscesses and the abscesses will shrink. I had abscesses and although I was on Humira at the time (not anymore), I just changed my diet drastically to raw vegan and within a few weeks I started feeling better. I got a scope a few months later and no evidence of abscesses. I know that food can help you with arthritis as well. There are plenty of plants that hold great vitamins and minerals for bone health like leafy greens. In my opinion food is the best medicine for this disease. It is a dangerous game to feel like you are safe to eat whatever you want, it will come back and bite you.

If you are interested I am a raw vegan and I regularly juice organic vegetables juices, you can read about why I think juicing is so great by clicking the link in my signature.

All the best,

Gianni

 

[UnXmas]

Raw vegan would be terrible for me. I can't stomach even cooked veg!

It is of course true that you need enough nutrition - enough calories, protein, vitamins, etc. - to maintain your health, and lacking that could make you prone to various health problems. But extreme diets are generally not a good idea, especially if you're already in poor health. Sudden changes to diet can upset your system too.

Sorry don't mean to contradict the above poster, I'm sure juicing does have benefits and raw vegan may work well for some people, just my experience with overly healthy diets and trying to control my health through diet ended up doing me no good physically or mentally.

 

[hugh]

I went on a bender a couple of months ago, got really drunk and ate restaurant food, and then for three weeks drank coffee and went soft on my paleo diet, Then got back on the rails and ate paleo since
Six weeks after the bad food and three weeks after I stopped eating it -pain , blood and mucus, and another two weeks to settle down

Of course diet makes a difference, just not the next day/week.
Some foods may cause a quick reaction, (like yogurt for me), but they aren't the ones causing the ulcerations

 

[FullM3lt]

When I'm in complete remission I can eat like absolute crap. :lol: Soda, fast food, beer and all sorts of other junk food. My most recent remission was the last 4 years up until the past few weeks.

When I notice a flare coming on I have to adjust my diet. That means no caffeine, no beer, no fast food...only good stuff. I really miss my spicy foods but they are no bueno at the moment!

I hope to be back into remission soon, but I'm not going to take advantage of it again. When I'm back into remission i'll enjoy the occasional beer or mix drink and junk food now and then but after having Pancolitis for 10+ years I gotta be more careful. Just my two cents.

 

[Johnnysmom]

Both of my son's G.I. doctors said diet will not in any way change the course of this disease. For some it will make them feel better because it is healthier or allows their body to heal. And some will find a reduction in stomach symptoms,much as someone with IBS would find but it is not changing inflammation. I know that I don't have crohns but caffeinated coffee kills my stomach. Could be the same with someone with crohn's but it isn't effecting the disease.

My son can eat whatever he wants also. We focus on high protein for growth and make it nutritious because we want to keep him healthy but we don't avoid any foods.

I would think the only exception to this would be someone with narrowing. Bulky food or irritating foods like popcorn or nuts could make irritation worse. Liquid diets are used when things get very inflamed.

So far we are letting our boy eat what he wants. It is just nice to see him eating again!

 

[Mr-R]

hi, 1st time post here, Ive had no problems at all eating different foods, inc sweetcorn and nuts, only problem i have is probably smell from the bag when being emptied. 1 thing i have noticed is that the "stump" that remains near the anus is becoming more active than normal. and increasingly difficult to "hold" has anyone realised this issue??

 

[Spooky1]

Cannot believe what some of you can eat! Well, i'm awaiting christmas and i will pig out entirely, if my stomach can stretch to it, then its back on the liquid feeds and bland food.

 

[hurla31]

I just don't get how changing my diet can change my abscesses and fistula?? that is my biggest complaint.....

 

[hugh]

"I just don't get how changing my diet can change my abscesses and fistula??"

from http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=6616
"After 8 months on the diet, one of my two rectal fistulas had healed up so much, that the surgeon decided to remove the cton because the cton was keeping the fistula from healing up completely."

the abscess leads to the fistula, what causes the abscess?
"An abscess results from an acute infection of a small gland just inside the anus, when bacteria or foreign matter enters the tissue through the gland. Certain conditions - colitis or other inflammation of the intestine, for example - can sometimes make these infections more likely."

removing the inflammation may prevent the formation of abscesses which will prevent fistula forming? removing the inflammation may even allow healing?

 

[rygon]

Imagine a blister, if you irritate it all the time it wont get any better. This is what can happen if you eat foods that irritate your intestines. By removing these from your diet you can remove the irritation (to a certain extent) and allow the body to heal itself faster.

 

[LaurieBird]

For almost a decade, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted. I THOUGHT that foods did not affect me at all. I recently went on the low residue diet, and I swear to god it is life changing! I'd say nutrition is important, even if you don't think it is. At least avoid high residue/fiber foods would be my advise.

 

[UnXmas]

For almost a decade, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted. I THOUGHT that foods did not affect me at all. I recently went on the low residue diet, and I swear to god it is life changing! I'd say nutrition is important, even if you don't think it is. At least avoid high residue/fiber foods would be my advise.

Is low residue the same as low insoluble fibre? If so, that's the thing that makes the biggest difference for me too. It took me longer than it should have to figure that out, though once I did it seemed so obvious.

 

[LaurieBird]

Low fiber and low residue diets are not really the same thing. I guess they are like rectangles and squares: a low residue thing is probably low fiber, but a low fiber thing is not necessarily low residue. For example, fruits: a lot of them hardly have any fiber, but are high residue.

You can know something is high fiber by just reading the side of the container or googling it. In general, anything with 2 grams are less is considered low fiber.

Figuring out if something is low residue is where it gets a little tricky. You kind of have to use common sense . High residue foods are basically any foods that could potentially scrape up your insides. These "scrapy" foods include skins of fruits, nuts, berries, seeds, corn meal, that sort of thing. Basically, my rule of thumb is if you can see it on the other end, don't eat it! XD

For me, high residue foods TOTALLY mess me up. If I eat popcorn, I can guarantee that I will be flaring within the next few days. Which kind of sucks, because I love popcorn! It took me like a decade to figure that one out, and I felt like such a dummy when I did . I could not figure out why I always seemed to get sick after going to the movies. Other foods like butter and greasy stuff do not actually bother me much, or at all, usually. So, I guess it depends on the person to an extent. But I would definitely recommend avoiding high residue foods when you have IBD, especially if you are flaring.