Foods to ease cramping?

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I tapered from 9 mg to 6 mg of Entocort last week, and it's not been going well. My symptoms have slowly been returning, and the worst right now seems to be the cramping. I have taken two anti-spasmodic pills (dicyclomine) today with minimal effect. I've put in a call to my GI's office to see if I can go back to 9 mg or if they can give me any other meds/advice, but they haven't called me back yet so I have to deal with this until I get some answers.

The cramping seems to get worse immediately after eating. So I'm wondering, are there any foods that can ease cramping? I'm already eating mostly low-residue foods, but nothing seems to be making a difference. Even things like Ensure now cause me to cramp up. Has anyone found any foods or remedies to ease lower abdominal cramping?

 

[Jessica]

Cramping/spasams are never good. I've found that if I incorporate more liquid into my diet with smaller meals it helps. I take them as warning signs and try to rectify things before they head south! <3

If nothing else, take a pain killer. Sometimes just taking one will relax me enough. Oh, and fetal positions on my side help too. Sitting up in a chair or in bed never help. I think it's the pressure on my intestines too. Who knows. Most of it is in my head I'm sure.

 

[Rob]

Before I was dx an on my meds I suffered really bad cramps
I found Ginger beer (bunderberg brand to be precise) to help alot

maybe see about some Ginger?
Mite help

 

[rygon]

I dont know if you get Twinings tea over there but they do a selection of relaxing drinks (green tea, carmomile, peppermint etc) that are really tastey and help my gut. Ive stopped drinking normal tea and coffee now and thats helped a lot. Drink Barley coffee which is pretty similar to coffee (although smells aweful).

Foods I try to keep to things like chicken soupand porridge if im feeling really bad

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Update since my original post: My GI has put me back on 9 mg of Entocort, which has helped a lot. I have only had one episode of cramping since then, so not too bad.

Outpatient: Peppermint tea is one of my staples, in additon to chamomile tea and ginger tea. I drink a lot of it, it's great!

Jessica: I really do need to start eating smaller, more frequent meals. It's hard to figure out when to do that since I'm working full-time. My doctors haven't prescribed me any painkillers (I'm still undiagnosed and my GI is reluctant to prescribe anything harsh or habit-forming) so that's out.

Rob: Is ginger beer carbonated? I can't seem to drink anything carbonated any more, I get awful pains after drinking sodas. I don't know if it's the bubbles or what. But I do take ginger supplements, and as I said above, I drink ginger tea frequently. It seems to help a little bit with nausea, but I don't know if it does anything for cramps.

Rygon: I have seen Twinings tea at the store, I'll check it out. There's a store here called World Market which carries foods from all over the world, and I know they have lots of different teas including Twinings.

 

[Jessica]

We have Twinings Tea here in FL. I'm partial to Tazo. Can't get enough of their nifty creations.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Ooh, I like Tazo too. There's one flavor of Tazo in particular, I think it's called "Relax" that I've been drinking a lot of lately. Very minty and calming.

 

[Rebecca85]

Can't you eat at your job? You seem to find time to chat on here! I work in a school, so I have a break when the kids go out to play. I keep yoghurts (probiotic ones that you drink rather than eat with a spoon) and nutrigrain bars handy, they're quick to eat but stop me getting too hungry by lunchtime.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I do snack a bit at my job, but I have to answer the phone so sometimes when it's busy it's not an option to eat and work. I usually come on here when I've got some down time (today in particular is a slow day because tomorrow's a holiday and most people took today or this whole week off).

 

[Rebecca85]

Can you split your lunch break? How long do you get?

 

[rygon]

i like this DIY yoghurt http://www.easiyo.com/

I remember a thread on http://moneysavingexprt.com once that showed you how to make your own yoghurt. Basically you kept a tables spoon of it then adding milk(?) it made itself into yoghurt

 

[Odddlycrunchy]

Broth

Try chicken broth with coconut milk and ginger. Recipe (Chicken broth a la Thai) just added to my blog, odddlycrunchydotblogspotdotcom (sorry, I haven't submitted 10 posts yet, so I can't post a url - just replace each "dot" with a period).

Take sips at first. All the ingredients are soothing and healing - the chicken, the coconut milk, and the ginger. Good luck!

 

[Rina]

Bananas always help me!