What can I eat?

[Anne-Marie]

I am new on here today as I need advice and I do not have much faith in doctors!
I was diagnosed in 2004 and have managed to avoid surgery until now.
I had a resection two weeks ago today in which they removed 20cm of small bowel and 5cm of large. In the last week I have been following my doctors advice YOU CAN GO HOME AND EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT! Brilliant I thought.... I have spent the last week enjoying brown bread lentils veg fruit nuts etc and although I have not been experiencing bad spasm pains I have been uncomfortable after my evening meal but have put it down to eating a little too much!
Last night I ate steak chips mushrooms onion rings tomatoes and a fab blue cheese sauce all washed down with a bottle of red wine.
This morning I had beans on toast and I swear down since my last mouthful of beans I have been having the good old Crohns spasm crampy pains which take your breath away.
I now feel gutted as I think the surgery has not worked after all or in a positive flash I hope the join they made is still swollen?

Has anyone had different advice on what to eat?

Also I see there is a diet in America you can follow where you can eat what you want but you need to avoid 2 different types of food in the same meal but costs a fortune to buy!! Does anyone do this?

 

[kllyeve]

We have all heard the "diet doesn't matter, eat what you want" mantra. For some people they only need to watch diet when in a flare, some of us have to watch it all the time regardless.

I have both Crohn's and IBS, so although I am on Remicade for the Crohn's and doing much better - I still have pain issues and am fine tuning my diet. I am trying the FODMAP diet, which is recommended by my GI for those with IBS. I did try the food combining diet and it helped for a short time only.

Some of my pain is from the fact that there is scarring on my intestines and an area of stricture due to my intestines being wrapped all around my girl parts due to endometriosis(undiagnosed before my hysterectomy) and a dermoid cyst. So although, the Crohn's is under control, there is very little that can be done about the scarring and stricture(my GI doesn't think she will ever be able to get a surgeon to even look at doing another surgery). I may just have to accept the fact that I will not ever be entirely pain free.

 

[Mia E]

Hi annemarie

I had a very similar surgery 6 wks ago and was recommended to be on low residue diet for a while to give my intestines a rest! This might be a good idea for you, especially if you have been eating high fibre foods which may be too hard for your bowel to digest while it is healing. They did say for me to expand my diet gently and see how it goes. I had a lot of D initially so I waited to this passed before I risked any fibre, still now I barely eat any, although I think I need to try eat more as it seems unhealthy to stick to white bread/pasta/no fruit and veg.
Good luck!

 

[Anne-Marie]

Thank you for responding. I didnt eat much at all yesterday and feel much better after Tramadol and a massive sleep!!
Ate salads seeds nuts today and feel fine although I have cut down on my size of meals which has made a big difference. I think I am going to start doing a meal plan day by day to include 4 small meals and cut out snacking.
Can I ask do you still need medication after your surgery, as I was told I dont need any now at all??
I have an appointment to see my surgeon next Tuesday, I am going to ask if I can have vitamin B12 again as I used to have it but stopped when I was pregnant following a miscarriage 5 years ago. I didnt ask about it again but I have noticed most people get it on here...
I only suffered from loose bowels day 3 post surgery after my bowel woke up but had normal motion since. Wish I had surgery 2 years ago!!

 

[Mia E]

I was put on pentasa after surgery, had never been on any medication before as discovered crohns when they did surgery. Gi felt pentasa would be a good maintenance drug to reduce chances of crohns returning as fast. I see the surgeon next Tuesday also for the first time since surgery so l am interested in what he has to say about diet, won't see gi for a few months.

I had low b12 levels before surgery and expect they'll continue to be low now terminal illeum removed. Do you know what part was removed? Probably good to have your b12 levels checked, my gp does this.

It sounds like your diet now is really good and healthy. I'm scared to eat nuts and salads for fear the damage they might do. Maybe I'm being over cautious!x

 

[PlutoCronie]

I have not had any surgery, but I was diagnosed with Crohn's Colitis a year ago. Since I am having trouble obtaining my Rx due to financial problems, I have decided to try an alkaline diet. Supposedly, it offers many good benefits. A lot of us are very acidic, and since I have the ulcers it would make sense to try an alkaline diet. I also found out that my particular blood type A(-) is prone to poor digestion, especially in regards to acidic foods. The alkaline diet is supposed to also be good for weight control, allergies, and lots of other healthy stuff. I am going part vegan, but I am still eating fish. It has only been a few days, but I started drinking alkaline water about a week ago and then have added almost total alkaline food to my diet. I can add more acid foods later but have to keep the ratio at 80/20, in favor of the alkaline. I still take some Rx daily, but now I am relying on diet and supplements to control the inflammation. Here are some sites for the Alkaline Diet and Blood Type Diets. Both seem to be highly recommended for IBD and IBS:
http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/
http://www.energiseforlife.com/dg-alkalinewater.pdf
http://www.dadamo.com/program.htm