Eating problem with endo: Hi, has anyone... - Endometriosis UK

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Eating problem with endo

Sophie769 profile image
15 Replies

Hi, has anyone else had lots of problems with eating? Not being able to keep food down? I’ve been getting bad pain when eating for months and throwing up a lot of the time, tried different foods just no pattern too it.. being tested for a stomach ulcer but wondering if it could be related to endo?

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Sophie769
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15 Replies
angrychickie profile image
angrychickie

😢 I’m sorry you’re going this. I do struggle with eating as well. I ate 2 solid meals this weekend because sometimes i want to have a day or two without the pain. I found that when i had a smoothie for a meal, it didn’t hurt as much as a solid meal.

I get nauseous as well, but don’t throw up. Not sure where you’re located, but since marijuana has been legal in Canada, i take THC & CBD gummies at night. It really helps my appetite and cuts down on the pain enough so i can sleep.

I hope you find something that works!

Josiejo77 profile image
Josiejo77

Hi I have struggled with lack of appetite and nausea. Mine seems to be related to my liver though as the endo had spread so far up my body that it attached itself to my liver. The symptoms you describe can relate to endo but only as secondary things related to issues elsewhere. I would recommend that you get a check up as these issues can both be caused by liver and or kidney issues

Sophie769 profile image
Sophie769 in reply to Josiejo77

Can they check liver and kidney before surgery? Or do you just have to wait till the lap to find out? Does it affect your life in general such as pain if you have alcohol and things? x

Josiejo77 profile image
Josiejo77 in reply to Sophie769

Hi Sophie - my liver scarring was found on my lap but nausea and struggling with appetite are quite often kidney and liver related so will be worth asking them to check this before you get any sort of lap surgery. It doesn't sound like endo tbh...if you are in the UK then speak to endometriosis.co.uk their helpline is superb . It took them a while to find my endo but my main issues were abdominal pain and issues with periods so it pointed more in the direction of that than your symptoms.

Sophie769 profile image
Sophie769 in reply to Josiejo77

Thankyou. I will ask them about it! If you read my other post I definitely have endo as this will be my third surgery but you’re right I think this problem could be a total different issue but it’s good to hear some other thoughts on it x

Sweetyassi profile image
Sweetyassi

Hi Sophie769,

Sorry to hear you are struggling. Yes I find it very hard eating, I have solid food for breakfast or sometimes gluten free porridge and then soup for dinner. My body can't tolerate a lot of solid foods. If I do eat a lot of solid foods every I'm in pain. I need to give my stomach a break from foods.

Sweety

Sophie769 profile image
Sophie769 in reply to Sweetyassi

May I ask why gluten free? Does gluten make your pain worse or are you intolerant?

Sweetyassi profile image
Sweetyassi in reply to Sophie769

Hi, Sophie 769,

Due to endometriosis inside my bowels, and having had emergency bowel resection part of my bowel was damaged, and due to that I have celiac disease. So have to avoid gluten, wheat and dairy.

Sweety.

Sophie769 profile image
Sophie769 in reply to Sweetyassi

Oh god, sorry to hear you’ve had to go through that! I had an endoscopy and they’ve found a stomach hernia so it looks like my eating problems are not caused by my endo however they’ve said to start food diary’s ect as I have too much stomach acid so could be due to intolerance and they’ve sent biopsy’s to check for different things

Sweetyassi profile image
Sweetyassi in reply to Sophie769

Oh dear stomach hernia, that's awful. Will they operate to remove the hernia?

I have kept so many food diary, I still keep one , it's a habit now I write everything I eat just in case I eat something I shouldn't have, I then know not to eat it again.

Sweety.

Sophie769 profile image
Sophie769 in reply to Sweetyassi

I don’t know yet, have to wait to see the specialist and for biopsy’s to come back.

Yeah it’s not a bad idea to keep track to be honest, not if you’ve always suffered with different foods etc!

Sweetyassi profile image
Sweetyassi in reply to Sophie769

Good luck for when you see the specialist, hope they can help you and that its nothing serious.

It can get boring eating the same foods all the time, so every now and then I will try something different, I will write in my diary if I had a reaction from eating it, if not then I can keep eating that.

Sweety

Lejay profile image
Lejay

Sorry to hear you as going through this. It could be a lot of things. Do you have bowel problems too? I experienced this before I was diagnosed with endo after my lap surgery.

I experienced nausea a lot in general but also triggered by a lot of different foods. Some foods were also causing bowel problems. It got to the point where I could barely eat anything and had a very bland and minimal diet up until my surgery. I also had to take anti nausea tablets because it got so bad. Turned out I had endo on my bowel and one of my fallopian tubes was half wrapped around my bowel, Along with endo in other places. Not nice.

But since surgery my previous intolerance to food got better. I have been able to eat most things again. But I am still careful with certain foods.

Have you tried doing an elimination diet? See what triggers the nausea. Also if it happens a lot around your menstrual cycle that might be related?

Sophie769 profile image
Sophie769 in reply to Lejay

Yes I have to take laxatives everyday otherwise I can go upto 18 days without going which isn’t fun! I also get pain in my bladder etc. I take the anti sickness tablets but don’t work often!

What things did you eliminate? I have been making a food diary and nothing seems to cause the sickness it’s so random, it’s almost like good days and bad days! I don’t have menstrual cycles as I had the coil fitted but I do bleed for a few hours every 4 days but the sickness isn’t affected by it

Lejay profile image
Lejay in reply to Sophie769

That's not fun at all. I had bladder pain and issues too. That was another place they found endo. I was just thinking it could be IBS but indon't know much about IBS but it could be related. But I know there is a lot of stomach pain with that and the opposite of constipation involved with that.

Well I had a bit of a mild dairy intolerance that seemed to increase at that time so I went lactose free with yoghurt and then just stopped eating dairy products besides small amounts of lactose free yoghurt (the only thing that I could handle) when my symptoms got a lot worse. I noticed that over about maybe 3 or so months I seemed to develop more intolerance and nauseous reactions to foods I was fine eating before. At first, some days I was ok with eating ham for instance and then other days it would make me sick, then it made me nauseous all the time and I stopped eating it. Same with most foods.

Dairy, eggs, red meat, citrus, artificial sweeteners, onion,garlic, spicy foods, caffeine were all taken away from my diet at that time, as well as other things that seems to trigger like ham, some vegetables and fruits. Basically in the end when i was bad 1-2 months before surgery, I lived off a very minimal diet and lost weight because of it.

From my research i know some foods cause endo/inflammation to get worse so before diagnosis and even now I am careful with what I eat. Although I am glad that I can eat more without nausea and bowel issues again on my 9th week post lap surgery.

Hope you find the cause of your issues!

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