Digesting certain foods

[babssara]

Hi

New here. Does anyone know why I can't digest corn or similar. When I have a flare I have bowel incontinence so much so that it is ruining my life. I am 66 years old and for the past 10 years my GP has told me I have IBS. I am convinced it is something more. I have autoimmune deficiency with many related problems. But I can't seem to control these flares. I have not had any tests done. Flares usuallly consist of immediate urge to go to the toilet, the very watery poo and wind. I can be away from the toilet for 10 mins and need to go again, same result. Hence sometimes incontinence.

Thanks

[BabsyWabsy]

Hi babssara, you are not alone. Sometimes, for no obvious reason, some vegetables go straight through undigested. This seems to occur when my guts are a bit irritable and I think it is probably due to rapid transit. The other day I had roasted beetroot, just a small one, and it was through in about three hours. Obviously, this is not enough time to digest it properly, so undigested stuff comes out of the back door. Corn, peas, carrots and spinach can also do this, though not as fast as beetroot, a rich tomato sauce can also have rapid through put, but not every time. Annoying isn't it?

[Penel]

Hi babssara

Sorry to hear you are having this problem. It may be because corn is a high fibre food (cellulose) and can pass through the body without being digested. Although we are told that we should eat more fibre, it doesn’t suit everyone.

As BabsyWabsy has said, it sounds like it could be rapid transit and might be caused by an overload of certain high fibre foods.

My problem has been the opposite to the one you describe, also diagnosed as IBS, had a colonoscopy to check if it was anything else.

There are alternative diets which may help people with autoimmune problems, if you feel confident in experimenting.

I had a go at a diet called the Low Fodmaps diet, which is suggested as a possible help in IBS-D or C. It’s a temporary elimination diet to see if you can identify any trigger foods. Perhaps it might be worth having a look at it?

monashfodmap.com/ibs-centra...

It took me a few months to work out my problem foods and to find alternatives.

Hope you can find a solution that works for you.

[bookish]

Corn is the second highest gluten grain and can have a similar effect on the villi in Coeliac as wheat. It is in a lot of 'gluten free' products and some people get worse when they go GF as a result. It also cross reacts with rice and soy and potato cross reacts with it. I started reacting to corn, also to potato, and no longer eat grains or nightshades. Might be worth trying a full autoimmune diet (assuming that you've been checked for Coeliac before you go GF). Corn seems to be in just about everything...food additives, supplements, personal care products, sticking plaster...so stopping your use is hard, but do-able. Have a look at purehealthclinic.co.uk/trul.... Micki's The Gluten Plan book is well worth getting and the TGF Master List gives you a lot of ideas of where corn might be, and what to use instead. Tom O'Bryan's The Autoimmune Fix is also a very good read, with an introductory elimination diet of only 3 weeks - has to be worth a try, other conditions permitting. Best wishes