pain after every meal.

[ttrojen]

hi just wanted to ask if anyone suffers the same as me. I recently had a couple of days where i didn't eat much and my symptoms seemed to ease which goes against what they generally say which is eat little and often. Now i have gone back to eating more normal meals shall we say and i am finding that the pain gets worse after every meal especially my main meal. does anybody else have this problem really starting to worry me now that the only time my sysmptoms seem to ease is if i don't eat at all.

[kath_80]

Hi I've had all investigations they can do in hospital, been admitted 8 times and I agree after eating is when it hurts most. Some days, well quite a lot lately, I would have 1 small meal a day. My tummy feels uncomfortable and going off food due to the pain. I'm upset that I hardly eat and still over weight. It just won't come off. I'm on a lot of medication but the main help is buscopan. I eat and try and go to toilet to try and help get rid of the pain, but doesn't work sometimes. I've got acute IBS and chronic constipation. I've been on 200mg of morphine a day, which hasn't touched the pain, so moving to tramadol, this normally helps, coming down off morphine has been hard, but can't wait to be on tramadol as it helps and is least constipating then other pain relief.

[PatV in reply to kath_80]

both morphine and buscopan are constipating. The best thing I've found is Physical Therapy for Abdominal Pain. I also have chronic IBS-C (and Parkinson's). I was painfree for a month until Christmas when I ate all the foods I shouldn't. But I know, when I'm in pain, I would take ANYTHING! It's unbearable and ruining my life!

[686868 in reply to kath_80]

I agree with the comment about food combining awareness. It is also important to chew food a lot before swallowing to get the digestive enzymes working.

When I was having a bad IBS bout recently and had to give up fruit and veg I was so desperate to get the right vitamins etc in me that I re-introduced having fruit at mid-day in the form of some pieces 200ml mango/half a banana and rice dream all mixed to a 'shake' and it was delicious with no bad effects. I now also add a squeeze of lime or lemon juice. When I have this it is a meal on its own. Some might say the banana slows the digestion but I found it works well with the fruit which would otherwise just go straight through, so I think I am saying that the mix works well for both diarrhoea and constipation.

Unfortunatley, whilst pills for emergencies are a great boon, the sooner one is able to get off them the better is my experience. We all know there is know such thing as the perfect pill and the side effects can sometimes cloud the issues. I do take omeprazole daily but only 10mg.

[Hidden]

Hi,

Beore I went on the FODMAP diet, I used to get pain within 30 minutes of eating (and still do If I eat the wrong thing). The pain always felt like gas/wind and it would stay with me until I could pass it which sometimes took hours.

On the strength of a recent post on here, I'm just starting out on the aloe vera route to see if this will let me expand my diet without these problems.

Pagan

[kath_80 in reply to Hidden]

I tried aloe Vera juice, you can buy it in Waitrose, the same day I started itching and my skin turned into a big rash. Went to bed then woke in middle of the night with my lips swollen and my tongue. I had to call a taxi to get anti hystemines as I had an allergic reaction to it. I know this doesn't happen to everyone, my neighbour uses it for digestion and helped him really well. Also another thing I cant use is magnesium, my throat burnt, in A+E, I had to drink lots of water, to try and ease the burning. I take 20mg of Omeprazole daily, due to having gall bladder removed around 10yrs ago. I'm now 32 yrs. The last year has been so difficult, I think depression is now creeping in?? again, I've been needing help with this for last 8 years. The pain, being tired, not much of a life is starting to bring me down. I'm feeling so tired I would love to snuggle down somewhere quiet and be in peace for a while.

[Hidden in reply to kath_80]

Hi,

Whilst it could well have been the aloe juice itself which gave you such a bad problem, it may also have been down to the preservatives in it. Many of the aloe juices contain sodium benzoate which is pretty lethal for me and many others. Someone on this site put me on to pukkaherbs.com and their aloe is free from everything except a minute amount of citric acid derived from tapioca - but I don't suppose you want to risk trying it again after an experience like that and I wouldn't blame you either!

Do you know about the FODMAPs diet for IBS and have you seen a dietitian?

[kath_80 in reply to Hidden]

Yes I'm seeing a dietician and wants me to eat small amounts 8 times a day. Which is so hard to do. As I don't want to eat so much. I'm in love with skimmed milk and Greek yoghurt, which makes my tummy feel good. This dietician doesn't know the FODmap diet, even tho, the referral canes from the gastro team. I'm awaiting to see a consultant who treats the problems that come with IBS, I'm excited as she is going to work with the FODmap diet with me, also I'm on so much medication I would like to cut down, as I don't know what works anymore. Im hoping this diet is going to make me better. I feel so tired all the time, its a struggle every day. I used to walk my dog 10 miles a day. I hope I can go back to it sometime.

[Hidden in reply to kath_80]

I wouldn't want to be eating 8 times a day either!

I've been doing FODMAPs for 7 months now and, although I've had to make a few adjustments to it along the way (we're all different), it works extremely well for me and my problems have lessened enormously.

If you want to read about the diet before you get to see your consultant, go to the site for Monash University (where the diet was first developed) and put FODMAPs into the home page search box.

I really do wish you well with this - I bet your dog does too!

Pagan

[kath_80 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much, really appreciate the link, I've been really wanting to read more about FODmaps. So much on here want it to be a reliable site, so really appreciate it. Yeah my dog just gets to go wild on the fields etc, she is getting exercise but we both miss our walks. Many thanks, your kind response is greatly appreciated xx

[Hidden in reply to kath_80]

The American dietitian, Patsy Catsos, has written a brilliant book about FODMAPs called 'IBS - Free At Last' (available from Amazon). Until the NHS got behind this diet a few months ago, it was the bible for many people. In fact, I still often refer to it as I find it much more helpful in many respects than the NHS booklets.

You're right to avoid much of the web info out there as, for the most part, it's outdated and often just plain wrong.

Pagan

[kath_80 in reply to Hidden]

Many thanks

[Carrjan in reply to kath_80]

I feel so sorry for you and feel just the same when I have an attack. I seem to have one bout every 3 weeks since August. Ive seen a gastroenterologist and he thinks I have IBS but Ive never had it so bad as this week.Im waiting to have a colon CT scan. I think something is making my guts have an allergic reaction but I dont know what it is. I cut out high FODMAP foods 2 weeks ago but have still had an attack. Im scared to swallow anything almost. I havent tried Aloe Vera but it is a high FODMAP so I would avoid it.

[PatV]

In addition to foods on the FODMAPs list, I am in agony if I eat anything with Calcium Carbonate, like Cheerios! or Soy Protein, like many so called dairy free "Health" foods. The latter was in some pumpkin ravioli--completely crippled and ruined my granddaughter's birthday party for me

[ttrojen]

thanks for the advice. yes i have started trying the foodmap diet recently. early days yet. I have cut out all wheat and diary products which i am finding difficult because so much food out there has wheat of some sort in or milk.

[Carrjan in reply to ttrojen]

Tesco have a FreeFrom aisle with lots of gluten free bread and cakes and lactose free milk and cream, yoghourt and cream cheese spreads

[Ukbusybee]

Hi ttrojan

Have you considered that you might have a food intolerances (or two)? Food intolerances cause inflammation in the digestive tract and, in my experience, cause the pain, discomfort and constipation (often alternating with diarrhoea) that seems to follow.

I've had IBS symptoms myself since late teens (mainly diarrhoea in early years, then a long period of alternating symptoms, then mainly constipation that progressively got worse). In the end I felt so bloated, nauseous, in much discomfort (like yourself) and generally unwell I was getting rather down and questioning why this had ben getting worse. I'd been given various medications by my Doctors over the years, had various tests, even on gallbladder. I'd even had quite worrying symptoms like pain in my chest etc. It was at A&E that a nurse reassured me I wasn't having a heart attack but that it sounded gastric.

The penny dropped that it was probably food related so I did some research then resorted to York test to see if that gave me any answers. My results came back that I'm intolerant to eggs, milk, wheat, gluten, millet, yeast, crustaceans and coffee (a higher number than average!). I'm also borderline intolerant to another 7 items (chilli, buckwheat, brazils, sesame seeds, carrots, soya beans and coriander/ cumin/ dill). To be honest, I'd worked out over the years that I felt worse after eating anything too creamy, spicy or rich and also that milky coffee seemed to make me need the loo soon after!

Armed with this new info, I actually did a big bang approach and stopped eating all foods I'm intolerant to, and cut down all those I'm borderline to. Do you know what? I felt better within 3 days and actually 'normal' again within a couple of weeks. I've done a few of my own 'tests' since and I now notice that I react to eggs and shellfish within 2 hours (stomach pains), gluten within a day (particularly with fatigue , joint aches and pains and feeling itchy, particularly on the legs), and various symptoms soon after eating dairy or yeast (sickness and tummy problems mainly) but have had rashes too. Sometimes I also have a cardio vascular (palpitations or chest pain) response after eating something accidentally or have a combo of borderline items. Recently, I've now started to notice other responses that indicate allergy/intolerance, such as a rash appearing on my stomach! The reactions are so much more apparent if I'm exposed to them, since I don't eat the offending foods any more. The strange thing is, I never noticed any of these responses before, I just noticed the pain and sickness.

I now cut all these out and I do generally feel much better - but I won't lie - it's so hard! I've had a couple of IBS episodes since (probably stress related) but I've found that vegan probiotics have been very helpful (Acidophilus from Holland & Barrett).

I'm telling you this because doctors seem so unaware of the effects of food intolerances and the NHS is so ill-informed. If you think it's possible you could have some, check out yorktest.com and have a read. They test for IgG immune responses (the NHS only test for the more dramatic IgE responses), and are affiliated with York University, who they do their research with.

The test is expensive (a food and drink scan is £299 from memory) but what cost for good health? Anyway, let me know if you decide to try it out and, if so, how you get on. 👍🏼