Cause and Effect

KarenT · Post by **KarenT** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:51 am

Hi, just a couple of questions:

I am just 2 weeks into Stage one of the elimination diet.

1) If you eat a meal and your tummy starts to grumble, is that a sign of a non-compatible food? (there were two things that are listed as "likely safe" but I had not eaten them since starting the ED)

2) If you eat a meal and 20 minutes-2 hours later you have a rush to potty moment (or several), is that from the last meal eaten or meal/s before? I do remember Gabes listing her reaction times to certain foods, but this wasn't very severe, just more like I just noticed that my symptoms are a bit improved and this was back to MC "normal".....

I'm the type of person that can embrace an immediate cause and effect of something, this *maybe you'll notice a different in a few months* is HARD!

Thank you!

Post by **tex** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 10:16 am

Hi Karen,

Here are my opinions, but remember YMMV, and others may have different experiences.

Karen wrote:1) If you eat a meal and your tummy starts to grumble, is that a sign of a non-compatible food? (there were two things that are listed as "likely safe" but I had not eaten them since starting the ED)

Most likely it is, but when we are initially recovering, our immune system is hypersensitive due to inflammation and it doesn't take much to trigger symptoms. IOW, early on, it may react to some foods that wouldn't bother it after we're in remission.

Karen wrote:2) If you eat a meal and 20 minutes-2 hours later you have a rush to potty moment (or several), is that from the last meal eaten or meal/s before? I do remember Gabes listing her reaction times to certain foods, but this wasn't very severe, just more like I just noticed that my symptoms are a bit improved and this was back to MC "normal".....

2) This may be normal. If you observe animals, you'll notice that many will defecate soon after standing (if they've been lying down for a while), and most will defecate soon after eating. It's a normal digestive system response in order to make room for the recent meal. On the other hand, if it appears to be an urgent event, due to an adverse reaction to the meal, such reactions that occur less than three hours after eating are almost surely caused by a histamine issue (because IgA-based reactions almost always occur three or more hours after exposure).

In my case, I appear to react to gluten (obvious symptoms,such as bloating or diarrhea) approximately 3 to six hours after exposure (ingesting it), with joint pain beginning the next day. For soy, reactions (cramps, ileus) begin about six hours after exposure. For dairy, it takes roughly 24 hours, but it may cause constipation, not diarrhea. If I eat beef, I get minor boating about six to twelve hours after exposure, and the next day I'll have a headache and upper back pain (but no diarrhea). IOW, we all seem to have our own reaction pattern, depending on how a particular food affects us. We eventually learn to recognize that pattern and that helps for interpreting future reactions.

Tex

skp · Post by **skp** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 10:38 am

Karen,
I have puzzled over this too. Research taught me that food takes 6-8 hours to go through the stomach and small intestines. Then, an an average of 40 hours, give or take, for the food to go through the colon and on to be defecated.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/digestive-sy ... q-20058340

The big HOWEVER is that with MC, we likely don't follow normal digestion. This is especially true with D.

Tex may have more insight here but it a question that I, too, have asked. Unlike Tex and Gabes, I have not been so good at assessing what I have eaten or may have eaten in relation to pooping.

Susan

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 4:27 pm

This may be TMI but I have to look into the toilet every time I go potty....if I saw food it was a clue to me that I either reacted to it so it passed thru me very quickly, or I wasn't healed enough and therefore I couldn't break it down adequately yet. But at that point I got a basis of just how quickly my digestive track was functioning....and at times in the early stages of healing I had a very fast track of removal....now that I have healed a decent stretch and I notice particles of a food, I realize it takes a bit longer for food to pass thru and so I can omit that food as a culprit because it was apparent that food eaten after that is probably my issue, if an when I have one. Or as Tex said...it could be histamine...I've had that reaction push food out of me due to that and that is not fun at all. Spring and Fall are full on antihistamine times of year.

It is easier to gauge what I've had in the last 12-24 hours based on this experimentation.

KarenT · Post by **KarenT** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:46 am

Tex, how very interesting about histamines. The under three +/- hours tidbit is so good to know. I have seen histamines mentioned here on the boards (and understand it as it relates to environmental allergens) but glossed over it as I was focusing on more pressing information gathering. I will focus on learning about histamines now! :-)

Susan, I'm stunned to think that it takes a normal person 40 hours for food to go through the colon!! I think life will get marginally

easier when we figure out what foods cause the D. I think it's time for me to start a food journal.... thank you for the link, I'll give it a read.

Erica, I look too.

Though(TMI) currently the water is is bit too muddy to see much.

[/quote] Spring and Fall are full on antihistamine times of year. [quote]
Do environment issues affect our MC too??

I wonder if it's suspect that I had one sip of my husbands dark, red wine? (although I have not had any wine since starting the elimination diet, wine is no stranger to me otherwise. ) Time to read up on food/histamines!

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:57 am

Hi Karen,
For some reason my body must get stressed just enough when I’m battling too much histamine. I can be going along fairly decent then if I get too hot, eat too much sugary items (whatever that threshold is for me) or don’t get enough sleep, if I have a build up of histamine it will always show in my bathroom trips.

Since I can’t control everything environment included and how my body reacts to it, I just have to go with the flow the best I can. I had my best month in February when it snowed and the temps were cold ...I also had visiting kids old and young for a few weeks during that time and my gut held up better than I ever expected it to.

Now that Spring has sprung and trees are budding out and I’m getting outdoors I’ve had a few bad stool days....it’ll get better but my body hates big swings in environment changes.

Post by **tex** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:09 am

Karen,

Sulfites are the main problem with wines (especially red wines), rather than histamines. Sulfites are a natural byproduct of the yeast used in winemaking, and some manufacturers add additional sulfites (as a preservative). Many of us are sensitive to sulfites. Low-sulfite wines are available, but they all contain some.

Tex

KarenT · Post by **KarenT** » Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:47 pm

Goodness, Tex, I have to worry about sulfites from one sip on wine? That's so sad, but, until I'm well into remission I will avoid it......
I have my test kit from EnteroLab, I look forward to getting those results. :-)

I am trying to have some protein with each meal, and eat three times/day but I am constantly starving. I've lost 7 lbs in two weeks. (I'm not complaining about those 7 lbs though!!) I'm guessing my stomach will shrink up some eventually but it is mighty hard in the meantime.

Erica, that is good information. I'm sorry you have to deal with the histamine, on top of the MC!

Post by **tex** » Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:05 pm

Karen,

If it doesn't cause any symptoms, there's no need to avoid it. It's not inflammatory, and many people find it relaxing I only mentioned that because a lot of others read these posts and it may be an issue for them. Alcohol causes leaky gut, but that's only if we overdo it. And there's not enough alcohol in wine to cause problems for most people, as long as they drink it in moderation.

Enjoy.

Tex

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:10 pm

I have found that after 3 years of healing and eating protein, and rice/corn and safe veggie....I must be healed to a point that too much of that and I gain weight now.

So blessed as it is that we lose some weight as we are healing, watch the threshold of change because at some point weight will plateau and could possibly come back and then some. I'm not far from pre MC weight, but now I know it isn't because of inflammation! Just good healing and good food, which I now need to eat with portion control, lol.