Recovery diet is working

[onebigpill]

I've been eating a recovery diet since June 26th and I'm amazed how quickly my diarrhea has lessened. Only one day with diarrhea so far.
I've been limiting my choices to only turkey, lamb, sweet potato, yellow squash, acorn squash, rudabaga, zucchini, applesauce, and banana. A bit surprising, I've been making homemade beef broth and it appears to be okay. I haven't done enterolab testing, but intend to. Tex and Gabes have been so helpful in providing recovery phase 1 instruction, and I'm so grateful. When I first posted, I said my GI was no use and I was on my own. I don't feel on my own anymore. This discussion board and the shared knowledge of all of you is making a difference in my life.

I'm currently traveling, and see how easy it is to mess this up. I made food ahead, froze it, and packed it in my checked bag with ice packs. I didn't plan for snacks on the plane and made a risky decision that turned out okay (ate a sweet treat, but GF, DF, SF, Egg free). I reached out to my hotel in advance of my travel, to discuss my dietary needs with the head chef, who agreed to cook food that I buy. There will be risk of cross contamination, but the chef is willing to make food from my list of phase 1 recovery options. This has reduced my stress about the trip tremendously. We'll see how it goes. By the way, I'm staying at a Courtyard Marriott, so not such a fancy place, but they do have a restaurant. I preferred to get a hotel room with a kitchenette, to cook for myself, but couldn't find an option that worked.

Anyhoo, I know I've had a few months of inactivity due to watery diarrhea, but I'm really feeling low energy, weak and have back pain. Some of the low energy happened during the dramatic carb reduction, but I think I'm past that now. I also had 5-6 days of headache, also likely from the dramatic carb reduction. Headaches are gone now. It's possible my back pain is from inactivity, but I've heard it can be from this disease (LC). So, it makes me wonder if remission brings relief of symptoms, or if we will experience symptoms regardless of whether we have a flare or not. Any insights from those in remission?

Thank you for your support

[jbrohlr]

Good to hear about your diarrhea going away.

I know that there are lagging symptoms related to MC - fatigue being the main one (that I know of). There's damage that has to heal and healing takes time.

John R.

[Gabes-Apg]

Great news that you have seen improvements so quickly!

also good news that you found accomodating chef and they were willing to assist you with safe meals.

The headaches and discomfort is you body adjusting - it can take 3-6 months to clear gluten, sugar etc
you are in a semi detox stage clearing toxins. (magnesium foot soaks can help with this)

dont over think things - and get stressed if you can't do everything perfectly whilst you are travelling.
part of living with MC is doing our best to avoid major triggers, and not stressing too much when there are situations out of our control

take care and happy healing

[fredi223]

I'm really glad to hear that your recovery diet is working well and that your diarrhea has lessened! It sounds like you’re doing an amazing job managing your diet, especially while traveling.

Planning ahead and getting the hotel chef on board is a great idea. It's awesome that the discussion board has been so helpful for you.

Feeling low energy and back pain can be frustrating. Sometimes symptoms do persist, but many people find they improve over time. It’s always a good idea to check with your doctor about ongoing issues.

Good luck with your trip and stay strong!

[onebigpill]

Well, something I ate messed me up, and I feel I'm back to square one. By the way, I made 3 days worth of food, froze it, and took it with me on my travels. It worked well, but was hard to manage without a kitchenette in my hotel room. The chef made food for me that I purchased from a local Whole Foods. It's possible there was cross contamination in their kitchen.