Mike's GI Madness - mle_ii journal

[mle_ii]

I am sorry you are feeling so crappy, Mike - it's not easy to get up and have fun with your wife for the holiday week end when you are feeling like this. Mike, you probably look healthy to everyone else - you just don't feel good and you are not healthy; we know it's not all in your head - we've all been there.

Hi Karen,

I know it's not in my own head, but I'm sure my wife thinks I'm crazy every time I bring up some new possible intollerance. :(

You mentioned you think stress is part of your problem but you think food is part of it too. I fully agree with you. I have always gotten better due to a change in diet - not the change in stress. Sure, stress is always bad and does not improve things. But the root cause is likely to be something in your diet.

I agree, in fact I've been seeing someone to better handle the stress, doesn't seem like it helps much, but I'm still willing to try. But it seems more like food is the problem. I sometimes just go, oh that will be ok, I'm not going to upset my wife by not eating it, usually those items are mistakes. :(

A lot of us from the old board used to get good help when we listed the items we had eaten on a particular day. Everyone chipped in to help analyze where the trigger(s) was. This was very efficient in my own case, I think. It also made me stay focused on reading labels. Sometimes I had people help me read the labels - listing all the ingredients in the GF Kitchen and others would help analyze or point to the potential trouble makers.

I hope you are feeling a little better today.

Love,
Karen

I'm getting better at reading the labels, and my wife has been as well. At least for the gluten, but she and I sometimes miss it.

Mike

[mle_ii]

Dear Mike,

I wrote you a reply about Pepto Bismol yesterday before I knew what I was doing and sent it God Knows Where. Actually I think Tessa got it - sorry Tessa. Anyway, I'm repeating now about what happens to me when I take Pepto Bismol. When I take it I don't have much change in symptoms except my poop turns black - not much change in consistancy even. BUT when I stop taking Pepto, I've had a period of Norman that lasts for 2-3 weeks. Better energy, completely perfect poop, etc. It's the weirdest, hard to explain thing: and it's happened all three times I've done trials with PB, over a 18 month period. The first time I took Dr. Fines recommended dosage for 5 weeks, the 2nd & 3rd times half that amount for about 10 days.

Anyway, the point is, if this is happening to you, it may not help to analyze what you ate too much, maybe it's just the PB effect?

Our history's with LC are so similar, I wonder if similar stratagies work. Polly's is also similar . . . HHmmmm.

You have all my empathy - know exactly what you're feeling.

Marsha

Hi Marsha,

Interesting, I think I may be feeling better today too. I just hate that there are so many variables that it's difficult to figure out what helps or hurts.

Was it that I stopped taking pepto, was it because I took something that helped, stopped taking something that hurt. Ack! LOL

Thanks for your help,
Mike

[mle_ii]

Hiya Mike!

Good news that you're starting to feel better. Hope it continues. The foods you ate yesterday look pretty benign (non-immunogenic). Congrats on eating so many non-processed foods. It is not easy!

I hope it continues as well. Yeah, they seemed pretty benign to me as well, about the only questionable ones would be the chips and dressing, butsince I feel better who knows.

Do you know how long it takes you to react to gluten? For me now, it takes 16-18 hours before I react. So, whatever it was that "got" you was probably from one to three days ago. Re rice - be sure to use only PLAIN rice. The ones that are pre-seasoned are a no-no, as are any that are "enriched." When they add vitamins to rice to enrich it, they use a chemical made from barley to help the vitamins "stick" better to the rice.

Not sure how long it takes, I don't like the symptoms so I haven't experimented with it in a while. If I were to guess I'd say 24 hours, but I'm not sure. Yeah, pretty much most of my diet now is whole foods so I know exactly (well as much as possible) what is in it. So supposedly the rice was just that, brown rice. But I'll look at the package again just to make sure. I'm hoping with my GI journal I can better see what might have or might have not caused it.

Also, isn't there some question that you might be lactose-intolerant? I know your casein test was negative, but you can have a negative casein test and still be lactose-intolerant. In fact, at least 12% of Americans become lactose-intolerant as they age. Did you eat any milk products in the past few days? (I should go check your food journal.)

Yeah, I'm not sure on the lactose-intolerance. Gotta get tested for that, wish Dr fine did that as well. In fact I wish he did corn and rice proteins too. I can't think of any milk products in the past few days, but I'll go look as well as I sometimes don't put my dinner in.

Don't forget tp check the "inert" ingredients on the glutamine bottle. Things like "starch" could contain gluten.

The glutamine is supposedly pure, no filler. But I'll ask the company just in case.

I am enjoying reading your journal, and I saw where Mars is going to start one too. Maybe we can move them into the newly-created Journal Room now. I think they will be very instructive for others who are walking the MC path to health with us.

I hope you are over the hump.

Love,

Polly

Ah, I didn't notice a journal room yet, I gotta look. Yeah, I think it's going to help me a lot.[/quote]

[mle_ii]

Mike,

I'm not trying to say that all these items are causing you problems, but here is a list of the things that you ate yesterday that would definitely cause me problems:

1 banana
1 oz or so of jerkey
1 orange
couple of handfuls of potato chips - they're pretty organic
1 cup blueberries
20 or so pistashios (sp)
Salad with some organic greek dressing
Rib eye steak... yum!
A little bit of a peach

I'm not kidding. I do eat potato chips, but if I overdo it, the oils bother me. I do eat some beef, but it bohers me, and if it eat it two days in a row, it bothers me significantly. All the other items are not major offenders, in small, occasional amounts, but if I eat them regularly, they make me sick, especially salads, and I wouldn't even consider eating "some organic greek dressing"--it would almost certainly make me sick.

The thing is, a little bit of any indivitual item on that list is not a serious problem, but when taken together, the additive effect would put me out of the running. I can eat a big ribeye steak without serious problems, but all I eat with it is a baked potato, and I try to avoid everything else on that list, for at least 48 hours. FWIW.

Tex

Ok, if I say this to my wife she's gonna have me locked up. I certainly hope that this is not the case, but I'll keep an eye on it as well. Mainly I think I'm ok, because about a week ago or so I was feeling great and eating similar items. I really wish I had been keeping track like I am now.

I do sometimes get sick/ill feeling if I eat an item too many days in a row depending on what it is. I rember getting sick of this Costco canned chicken breast after eating it daily for a month or so. I would get nausous (sp) after eating it, or even sometimes just thinking about eating it. LOL

[Babci]

Hi Mike,

Know how you feel about the rice. I have rice cereal w/almond milk every morning & just told my H that I may not be able to. No D just a belly ache all morning. I also can't tolerate oranges & I love them. Just had some turkey chili & am keeping fingers crossed that it sits ok cause it was good. Will post the recipe later. Love & light, Rita

[mle_ii]

Hi Mike,

Know how you feel about the rice. I have rice cereal w/almond milk every morning & just told my H that I may not be able to. No D just a belly ache all morning. I also can't tolerate oranges & I love them. Just had some turkey chili & am keeping fingers crossed that it sits ok cause it was good. Will post the recipe later. Love & light, Rita

Yeah, I like to have my Cream of Rice with some honey and blueberries in the morning. I've never tried almond milk, I might have to look that up.

Turkey chilli sounds good, not sure how well I do with beans though. LOL

[mle_ii]

Hi Mike,

I'm so sorry, I know you're gf, and low carb. Are you also SF? Since I've been reading about what it's going to take to be 100% soyfree, I've found that vit E is not only glutenous but soy-ish. . . . Now I suspect multiple reasons why it doesn't agree with me. Just wondered about you, too.

I'm not doing low carb anymore, but some people might consider it to be low carb. LOL I used to do about 20g or so, but now I'm more like 150-200 g. Still not as high as most, but not Atkins style anymore.

Yeah, soy seems to show up all over as well. According to my testing I'm not intollerant, but I still don't like it. :) Interesting about Vit E, I do take it post workout and it's in my multi vitamin. Which reminds me I should list my current suplements.

Regards, Marsha

P.S. I just sent a empathetic and long message to you. Well, ok it went to Tessa, but it's still sincere! She may figure out a way to forward it to you. If not, I'm thinking about you. Our profiles are so similar (LC, low carb, dairyfree, onset similar, duration similar) that I sort of feel a long distance brotherhood. siblinghood. whatever. So, tell your wife hi for me. My husband is a saint, I'm sure she is too.

Hmmm... I'll have to see if I can find the message.

Talk to you later... sis, :)
Mike

PS. I just noticed in your profile that you're WA/AZ, where in WA?

[mle_ii]

Current suplements:
1-2 Vit C 250 mg daily (1 post workout)
1-2 Multi Vit daily (costco brand)
2-6 Fish oil Caps daily (when I remember)
1 Vit E (post workout only)

5-10 g glutamine

[Peggy]

Hi Mike,

re: "Actually, I'm not aware of the symptoms of overdose with pepto. I took one last does this morning and noticed it not helping much so I stopped."

Pepto contains Bismuth Subsalicylate and should not be taken long-term. Check here for a list of serious and non-serious side effects:
http://www.drugs.com/MMX/Bismuth_Subsalicylate.html

I realize you're not taking it now, but thought you might be interested to know the symptoms.

Peg

[mle_ii]

Hi Mike,

re: "Actually, I'm not aware of the symptoms of overdose with pepto. I took one last does this morning and noticed it not helping much so I stopped."

Pepto contains Bismuth Subsalicylate and should not be taken long-term. Check here for a list of serious and non-serious side effects:
http://www.drugs.com/MMX/Bismuth_Subsalicylate.html

I realize you're not taking it now, but thought you might be interested to know the symptoms.

Peg

Thanks! So I don't think I was overdosing yet, but that's some great info to be aware of. I had only taken it for about 2-3 days.

[Marsha]

Hi Mike,
Don't knock yourself out trying to find my lost note to you. For all I know I deleted it while I was previewing it. You sort of get the picture anyway - we're both LC, long duration, low carb almost cures it, still have some nagging symptoms hanging on. You and Polly seem to have profiles that are so similar to mine, and all of us have LC - I just feel a connection. You know, I was coasting along just fine until I had temporary crowns put in about 2 weeks ago. My doctor thinks I'm allergic to the plastic they're made of - but I gave in and took tylenol, and aleve. No problems at first, but then I added vit c (low dose) to help my gums and "HOLY C__P". I should have known better; ever time I think I might have outgrown an intolerence, or healed enough I do a retrial and . . . .

Since I can't take most vitamins - especially multivites, B's, & the ones in gelcaps, like cod liver oil and vit E, I wondered about your vitamins. Could it be the Vit E, or C?

Anyway, sorry about my goofs with posting, I'll get the hang of it one of these days. Marsha

[mle_ii]

Good question Marsha, never put the link to the vitamins in as a problem, but that's one more thing to investigate.

[mle_ii]

Monday I ate:
1 banana
~4 oz jerkey throughout the day
1 chicken pattie
6 cucumber slices
5 cherry tomatos
1 slice watermellon
salmon blackened
asparagus
1 dark dove chocolate
rum and coke

Most of the day I felt good. A little constipated though.

Later around 10 pm or so my stomach started making noises and I felt some cramping. Not a good sign.

[mle_ii]

This morning I'm not sure how I feel yet, woke up early to go work out.

So far I ate:
1/4 cup cream of rice, before cooking
1 cup blueberries

[mle_ii]

Well, yesterday I mostly felt better, but in the evening I got a head ache and was gassy.

Today, it's back to pencil think stools, but these float (strange), gassy, a little bloated, not feeling real good.

I'm going to cut the rice for a few days and see what happens. Seemed like I was fine before when eating it.

I'll be logging my foods in fitday, as I did yesterday. You can see the link below.