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EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: becj86 on October 16, 2013, 03:40:49 am

Title: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on October 16, 2013, 03:40:49 am
DH has been sick for ages and has been asked by his doc to try the FODMAP diet. Any tips for me?
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on October 16, 2013, 07:35:35 am
I looked at this for T...but tbh I got overwhelmed ... So following along ;)
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: deb on October 16, 2013, 10:43:40 am
As with many elimination diets there is a huge learning curve. Cut yourself some slack - lots of it - while you're adjusting.

I don't remember a lot about FODMAPS except it's probably why I couldn't digest crucifers for the longest time (not till I went off gluten). Broccoli and cauliflower sent me into agony. I hope you see some improvement!
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on October 16, 2013, 17:34:24 pm
Hun you can download her fodmap books if that is. Helpful? Recipes etc
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on October 16, 2013, 20:28:21 pm
Yeah, we've already done the shopping for a good while of an existing meal plan ::) Not wasting that money, so just adapting where I can and giving him something else when I can't at the moment. I think its probably easier with an adult than a child because as he says, he can just eat mostly meat and certain salads/veges and be fine without pasta, bread, etc. He claims he's happy with next to no carbs but he's always been a carb guy, so we'll see how that goes. He doesn't seem to understand the diet at the molecular level though, so I can't let him do the shopping or choose himself anything to eat. He'd have bought himself commercial rice bubbles which have gluten because he won't read labels.

I'm in two minds as to whether to cut the things that are on the suitable list but "may trouble some people" :-\

I have downloaded a few things off the Monash site and have trawled the internet for recipes to adapt my existing repertoire. The thing is that there won't be much variety because he objects to most of the alternates (won't touch soup, porridge-like cereal dishes, etc.) though I guess that matters little. He's not a foodie by any stretch and he seems fine with the idea of this diet.

I wonder if this will help us work out why he's so skinny and help him put on some weight.
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 09, 2013, 08:19:59 am
There should be some improvement after 3 weeks of this, surely??
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: Edesanja on November 10, 2013, 05:18:23 am
I would think you should be noticing. What list are you following? It's a tolerance build up thing, so if he's avoiding FODMAPs and he's no better, then I think in my very unprofessional opinion,I'd be reevaluating.

(When my DS was a baby, FODMAPs gave him tummy trouble and it was pretty instant for him. He did grow out of it as his bowel matured though)
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 10, 2013, 08:11:11 am
^^ agree with Jenny Hun
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 10, 2013, 08:12:11 am
Thanks, I'm of the same opinion. He's avoided FODMAPs entirely for 3 weeks. The first week he was also on domperidone/motilium and he felt better within a couple of days but he got worse again once he ran out of the meds, so my money's on something structural rather than intolerance. Having said that, they've done a gastroscopy and found nothing of note :-\
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 12, 2013, 00:29:12 am
So did they only give domperidone for 1 week?
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 12, 2013, 18:36:30 pm
Yes. He's been back to doc, told him the story and now has a script for domperidone. Apparently he won't always have the pain - it will come and go, so he's to take the domperidone when he feels he needs it :-\
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 13, 2013, 06:58:10 am
Poor guy!
Domperidone can be good for kick starting the gut into moving along when it's in a bit of a bad way - or being sluggish. Worked wonders for t but not. Ecause I think t has a motility problem, but  he needed everything moved along following all his issues. I think after 2 mths he was off it.

Hope it helps him!
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 13, 2013, 08:46:36 am
FX! It helps with the symptoms but I don't think this is a long-term issue once its fixed, yk?
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 13, 2013, 17:46:10 pm
Could your DH get a dietitian on board? Would that help at all?
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 13, 2013, 18:50:36 pm
Yes, a dietician might help but he refuses. He won't even see a doc here any more. He's seen so many terribly incompetent medical professionals since he moved out of home that he drives 2hr any time he's sick enough to see a doc and goes to his childhood doc :(

Given he's eliminated all high FODMAP foods completely for 3 full weeks and seen no improvement, could there really be anything else he won't tolerate? Goodness, that was no dairy, no gluten, minimal selection of fruits & veges (including eliminating all the greens that can cause issues), no alcohol, no onions, no garlic...
 
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: Buntybear on November 13, 2013, 19:18:00 pm
Wow, was was he eating?? Has he cramping and gas etc??
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 13, 2013, 19:47:55 pm
He's been having meat and the few veges/bits of salad he could have, GF/DF bread. I guess the only 'maybe' things we didn't cut out were corn and hard cheese - those are low FODMAP but I guess if he was CMPI, maybe the cheese would be an issue :-\  He literally drank only water for weeks. Without the aid of a dietician, I was sticking to the list of allowed foods and not wavering. There's an enormous list of 'avoid' foods, a tiny list of 'eat' foods and a lot more foods to test, as the diet is still in development. http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/low-high.html

He also won't eat soups/casseroles/porridge which is almost the entire list of alternatives provided, so that made it really tricky.

He has been eating more volume of food because he's been very hungry (that is a common thing with this diet), but no change in the pain - he can't explain it enough that I understand what it is - at the hospital when I took him in, they went immediately to reflux, gave him a liquid to drink which had mylanta or similar and an anaesthetic. Anaesthetic numbed his mouth but didn't touch the pain in his tummy. Then they thought maybe an ulcer, had a scope look all through his stomach and the top 1/3 of his intestine but nothing showed, no damage from reflux/ulcers. Not even inflammation. There's nothing in all his bloodwork, nothing showed up on the CT scan. So he stopped going to the doc and just got on with life. After another 2-3 months, he went to see his doc who said to try this low FODMAP diet to see if it helped, diagnosing IBS which is the diagnosis of exception.

There isn't any particular food that makes it better or worse that he's been able to detect. He puts up with so much I can only tell he's got the pain when he's so bad he should be in the hospital, yk? He's a soldier on type, not a man-flu kinda guy.
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: Buntybear on November 13, 2013, 19:53:07 pm
Oh gosh that is so sad  :( nothing at all showed up in the tests? It must be something to do with the muscles contracting then  ???

Only thing I can suggest would be the dairy free x
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 14, 2013, 05:49:13 am
Nothing at all in the tests, he was admitted to hospital for 2 nights and they did heaps of tests and found nothing. Maybe it is to do with muscles :-\ That's my understanding of some cases of IBS. I don't think he'll try anything else diet-wise now unless he's still in pain after taking the domperidone for a month or two. He was feeling better on that, so maybe it was stomach cramps or something but I'd love to know the cause and eliminate that rather than having him on meds to control symptoms, yk? Meds are definitely better than nothing though.

Thanks :-*
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: Buntybear on November 14, 2013, 18:33:55 pm
So the pain is in his stomach not his bowel? That domperidone seems to be for refluxy problems rather than IBS? Still I am no doctor and as yu say in the absence of a diagnosis some meds to help are better than nothing.
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 14, 2013, 19:40:07 pm
It is up high (central, just below the ribs) which is why the docs thought stomach ulcer initially. Then they just kept on with the idea of digestive tract and found nothing. Any pressure anywhere on his abdomen increases the pain though :-\ It doesn't make a lot of sense in my limited knowledge of anatomy. Not sure what the domperidone is actually doing for him - I mean I know its making food go through his stomach faster, but what is it achieving that's making him feel better? Reflux meds (he was on losec for a while) don't help.

I'm starting to wonder about an inflamed diaphragm.
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: Buntybear on November 14, 2013, 19:41:15 pm
Oh, I thought it was his bowel and that is why I thought IBS. I am going to be no help then. Just really sorry  :-*
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 14, 2013, 22:21:00 pm
Eosophigous encephalitis? (Prob spelt that wrong!)
Could it be heart related?

Hugs - must be so hard on him!
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 15, 2013, 09:06:17 am
Oh, I thought it was his bowel and that is why I thought IBS.
Docs thinks its bowel too - hence the low FODMAP diet. They have gone there from stomach, not looking for other things around the stomach.

Now you mention the heart thing, maybe. He collapsed about 7 months ago and they couldn't find anything wrong then but their first thought was heart :-\

Oesophagus is fine - camera has been through the whole thing on the way to his stomach and no damage was found.

Thanks for caring :-*
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 16, 2013, 06:40:43 am
:-* must be hard on him! and you Hun.
Are there any heart or even lung checks they can do to tick off underlying issues? No idea what though :-\
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 16, 2013, 07:08:39 am
They did some basic heart checks when he collapsed but found nothing :-\ I think since its chronic, they don't really know what to look at. He's feeling worse now, been off low FODMAP a week and back on domperidone since Tuesday. It is hard on him, poor fellow. Have suggested just dropping gluten or dairy and giving that a go but I really think a dietician would be more helpful than me just winging it.

When I google his symptoms, it comes back with cancer... pretty much everything does though, right?
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 16, 2013, 07:39:22 am
:'( hugs, google can be a blessing and a curse can't it
Is he currently under a specialist or go? - if your concerned about cancer and don't have a refferal for a specialist or anything like that I would just get him back to the dr to ask for a refferal .. Just be that pushy pita wife... Even though it's unlikely - well we all hope it's definately not! But it's his health YK...and if things are not getting better and messing with his day to say life because he feels ill, or can't eat well, or is in pain then he needs to be seen again.

:-* so many hugs
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: becj86 on November 16, 2013, 09:00:10 am
He's seen an emergency doc, a GP, a gastroenterologist... I will push for another, more thorough doc if he's still not feeling better after a week on the domperidone. Its crazy to be in such pain all the time.
Title: Re: FODMAP... help?
Post by: ZacsMumme on November 16, 2013, 17:49:49 pm
:( so sorry he's not got a diagnosis