Diet shakes and uc

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hi I've had uc to about 20cm (so mainly proctitis) for 4 years usually well controlled with oral pentasa. November time, I picked up a tummy bug and for weeks after my tummy felt fragile and unsettled with smelly gas and some loose stools.

In retrospect I wish I'd started my rectal meds then but my flares usually involve lots of mucus and blood so presumed it was just an intestinal imbalance caused by the bug and started taking probiotics.

christmas Eve I started with rectal pentasa and colifoam as felt it was going on for too long, and it seemed to get a little better. I then started a shake diet last week, one of those shake for breakfast and lunch and then a low calorie dinner in a bid to lose some Xmas weight and this week things have really flared and today lots of mucus and blood. Now I'm hoping that I haven't caused this by the shakes but don't really know how they would irritate the bowel, has anyone got any experience of this?

Thanks in advance

vicki 

1 like, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi filbyvic.

    The same happened to me with a tummy/bug in October that was initially brushed off by the consultant and yet I ended up spending three weeks in hospital. I very nearly lost my colon but I recognised very early on that I was in an awful hospital and whilst I am not a medical doctor, I am a professor and have access via my university on all the information on colitis, which made me realise that they were groping in the dark and had a stock standard easy (for them) response to extreme colitis, cut it out! I refused consent and insisted on cyclosporine and azathioprine. After getting the drugs and a new consultant from a better hospital, I was out within a week and back at work within the month.

    I was also around 25cm on the left side and proctitis but it slowly got worse over the autumn. My advice would be to insist on getting proper help from the consultants and IBD nurse, particular the latter who can help with diet to make sure it doesn't get any worse. As for diet, there is a leaflet the nurse can give you but it states to have a higher protein intake during a flare and stick to vegetables that have soluble as opposed to insoluble fibre and cut out sugars, chocolate, coffee and anything that can irritate like seeds, raisins, beans and the like. It really helps with the recovery. It is a fool’s paradise to do anything different and I get a little irritated with some of the diets people recommend, those are for once you are in remission not during a flare when you need old fashioned scientifically proven ways of making life easier

    The nurse also recommended upping the enemas for a month and I was on three Predsol retention enemas and one Pentasa enema spread over the day at four hour intervals. Not kidding, in hospital it stopped the bleeding in 48 hours and I was doing jobbies of a high quality I hadn't seen in years! Seriously works, if your docs and nurses don’t agree, do it anyway it is well worth it.

  • Posted

    Oh and there has been quite a few reports of flare ups being caused by this years flu virus, it has been a bad one and I suspect that might have set a lot of people off this year.
  • Posted

    Hi filbyvic 

              I have no experience of this but I would suggest a private meeting with your consultant which can be arranged through PALS serices at the hospital.

    Ask them for assistance and they will help you , good luck with it

                                                         Jon and Marie 13689

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