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I've been placed on the Low FODMAP diet and I am LOST!!

Posted , 6 users are following.

katieekardum
katieekardum

Hi, I am 21 years old and have been experiencing a. lot of stomach pain. I have had diarrhea and constipation with blood in my stool. I have been nauseous and I have been experiencing a lot of heartburn as well.

I have had a colonoscopy that was pointing towards Crohn's disease because of the erosions in my large bowel. I went to have a endoscopy test done next the reveled more erosions in my esophagus. I was put on a persciption strength Nexium which I still am on.

I still have not been feeling better so recently my doctor had me swallow the PillCam to see into my small bowel to deterime if my Crohn's was there. After the results came back my doctor said everyting looked normal and even though Crohn's might still be a possibility there is nothing further that he can do to make that decision.

He has not said that I have IBS, however, he gave me papers saying to follow a Low FODMAP diet which I have been doing since the 8th of December.

I have a few questions:

Everything I am Googling suggests that only people with IBS are placed on the diet. Does that mean I have IBS?

My doctor told me to eliminate foods from my diet, however, my next appointment is the end of March. According to what I have Googled I shouldn't be eliminating food for that long, however, he never gave me instructions on how to reintroduce foods or when to. What is going on here?

Finally, the list I was given on foods to avoid differs from what people are saying online. Which should I stick to?

Thank you so much!!

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • jan48389
    jan48389 katieekardum

    Posted

    Low FODMAP can help conditions other than IBS. I would recommend you follow guidance by Dr Sue Shepherd - she is the person who identified the link between Fodmaps and IBS. Her publications also give very clear and simple guidelines on reintroduction of foods following the elimination phase. If you do have food triggers this will help identify what they are. The only other thing to bear in mind is that you really do need to be vigilant in looking at the list of ingredients in food products. For example onions are trigger for me - I learned (through experience!!) that some brands of tomato ketchup contain onions, others do not. 

    Good luck. 

    Jan

     

    • rlnc722
      rlnc722 jan48389

      Posted

      I'd agree. Remember IBS is really a sort of "well we can't find anything else that's the matter" type of thing, so the symptoms can be wide-ranging. I used the Monash university app to help when I was on it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't find any specific trigger, but hopefully you'll find that one thing that is causing the problems. And yes, I totally agree with Jan, always look at the list of ingredients!!

  • pippa58442
    pippa58442 katieekardum

    Posted

    I have IBS but was not put on the Fodmap diet.  I have no food triggers. Maybe your doctor is trying you on the diet to see how you respond to help him make a diagnosis.  

    IBS patients have physical experience of IBS whereas doctors usually have textbook knowledge only which doesn't always fit everyone because symptoms are so variable.  Try out your doctor's food advice first.  If that doesn't work, change your doctor and and read as much as possible about IBS in the meantime for tips.

  • leeniepie
    leeniepie katieekardum

    Posted

    Stick with official info from monash university and igore a lot of what u read online.

    ti see if fodmap helps you need to eliminate all fodmaps for 6 weeks then slowly re introduce one fod map group at a time and note your symptoms

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