Ulcerative colitis newly diagnosed what about diet?

Thanks for that, thing is is that I stay away from all of that- eat fresh fruit and prebiotic yogurt every morning, never eat bread, will have stirfry/risotto for dinner, haven't felt like eating much so tend to just have roasted chickpeas, homemade chips made in the oven with no oil and melon. Use rice milk not dairy, avoid soy as its a huge irritant on my skin. I have a nut allergy, I drink tea in the morning but not all day and tend to drink just water all day, may occasionally have a diet coke. I never buy ready meals or eat pizza really, in a year of living in my flat I have ordered one takeaway. I dont have sugar or any biscuits, treats in the housr, no chocolate. If I want it I have to really want it, go out and buy one bar but never keep packets in the house. I stay away from refined carbs and eat dairy maybe a few times a week

I rarely eat meat either, its always fresh as I hate processed food. So I don't really know how I can improve on this.

Low residue isn't difficult, just takes some getting used to, your cupboard of healthy food isn't that healthy for you, basically skins, seeds, pith, husks all need to be avoided, fibre should be drastically reduced, normal yoghurt should be fine, I believe that's always better than reduced fat but tons of sugar. You don't have to give up all veg, fibrous root veg aren't good but try Mediterranean type roast veg, then skins come off things like peppers easily. Or you can make soups and strain any fibrous parts out, then you are still getting goodness. Your doctor should be able to give you a list, if you have ever had a colonoscopy you may have got a list of foods to avoid in the days before your scope, it's pretty much the same. Water is always best to drink in general, you can get dehydrated easier with uc flare so drink plenty water. Low residue doesn't have to mean unhealthy rubbish. I was told the best way to think of it is fibre is like a brush that scrubs the colon clean but with UC sufferers that brush aggravates an already inflamed bowel, so low residue is more like a soft sponge clean!

You may want to stay away from products with gluten. Just to note it is in a lot of items you would never

think like mouthwash.

Also what your eating seems really good, but just because it looks good there may still be something in it

that is irritating your system. I would eliminate everything but fresh steamed vegetables and maybe broiled fish. No meat. You could do a smoothie in the morning with frozen berries and rice or almond milk. Drink

lots of water.

But if your diet is that low in potential allergens and your symptoms to not improve, then yours may be

purely physical and not a direct response to your diet. In which case you need to make sure your doctor

just not just label you with something based on symptoms only and prescribe medication for something you

may not have. Have you had an MRI or something that might detect a real physical condition. I think I

would ask for that.

Yep I've had a flexible sigmoidoscopy and had biopsies taken too so that's covered. I dunno, I might just do beige food for a bit and see how I go

Hi Sage,sorry to hear you are suffering. I was diagnosed with uc a year ago and am still struggling with what I can and cannot eat. Certain medications seem to upset me too so as many others do,I try and keep a food diary. I think onions,sauces and processed foods upset me and I try not to have high fibre foods,sugar or crisps. Bleeding seems to be under control but I still get tummy cramps every few days. Tried Windeze last night but great urgency this am!!! So far I've found Solpedeine max the best for pain and/ or heat pad. Do you take anything for your pain?

Hi jill, thanks so much, I was actually looking to see if there are anh over the counter pain killers to help at all. I've not taken anything yet but was up quite a lot of the night with pain.

I'm trying to create a kind of 'shopping list' for myself to go by but you never know really do you?

For the next few days im going to try with only eating a bit of white bread and white pasta and yogurt just to keep it really plain and easy on my insides.

Hi Sage, sorry you're so poorly, I've been following a low Fodmap diet since January and it's really helped with symptoms. It's a really scientific diet - I had to get a book to understand how to follow it, it's had amazing success with IBS, but also with sufferers of IBD - I was diagnosed with UC last year and although it doesn't always control flare-ups, it's really good for stopping the awful diarrhea and I get a lot less gas too which make the flare-ups that much easier to deal with, and things are just normal when I'm in remission. It's not dissimilar to a low-residue diet, staying away from fibre etc, but it also looks at the structures of different foods and different food groups and our ability to break them down (or not as the case often is). There's a lot to cut out in the beginning but after 6-8 weeks you can start to reintroduce foods one at a time to see what triggers you off - if you can see a dietician they'd be a big help if it's a diet you'd consider.

Hope you find something that helps you soon x

Hi Sage,just a word of caution in case you are unaware, consultants recommend no NSAIDs such as Ibuprofen etc ,apparently it can make our condition worse. The safest seems to be paracetamol but many find it doesn't touch the pain. With my consultants consent I use Co codamol or preferably Solpedeine max but only once or twice a week. Let us know how you get on

Hi all

I am shortly going to have tests as it is likely I now have this problem.  I've just been & bought some of the foods suggested in this thread as I was hardly eating because it made me feel so bad.  Needless to say I used to love all fruit, wholmeal seedy bread etc & this thread made me realise what I was doing to myself!! The GP just said have a bland diet without any of the help given here.

How is everyone progressing?

Thanks.

I found diet makes no difference.  Exercise and nicotine 'not smoking' spary or electric. Two and a half years feeling my life was over. Now 5 months with no sign of my uc. Life changing. 

Iv been diagnosed with pancolitis for a year. been though all the sigmoids and colonoscopys about god knows how many times as i was diagnosed with coeliac 11 years ago ! So not only have i to avoid lots of foods and drinks because of pancoltis iv also to avoid gluten......bit of a bummer !

At the moment im on medication from the NHS im currently taking azathioprine and a reducing course of steroids which iv had before and do make sypmtoms better although i know once they reduce it will come back, the azathioprine is helping with the back pains and toilet trips but they dont think enough. im down t about 4-5 trips per day without blood at the moment. basically im on steroids untill around december and then im going for another colonoscopy to check imflammation levels and then they will decide if i need to start the humira injections or not. my symptoms are really bad in a morning once out of bed usually for a few hours and once iv been up and about for a while and been to the loo the back pains usually settle after breakfast and iam usually fine during the day. iv tried avoiding everything food wise and nothing really seem to help overall. but now i dont have any dairy although i generally still eat meat. i was going each month to see a naturopath who helps the bowel naturally using herbs and things and this was helping to a certain degree but i think it wasnt enough and was becoming very expensive each time i went.

anybody else going through this sort of thing ?

David