Ten years ago, around the time I turned 40, my digestive system went from a stainless steel tube able to handle whatever I stuffed down my throat to a hyper sensitive balloon fighting my favorite meals. If I am not careful what I eat, that expensive restaurant dinner wakes me up in the middle of the night with painful gas cramps, bloating, abdominal tenderness and I’ll spare you the details of the evacuation until later.
Memories of a nasty boss and IBS
It was a chance discussion with a client that had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis that led me to inquire about his symptoms. The similarities between his attacks and mine were like rekindling memories of a nasty boss we both shared. I’m not much into self-diagnosing my own ailments, but I’m convinced that I fall somewhere between Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and a mild case of Ulcerative Colitis (UC).
I found a nice webpage that discusses the abdomen, what’s in it, and potential cause of pain at
When to worry about abdominal pain? What Causes Abdominal Pain?
It brought me to my knees
I’ve dealt with my fair share of physical pain over the years and am not given to visiting a physician unless it involves blood. However, when I started to bend over and fall to my knees with abdominal pain, I figured my body was telling me something. The doctor ordered a routine stool test to check for cancer which came back negative. It was at that point that I knew I had to change my diet or continue to cramp up and fall to the floor in an impromptu prayer ritual.
I was laying an egg at work
Early on, as my abdominal drama was developing, I realized that the consumption of eggs was having adverse consequences* in my gut. In addition to just the sulfurous flatulence, my whole intestinal track would become tender and moderately achy. The Monday after our Sunday breakfast, which usually included some sort of egg dish like German Pancakes, I just felt miserable at work. When your gut hurts you are in no mood to be happy and bubbly with family, friends or customers.
Vegetarian diet soothed the gut war
Over several months I noted that my worst attacks of abdominal war coincided with an egg dish in the morning coupled with a hearty
I cooked the Christmas prime rib, but only sampled a taste.
lunch or dinner of meat. Not only was there pain, there was also constipation. Along this same time, my son who was 10 years old, decided he wanted to become a vegetarian. When we virtually cut meat out of our diet, a good part of my pain went away.
Age trumps life style
Although, I wish that was the end of the story. While I had pinpointed many foods that caused an irritable and painful digestion, more items were to be added to the list as new symptoms developed. My intestines, it seems, were becoming more sensitive with age. Stress has been mentioned as a trigger for the rumble in the tummy. As my stress and anxiety level decreased in the last couple of years, the sensitivity of my digestive track has increased
I’m just being honest
Several times a week I will be awaken in the middle if the night as my intestines, I don’t know if they are the small or large portions, expand and contract as food and gas moves through them. I really want to install a pressure relief valve in my gut just so I can sleep. My intestines seem to be pushing the food through at an accelerated pace. This is evidenced by (Warning, graphic details ahead) my stools which are loose, full of gas, and recognizable parts of my previous meals.
Cellulose is not digested
The biggest irritants are veggies with waxy coatings, cellulose, like corn. But certain leafy vegetables like lettuce are squeezed through
Slices of vegetarian Stromboli with melon wedge.
the intestinal track with minimal effects from the digestive system. Even when I eat the right foods, but am suffering from the IBS or UC, the stool can be coated with white mucus.
Coffee fixes all problems…I hope
I can’t rule out that my coffee consumption doesn’t exacerbate the symptoms or results. However, a cup of coffee with the requisite amount of soy milk actually makes me feel better when a war is raging in my gut. It might just be the caffeine. What I have reduced is my consumption of carbonated beverages. Those bubbles inflate my intestines like an inner tube on a bike to the point where I can trace their approximate location as they travel from start to finish.
What’s the secret ingredient that makes it work right
Sometimes I do stupid things like make Blueberry muffins that require three eggs. They taste great going down, but I pay the price over the next several days. There are some meals that contain eggs, meat, legumes, or other high protein items which don’t cause my gut to get all twisted in a knot. I’m not sure if it is the preparation, the mixture or the phase of the moon that keeps the meal from going to war with my intestines.
I’m not bleeding, no meds
I’m not big on medications. If a food gives me heart burn or acid reflux, I just stop eating it. It seems silly to pop pills to ease the symptoms when my body is obviously telling me not to mix Pinot Noir, filet mignon, chocolate tort cake, coffee and cognac. Consequently, I won’t seek a prescription for any of the UC medicines (Mesalamine :Pentasa, Asacol, Canasa, Rowasa, Lialda, Apriso, Salofalk ) until I have determined that I can’t control the symptoms and pain with modifications to my diet.
A life of bread and water
That isn’t to say that others shouldn’t seek treatment and medication. At this point, I am just mad at my body for rebelling against me as I get older. If I am reduced to eating oatmeal for breakfast, fruit and bread for lunch and endless dinner meals of spaghetti and veggies for dinner, I can live with that.
Foods and beverages that trigger my IBS and UC symptoms
Sliced potatoes ready for baking, seasoned with herbs and olive oil.
High protein foods
- Eggs
- Beans
- Beef
- Carbonated beverages
- Legumes, including tofu
Foods that exacerbate the symptoms
- Leafy greens
- Veggies with waxy coating like corn and peppers
Symptoms
- Tenderness throughout the abdominal area
- Feeling food moving through digestive track
- Gas
- Bloating
- Sharp needle like pains
- Loose stools full of air and undigested food (This is not what I would call diarrhea which has more fluid associated with it)
- White mucus around normal stools.
- General apathy and lethargy from feeling like (fill in the blank)
*Alternative theories of UC from Wikipedia entry
[My issue with eggs, high in protein contributing to hydrogen sulfide gas, rotten egg smell, is not so far afield]
Levels of sulfate-reducing bacteria tend to be higher in persons with ulcerative colitis. This could mean that there are higher levels of hydrogen sulfide in the intestine. An alternative theory suggests that the symptoms of the disease may be caused by toxic effects of the hydrogen sulfide on the cells lining the intestine.[30] Roediger WE, Moore J, Babidge W (1997). “Colonic sulfide in pathogenesis and treatment of ulcerative colitis”. Dig. Dis. Sci. 42 (8): 1571–9.doi:10.1023/A:1018851723920. PMID 9286219
New Research
Heat waves tied to flare-ups of digestive illness
Old Man Cooking
Since I like to know what goes into the meal and I’m getting more selective to avoid the IBS and UC, I’ve put together some recipes I like and are vegetarian.
Hollandaise sauce over baked vegetables (The hollandaise is for everyone else. Although raw eggs don’t affect like cooked eggs)