Hi Nina,
Thank you for the long and thoughtful answer, I am happy for you that you manage to defeat this and can live a normal life again. It gives motivation and hope to hear stories like this. The reason for me wanting a defecography is to find some kind of physical defect that is causing this issue. I do not think I smell only when I am passing gas, however I am so confused and tired of this situation that I do not know what is real as far as my symptoms goes.
I will try to do what you suggested, I am worried because if I do not eat enough I will not be able to study / train. The few escapes I have in life, I will find time for it soon when it fits me. Do you suggest doing an elimination diet as severe as yours? A quick google suggests many foods that one can eat during the diet.
In my mind my issues are largely physical, but I can't deny that I have periods of being gassy.
I wonder did these two steps alone "cure" you from your symptoms? I will speak to a doctor asap, thank you.
Hey Mabyekms,
I don't know all of your digestive or related symptoms. All we know so far from your post is that you state you suffer from leaky gas. Many of us also have one more symptom along with gas, whether its abdominal pain, diarrhea, or constipation or all of the above.
I think I've seen some threads here about people feeling they haven't fully evacuated, or a "tip" or piece of stool is stuck.
In the past, I've had the experience where I have felt or thought that my an** was open for most of the day or hours. It was usually right after/during a bout of gas (hours or days long). So I had wondered if it would stay open due to all the pressure I was giving it (trying to hold in lots of gas instead of farting--> leads to leaky gas, gas leaving without my control anyway?).
After long periods of being well and not gassy, I think/feel my an** is mostly closed, most of the time, but I'm sure I could probably lose control over that if I do get very gassy for long periods of time.
So, that's all I know about the an** staying open and possibly causing odors too.
If you feel you need this defecography to find out about physical defects, I hope it helps you. I don't understand enough about your condition to comment, with my leaky gas and mostly IBS-d, and doctors literally checking that area, I didn't personally find that necessary. But your symptoms and history maybe a bit different.
I agree with you, I would NOT stop exercising. Exercise is sort of a strong and seemingly unrelated weapon on this digestive malady.
It helps both with the psychological/mood/brain chemical side and actually helps produce bowel movements to help make it more regular.
I can't tell you what diet exactly to follow. I only commented on the diet I did that gave me results. But, I would also clarify, that even with my elimination diet, there were times where I had an upset and there was no clear food/dietary explanation/culprit. I would come to learn that more than likely I had consumed some sort of pathogen/parasite, and anti-parisitics or/and Xifaxan along with the probiotics is what really got me out of that rut. For me, my IBS was that severe, that I didn't really have a choice to not make it a VERY restricted diet.
Everything was giving me a problem whether it was gas, diarrhea, loose stools or in a few cases constipation.
So for me, finding
anything that I can eat that didn't cause a problem was almost a miracle.
So, it was I guess at least psychologically a little easier for me to do a very restricted diet, because it was still an upgrade from fasting.
To exist in my world and go to work and/or grad school I had to be able to walk there and sit there those days.
Having had bad reactions to most all foods, I didn't know how I could do that, and not knowing what foods I could eat.
So, instead of risking having a bout of gas or diarrhea in the middle of a presentation or meeting, I would usually fast during the week and eat on weekends. But fasting only helped reduce the problem. Even during the days I fasted, I still possibly had one of those symptoms, just less.
Do you know what foods you can eat that don't cause ANY problems- gas, diarrhea, constipation, loose stools, pass into your stool whole or not fully digested?
These foods that have
NO negative reaction to you, maybe safe for you, and you could start your elimination diet with them (assuming they're healthy foods).
Often many of us don't know what these foods are so we start with the very strict elimination diet, and then add foods slowly. Usually every 3 days or on weekends, but only added if you're well- no gas, diarrhea, constipation, etc.
I noticed for me some foods didn't always cause a digestive effect, but still had other effects.
For example:
I get eczema (which I hadn't had since I was a teen) when I eat wheat.
I get pimples if I eat too much greasy food - bad oil like canola oil.
I get a larger type of acne (alongside digestive issues usually) when I eat a large amount of dairy product.
These other reactions clued me also to my trouble digesting those particular foods and so I definitely avoided them during elimination diet. I actually still avoid them mostly to this day, even though I can actually have a moderate amount of these foods today-(some slices of bread, eggs/meat fried in canola oil, 2 scoops of ice cream).
Apparently, the theory is that when your gut is leaky some of the parts of the food can travel to other parts of the body via your blood, and react, causing some of the effects above- eczema, acne, etc. So keep that in mind when determining how well you are digesting food. Remember, you don't want undigested food to get to the small intestine where bad bacteria can feast on it.
Have you ever tried a Keto/low carb diet?
That's a good place to start.
If you've been a normal/high carber all your life, this transition maybe a bit difficult. There's something people call the "keto flu." Basically, it takes time for your body to adjust to low carb/low sugar, and so it experiences low energy /headaches or/and large craving for carbs on the first couple of days of a Keto diet. But once adjusted, many people still function normally, some even say they function better than before and feel that they have more energy (they're using energy from their fat now too).
I don't know when is a good time for you to start a keto diet. But you're right, there is a transition time of feeling weak or not so well, so you'll have to decide when. Look up keto flu.
The diet I'd suggest is a low-starch/sugar diet, not necessarily Keto (less than 10-20g carbs/day?) but closer to it.
If you're not that sensitive to most foods, i can tell you what my diet was for after my 2 weeks of chicken broth?
So after my two weeks of nothing but chicken broth (hours long cooked-antibiotic free chicken, celery, ginger, coconut oil, and salt) I added foods. The ones that worked for me after the chicken and celery were:
- spinach (raw, but cooked would work too).
- leafy greens (arugula, chard, mizuna, "spring mix" greens)
- steak and lean fish
- avocado
- olive oil (at first i could only have small amounts)
- romaine lettuce
- tomatoes
- strawberries
- a small or moderate amount of baked pea crisps (there's a brand here called Harvest snaps-- this is my "cheat" food). Large amounts DID cause problems (like eating the whole bag- BAD).
After a
few months from the broth, xifaxan and probiotic treatment I tested and added the following:
-kale
-foods cooked with garlic and onion (garlic and onion themselves were my worst offenders on gas, but after treatment I could eat foods cooked with them, though not the actual vegetable).
-probiotic pickles (NO vinegar- they are made in a brine and have probiotics).
-pecans
-blueberries
-half a grapefruit
-Baker's chocolate (no sugar or milk) sweetened with stevia
-avocado oil
-larger amounts of olive oil
-cucumber without skin
-antibiotic free eggs (I was VERY scared to try and add this, as previously I had gotten sulfur gas smell in year 1 of my IBS, so I avoided them for at least 5 years- really).
After
several months rom the broth, xifaxan and probiotic treatment I tested and added the following:
-broccoli - (at first it looked like I could only handle small or moderate amounts without smelly stools,eventually was able to do more).
-cauliflower
-cabbage
-skinless almonds
All the above were cooked foods and added at first in small amounts.
I didn't ever really intentionally add dairy to my diet. I've only eaten a bit or tested them when it was a special family occasion and to my surprise, I had no reaction to small and medium amounts of ice cream or a few bites of pizza (not a full slice-too many calories and carbs). Yes, when I got excited about this, I did eat more than the two scoops a few weeks later, and got the bad results we intolerant people get. Same with bread/wheats, its someone's birthday so after these treatments for a year, I dared to try a few spoonfulls, and again to my surprise no reaction at all. Again,
small to moderate amounts.
Years after the diet above is my main diet now. But I also like to add eggplant and beyond burger pea patties, and now i can also digest pea protein, which at an earlier time, I was unsure about (light reaction, not dramatic or strong reaction before). When I'm with my family , they eat a lot of rice, potatoes and bread. Sometimes, when I haven't had a chance to buy my own food, I have eaten their rice, no I don't get much of a reaction now except weight gain. In the past before treatment, rice wouldn't cause an immediate reaction to me, but the next day I could get gas from the thing I ate the day after rice consumption. It seemed to "prime" me for being gassy the next day. I assume it was the pure starch of the rice feeding the bad bacteria, and since their byproduct of just rice is probably just CO2, it doesn't smell until you introduce other smelly foods and when you're not digesting, that's what will smell. So, I'd be more susceptible to the smell/gas the next day if I ate significant amount of rice the day before.
I'm sorry if I write very long. As I'm not a doctor, I can only speak from my experience and the knowledge I've learned along the way. I gave examples of what I've eaten that were safe for me, hopefully some of them will be safe for you. As for energy, see if you can find some chelated vitamins, especially vitamin B, and also your calcium,vitamin D to be chelated. Chelation helps make it harder for any bad actors to absorb your vitamin vs your own body. Also, in terms of low calories, the avocado and olive oil or large amounts of meat are what kept my calories significant during the very restricted diet parts.
In general,l I'd advise on eating:
- antibiotic-free food/meat
- pesticide-free food, or veggies that you know you can remove pesticides from (look up Apple cider vinegar wash)
- No starches, no sugar (or very little amounts)
- keep your system slightly acidic (helps keep good bacteria in good environment and reduce/kill bad bacteria) -like drinking some diluted Apple Cider vinegar or lemon -water.
-take your probiotic regimen (ask your doctor what he recommends). My regimen was a pill of 150 billion 3 times a day for 2 weeks during elimination diet (450 billion/day). But then my daily was reduced to 80 billion once a day for like two years as i added on foods.
-avoid common dietary intolerance foods if you're unsure what your problem foods are (dairy, soy, wheat, corn, most grains, oat makes many people gassy, most beans, maybe some legumes).
-After being well, off the "no eat" list, I'd first check how well I can digest some legumes and nightshades, they're on the more "maybe category"
Hope that helps.
