Crohn's surgery

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

Both have quality of life implications.

I'm sorry. That sucks. I guess your current situation has quality of life implications too, so it will wind up being a lesser of two evils kind of thing.

[classicman]

Sorry to hear that Pete. Are there any diet changes that might alleviate some of your discomfort?

[Lola Bunny]

I'm sorry to hear about your situation Pete. I hope everything will work out better.

[monster]

oh no. I'm so sorry. I'd be seriously pissed if it were me. I hope you find the answer and something that works to improve your quality of life soon.

[Pete Zicato]

Just got the call from the doctor. I have active inflammation. I'll need to do a CT scan next week to rule out abscesses or tears.

Still the most likely culprit is Crohn's that didn't get removed.

Onward.

[BrianR]

I'm told that the inflammation tends to recur at the site of the resection. Perhaps that's the trouble?

[Clodfobble]

[I'm sorry]Pete, it sucks so much to read about the pain you're in. Before they make you go through another surgery or put you on hardcore meds, I beg you to give the Specific Carbohydrate Diet a try. At least give the amazon reviews a read. These are real people who had debilitating Crohn's that is completely in remission. Just give it 3 weeks and see if you feel better. It can't possibly be worse than the dietary restrictions you have now due to pain, right?[/one-trick pony is shutting up now.]

[Pete Zicato]

Results from the CT scan show inflammation and narrowing at the site of the surgery - Crohn's reoccurring.

I'll be on steroids for a couple of weeks and then we'll talk about maintenance treatment.

The good news is that I should feel better RSN.

[Pete Zicato]

Clod - I could never have considered that diet before the surgery. Because of the narrowing of the small intesting and the big fat bezoar sitting in front of it, I could not pass any vegetable matter. Whatever I ate had to be completely broken down before it got to the end of my small intestine.

So my current diet looks like this:

meat, cheese, clear liquids, anything powdered (like white flour), powdered mash potatoes, white rice. That's it. No fruit. No vegetables. So you can see that I would never be able to skip the carbohydrates.

Since the surgery got the worst of the narrowing, I may be able to broaden my diet once they have the new problems under control. If my diet gets broadened enough that I can get my fill of fruits and vegetables, I may give it a shot. I've been dreaming of chilled plums, garbage salads, and tomato sandwiches anyway. I haven't been able to have any of them in 25 years.

[Spexxvet]

Pete, can you drink tomato juice?

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Pete, can you drink tomato juice?

In small amounts with other food. But I generally don't because it makes me uncomfortable.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

In small amounts with other food. But I generally don't because it makes me uncomfortable.

That sucks. It's about as liquid-vegetable as you can get. Get well soon.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

Clod - I could never have considered that diet before the surgery. Because of the narrowing of the small intesting and the big fat bezoar sitting in front of it, I could not pass any vegetable matter. Whatever I ate had to be completely broken down before it got to the end of my small intestine.

So my current diet looks like this:

meat, cheese, clear liquids, anything powdered (like white flour), powdered mash potatoes, white rice. That's it. No fruit. No vegetables. So you can see that I would never be able to skip the carbohydrates.

Since the surgery got the worst of the narrowing, I may be able to broaden my diet once they have the new problems under control. If my diet gets broadened enough that I can get my fill of fruits and vegetables, I may give it a shot. I've been dreaming of chilled plums, garbage salads, and tomato sandwiches anyway. I haven't been able to have any of them in 25 years.

That's the impression a lot of people get, because they're looking at the "final" diet, the one you are supposed to maintain after you are healed.

It's actually broken down into stages, with the most basic intro diet being nothing but scrambled eggs, plain cooked ground beef (made into hamburger patties,) plain chicken (preferably boiled for hours and eaten with the broth as a plain chicken soup,) very cooked carrots (either boiled for hours along with the chicken broth, or cooked and then pureed into "carrotsauce,") and homemade gelatin made with 100% grape juice.

You stay on that for 2-5 days (no longer, because eventually you might go into ketosis like hardcore Atkin's diet people can,) and then you move to stage 1: everything from before, plus pureed butternut squash, homemade applesauce, cooked/pureed pears, pureed zucchini and other squashes. The introduction of the applesauce and pearsauce is your main source of carbs at this point. Pureed veggies aren't very fun to eat, so most people tend to mix them into the ground meat for meatballs.

From there it moves forward, adding additional very well-cooked and/or pureed veggies and fruits at each stage, until eventually you get all fruits and veggies in all forms. The preparation of the food is the key at first, since making it digestible and easy to pass is critical, as you know. Most people report that the diarrhea improves greatly or subsides completely within the first 3 weeks of intro diet plus stage one. The book says don't move to stage 2 until diarrhea is pretty much gone. They also note that you may feel pretty sick for the first couple of days, because you are literally starving out a very well-entrenched infection.

The only foods that are disallowed completely on the diet are those which break down into disaccharides/polysaccharides instead of monosaccharides, because these can't be absorbed by a damaged intestine, and instead hang around to feed infectious cultures. The theory is it's the infections which cause the vast majority of the damage, just like it was recently proven that stomach ulcers are the result of a particularly pernicious bacterial infection. This includes 1.) all sugars except natural fructose and honey, 2.) grains, and 3.) all starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, jicama, etc.) Tomato juice, for example, is technically allowed, but would be a very advanced food, because tomatoes are a nightshade and surprisingly difficult to digest. More importantly, commercially-made tomato juice wouldn't be allowed because retail products all contain sugars and starches and thickeners, which defeats the purpose of the diet.

Anyway, the book goes very in-depth into the gastrointestinal science behind it, I just know the resulting rules to follow. (And my rules would be a little different from your rules anyway--this isn't an autism diet, it's a Crohn's diet that autism folks have modified for themselves, because their enterocolitis is similar to Crohn's, not the other way around.)

[Pete Zicato]

Well, like I said I could have not followed it before. The two feet of intestine they took out had such scarring and the bezoar (mass) before it, pretty much acted like a ball valve. Even the carrot stuff would have not gotten through.

However, since that it removed, I have the hope of being able to eat a wider variety of stuff. I'll find out more once the new crohn's is healed up.

Still not sure I could commit to this diet. I like sweets well enough, but could give them up if I can have fruit instead. But I do love bread and am not sure I can let it go.

I have been on steroids for 24 hours now and am already feeling considerably better. It is so good to feel good.

Those of you who are blessed with good health, thank your parents for your good genes!

[monster]

Glad you're feeling a little better. I will offer no dietary advice. No doctor approves of copius beer (except this one )