Supposed to be getting better but I'm worse

[DebE13]

This is the start of day three for really limiting what I eat and I'm worse now than a few days ago.

Monday: coffee (has never been a problem before), coconut milk, chicken broth, turkey, banana, potato (no skins), applesauce, olive oil, salt.

Tuesday: coffee, almond milk, banana, potato, turkey, olive oil, salt, homemade applesauce (one apple and water-no skins)

I was wondering if corn was a problem and the commercical applesauce has HFCS in it so I made my own. Everything else has hasn't been a problem previously but I'm really at a loss right now. I only have one cup of coffee in the morning and never had issues with it before. I was trying to avoid rice just in case it was a problem.

I had my teeth cleaned at the dentist yesterday and that's the only different thing I can think of but it doesn't seem likely because I pass on the flouride treatements so the only thing I could have swollowed was the the gritty stuff used to polish my teeth. The hygenist is aware of my issues and it was an enjoyable visit because she too has food issues and is very educated on our topics. She grows her own veggies and raises her own chickens, etc. So I actually learned a few things while sitting there.

Anyway, the D is about 6x a day which I've done before but (so embarassing) at 12:30 AM I woke to found I needed to shower and change the sheets. This has only happened a few times before when I was at my worst a few years ago. Most of the time I would wake up out of a dead sleep and if I was lucky, make it to the bathroom in time but this totally blew me away. The D seems to be getting worse.????? It reminds me of a colonoscopy prep because my BMs are pure liquid and have almost clear quality that they look for before the procedure. There's pieces of undigested food but I thought maybe I'd start leaning toward loose stools and I'd know I was on the right track.

I was proud of myself last night because for about and hour and a half the bag of Fritos in the cupboard was calling me and I came close to having "just a handful" but all of the people here posting words of encouragement stuck in my head and the urge eventually passed. I actually though about going in to work just to busy myself. So I thank you all for that.

I should just stick with what I'm doing now right? I'm making rice this morning for breakfast but am afraid to really eat anthing. I'm glad I was the only one home last night because the night-time surprises disrupt the whole household.

To leave on a positive note- the gurgling and noises have pretty much stopped over the past two days.

Not feeling to positive today about anything. Grrrr

[harma]

I am sorry about your flare, and you can eat so little. When I was in my last flare, I had to stick to rice, chicken, fish, olive oil and tea. I even excluded apple sauce, fruit juice and banana's for a while. I know it sounds extreme but it helped me to get my flare under control. I stayed on it for about six weeks (what was no fun) and slowly start introducing other food items as banana's, apple sauce, my vegetables.

It is hart to tell if this diet would work for you too, since some of us also seem to have a problem with chicken and rice. It is just a matter of trial and error

good luck with it

[draperygoddess]

Some of our members have had problems after dentist visits, so it's possible there was something that didn't agree with you there, if you got worse afterward. Barring that, you might follow Harma's suggestion and cut out the fruit, see if it helps. May be the sugar in the fruit that's disagreeing with you.

Lack of gurgling sounds like a good sign!

[tex]

DebE,

Regardless of whether your dental hygienist is aware of your issues, the dentist is almost surely the one who specifies the supplies used in that office. Believe it or not, the polishing compound used in most dental offices contains gluten. (Remember, doctors really don't get it, and gastroenterologists are not the only ones guilty of that little faux pas).

Somewhere, in the archives here, I posted an article by a dentist, that discussed this very issue. In it, he pointed out that most dental offices use polishing compounds that contain gluten, even though gluten-free products are available. Most just never give it a thought - they assume that since it's not food, it doesn't matter. Unfortunately, I can't find that post at the moment, but the basic message was that unless you happen to be extremely fortunate, the polishing compound used on your teeth almost certainly contained gluten.

EDIT: I found it. Here's the post about that issue:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... h+cleaning

Tex

[Stanz]

Deb,
My oldest D can't eat potatoes or corn, if you believe rice is OK, maybe you should switch to that. I went back to using the L-Glutamine during my last flare and it helped me.

Dental cleaning!!! wow, they sneak that crap into everything, don't they? Unbelievable.

[DebE13]

Thanks for the info- it seemed almost silly to mention my dentist visit but I'll have to ask. So what do I do come August at my next cleaning if they don't know or the polishing agent has gluten? It took forever before they stopped raising eyebrows about my refusal for flouride. My dentist and my hygenist are both down to earth and from what I can see, open-minded. At the very least, they'd snicker and laugh AFTER I left the office but I doubt that too. I guess I really don't care what they do if this is indeed the culprit. I barely slept after the whole ordeal afraid it might happen again. Do I just ask for a "dry" polish next time- if there is such a thing?

I really don't know if rice, corn, etc. is ok or not. I'll have to wait and see how things go tonight. If I get an improvement then I should have my answer. If it's not do I switch to a different meat and cut out the pototoes? I've only eaten rice so far today.

Big sigh.

[tex]

Do I just ask for a "dry" polish next time- if there is such a thing?

I would just ask them to check the ingredient list for the product, (the inactive ingredients, most likely), and if it contains any form of gluten, ask them to order a product that does not contain any gluten, to be used for your cleaning. That's certainly not an unreasonable request, because you are almost certainly not the only patient they have who is gluten-sensitive - the other patients in that situation are simply not aware of the risks involved, and that's why they never brought it up. And I would definitely inquire about it again, and remind them to use the GF version, when I went for my subsequent cleaning treatments.

Hopefully, after they try a GF version, and find that it works OK, they will use it routinely, for all their patients. You have to remember that most people with MC are not as proactive as we are on this board - they just accept whatever their doctors offer, and suffer in silence, (or, they may complain, but complaints are usually futile, unless they can pinpoint the problem, because their doctors are unlikely to figure out the problem).

Turkey is generally safe for most of us, even most of those few who react to chicken. I lived on pork, during my recovery, with occasional chicken. Of course, we're all different, but bananas eventually became a problem for me, (possibly because of the fiber - I read somewhere that approximately 85% of a banana passes undigested into the colon, where it is subsequently digested by fermentation, resulting in gas, bloating, and D).

Tex

[brandy]

Hi Deb,

Please keep us posted, we'll be thinking of you! Brandy

[jmayk8]

Hi Deb,
Im an office manager in a dental office. ALL of our products are gluten free and a lot of the products that are out now are too. I would call the office tomorrow and just have them ck. If it's not clearly labeled on the box, just have them give you the number and you can call the company...
I am in the middle of a flare now too and what I recognize is that we are both eating applesauce, making me wonder if that's the culprit!
Keep me posted on what your dental office says and let me know if I can be of any help, getting product info and or phone #s for you.
Jenny