LC: Does anyone suffers from constant nausea?

[Gabes-Apg]

Welcome monique

i too have had some issues with nausea during my MC journey, mine was more histamine related (where there is high activity of both H1 and H2 histamines occurring)
mine was quite bad to the extent that vomitting was involved (still havent figured out if vomitting is worse than D or vice versa)

frequently when feeling poorly like that i would (and still do) eat very small meals, or fast to let digestion settle down.

I too have used acupuncture for MC, similar to Carol at first i had appointments close together and then have my 'tune up' every fortnight.

hope you can overcome the nausea soon

[carolm]

Monique,
I started acupuncture in early June. I had 4 sessions once a week to start. After the first session, about 90 minutes later, I became very hungry. Ravenous. That lasted all evening and even into the night. But I see that as the opposite of nauseated. I felt good for the next 3 days then that feeling waned. After the second session, I went home and felt very calm. For the next week I was 'steady'. Morning nausea was gone and I was now feeling just as good in the mornings as I did in afternoon and evening. At the 3rd session we continued to work on points for stamina, energy, nausea and added sites for motion sickness. Again, a very good week followed. I felt steady again-- no fluctuations in my nausea and a constant, decent level of energy continued. This was the week I realized that I was truly no longer nauseous in the mornings BUT it was anxiety I was feeling when I woke up. Now I could finally separate them. The anxiety was easy to deal with because now there was no foundation for it. I needed to trust it would last. At this point I was also able to travel and have no motion sickness. The fourth session, we worked the same sites and at this point I was feeling stronger, eating better and could tell I had more resilience. We set session 5 for two weeks away, then session 6 for 3 weeks away-- which was yesterday. Now I won't go back for a month. I started working out this week too.

Let me add I had a REAL test of this yesterday and today. I had a very stressful situation at work (that fortunately was handled between my boss and another administrator after a heated discussion) but my stomach was upset when I woke up this morning because I'm sure I stewed on this all night. But I got up, ate breakfast, went to work, dealt with the situation and have had no stomach issues today in spite of how I felt when I woke up. I have had times when I felt nausea could come on but then it stopped--- as if it hit a ceiling and couldn't progress any further. I credit the acupuncture for that. For example, I needed to walk my dog and went even thought it was 100 degrees out. My stomach suddenly turned a little sour but the nausea never came. This is very different that I would have experienced even 8 weeks ago. My acupuncturist talked about how he believes the body will heal itself from the inside out, but we have to clear the way. I've responded well to it and I am a fan now.

Sorry for the long post but I hope I answered your questions.
thanks
Carol

[fatbuster205]

Hi Monique and welcome! I am still a newbie here but they are a great bunch of really supportive people and I love them all!! I too suffer with nausea some of the time - but I guess not to the degree you have it - so sympathies. With me it is a part of the flare up scenario - once that calms down I seem OK most of the time although I still find eating first thing in the morning tricky. If I eat too soon I generally see breakfast again! However, I am trying to train myself to eat breakfast but I find that I generally have a tiny something first thing and follow that a couple of hours later when I get to work with second breakfast (I think secretly I am a Hobbit!) and I am definitely beginning to get on top of the nausea as a result.
I too am on the max dose of Asacol (6 x 800mg per day) and 9mg of Budesonide as well currently having had a bad flare and it seems to be beginning to work. I am very interested in the idea that Polly mentioned that inflammation can cause the functionality of the gut to slow down - maybe that has caused the problems I have been having with impaction?? Definitely a question for the consultant when I next see him.
Unfortunately Tex is right in that this is life long! I was diagnosed in 2004 but with the benefit of hindsight I first had symptoms possibly when I was 8, probably when I was 17 and definitely by the time I was early 20s! It was diagnosed initially as IBS! How many of us have had that! I found this forum only a few months back and feel so reassured to know that I am not alone, people understand and I now can ask the doctors pertinent questions. Luckily, my doctors are pretty good and willing to listen. I have not yet changed my diet as my doctor wants to rule out things first - I am prepared to work with them although I am also prepared to take the plunge and go GF/DF whatever as and when we reach the point where I (inevitably) relapse. In the meantime I am beginning to gather research to support my case - that said I seem to be really lucky in having a really good consultant and registrar team who listen and are open to "new" ideas!
Anyway, again welcome and believe me, the support available on here is brilliant - it is so great to finally be able to talk about stuff which most people cannot stumoch - sorry - no pun intended!!!!
Anne

[DebE13]

Monique, I struggle with nausea daily. It is one of my biggest complaints along with eye issues and fatigue. It seems that these issues are worse than my D which seems really odd. I do find the more I experiment with adding new foods, the more nausea problems I have. It seems to be an obvious answer but is very frustrating. You're not alone!

[wmonique2]

I heard from so many of you and I am delighted to be part of this wonderful and generous community. Your feedback has meant a lot to me and I am learning that I am not alone in this struggle (and it is one for sure). As you already know the biggest problem I have is nausea, not D, not V, not C.

Without boring you to tears, I am going to give you a (very) brief history and see if anybody can make sense of it or crack this nut. I am not able to understand it, so y'all brilliant minds :-) are invited to chime in. When I mentioned the following to my GI, he looked at me like a cow under the rain and moved on to another topic.

So I was diagnosed after 5 horrific months, put on mesalamine and budesonide and the D, nausea and everything stopped at once. I started eating a low fiber diet (low residue at first which helped). I felt wonderful for like 8 months. I went to Europe for 5 weeks, ate French food, Italian food, lots of pasta and french bread, name it I had it, drank one glass of wine everyday, traveled up and down France and Italy, gained 4 wonderful pounds and came back home.

When I get back here I decide, well, I don't want just to eat and drink and be merry, I want to HEAL this thing. I do my research, go GF, DF, paleo diet, lots of fruits and vegies, no grains, no legumes. I started baking my own GF bread from the mixes (Bob's Mill). After the second loaf, I get nausea like crazy. I thought, well, this is an aberration. I am suppose to feel good, right? Well, I have been sick since. GF bread made me sick , so I took that out. Started having fruit with berries and grapes for breakfast. THAT made me sick too. Eliminated paleo and went back to low fiber. And I am having more nausea than ever.

Friends, if you can figure this thing out.... Please enlighten me. Maybe I should just go back to French baguette and linguini :-) but I am too chicken ;-) BTW, I welcome all of your theories.

Monique

[Gabes-Apg]

Monique
rather than follow a set diet regime, figure out the ingredients that work or dont work for you.

the GF bread it might be the guar gum or some other ingredient that is causing you the issue, or one of the flours.
with the berries and grapes, it might only be one berry that is an issue

I figured out my major intolerances and some minor weird ones by keeping a food/reaction journal. keep the meals simple, a few ingredients and then when you are having a good day, try small amount of something new

our bodies can be a bit like a new born baby, if we have an ingredient we havent had in a while, the first time we eat it, it is most likely going to cause a mild reaction. wait 24 hours and try a small amount again. if after the third time there is still a reaction then i would put that ingredient in the no list.

via the food journal i figured out that i could have cauliflower, and i could handle carrots, but if i had the two of them in the same meal, problems! go figure hey?? it seems with MC our digestion is a very delicate chemisty process, put certain ingredients together and there are issues.

Kari and i think Nancy via their acupuncturists were able to muscle resistance testing for ingredients, if you take the suspect ingredients along then you can confirm if they are the issue.

[wmonique2]

Gabes,

Thanks a lot for your post and the other one you sent me.

You are making a very good point. One I hadn't considered. The synergy of some foods can be problematic. I am keeping a food diary now and I'll start eating one food at the time, instead of several. I guess the KISS method works, eh? Yeah, I'll follow your process of elimination method.

Thanks a million.

Monique

[Gabes-Apg]

you are very welcome.... no one deserves to be stuck in the MC maze, I found my way out of it thanks to all the help and suggestions of the people here

the synergy or chemistry is very important, all of us are different. Other health conditions can affect the chemistry, PCOS or hormonal issues affect blood sugar absorbtion, gall bladder issues affect fat absorbtion, hiatius hernia or weakened sphincters through the digestion tract affect what happens with the gut acid.

also keep tabs of what you drink, how much and when. ie i can not eat within 30 mins of having a coffee or i have gerd issues (i have hiatius hernia) and how much water you can or can not drink near meals, and the other impact to the digestion chemistry, any medications you might be taking.
check the inactive ingredients of your medicines, if you are using generics instead of patented version, they tend to have some less than ideal ingredients.

even now, I get nauseated and light headed if i dont eat enough protein. it takes a bit of planning especially when i travelled on the weekend to ensure i had enough protein throughout the day

[wmonique2]

Thanks, Gabes. You're wonderful. Your answer is spot on...I totally get it now...Monique

[JFR]

One thing that I have found helps me to figure out what I am reacting to is to eat only single ingredient foods. plain meats, plain veggies, plain fruit etc. I don't buy anything with an ingredient list and I am very careful with my supplements, either using pure powders or capsules from companies that use few if any inactive ingredients and identify themselves as being free of things like dairy, soy, egg and gluten. When things were at their worst I limited myself to 4 foods and then added things back slowly but still only single ingredient foods.

Jean

[wmonique2]

Hi Jean,

Thank you for your post. I guess that is the answer. Simplify the food thing. One food at the time...I'll pay attention to the supplements. I hadn't thought about that one...

Monique

[Leah]

Hi Monique. Gabes and Jean have done a great job at explaining the elimination diet process. When I was first starting out, I couldn't tolerate the Gf products either. Maybe it is the xantham gum that is in all of them. Who knows. Now that I have healed somewhat, I actually can eat some GF bread and not react. Same thing with fruit that I couldn't tolerate earlier. Keep it simple and take time to heal.
Good luck
Leah

[wmonique2]

Hi Leah,

Well, I am learning...I don't touch any GF bread (xanthum gum might be the culprit like you said) or who knows what. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

I am humbled by all this.

Monique