stomach issues and dieting

Hello all. I am still having stomach issues. I have tried diets in the past, but with my messed up stomach, I cannot be hungry because I will start to have stomach pain and aura migraines. I have headaches ALL THE TIME and when I do not eat enough, it makes my headaches and visual disturbances unbearable. I really want to be successful on the AIP diet, but I am also fructose intolerant, so it limits me down to like 5 foods, all of which can't fill me up. I am allergic to tigernuts, which make up most of the diet's flour, snacks, and breakfast ideas. Last night, I was determined to be successful on the AIP diet, but the diet bloated me, made me anxious, gave me a headache, and then during the night, my hunger pains were painful! I unfortunately cannot go to bed hungry.

 

Although my diet currently is horrible, it keeps me in this limbo that is not so bad and I am still able to function. I have cut my caffeine down to four sips of coffee in the morning! I am just really struggling with bloating, stomach pain particularly right above my belling button, feeling like my organs are floating, stomach acid, constipation, fatigue, no appetite, and not being able to tell when I am hungry.

 

Anyone have any diet tips that are also easy to make? I struggle with fatigue and brain fog, so complicated made from scratch meals are difficult for me.

 

I have considered a dietician but they are so expensive and I cannot afford to keep missing work for all of these doctor appointments that generally turn out to be useless.

 

 

ALSO: if anyone else has stomach problems, please talk me through this!!

I'm currently eating only few things: owen-baked sweet potatoes, boiled wild rice, grilled fish, grilled lean meats, and raw vegetables that don't bloat me. Also I'm taking lactobacillus reuteri probiotics.

Thank you, pacenik!

Have you tried some Prilosec to help with the stomach acid?  I had to start taking it. The stomach acid was getting BAD!

I guess I'm wondering first why you are wanting to do AIP diet? Is it because of the inflammatory response in recovery or other reasons?

 

I did the whole 30 in the beginning (so hard..) and slowly I've incorporated things back into my diet. but I try to mostly eat clean and organic whole foods.

But I can cheat now and do not feel like I am dying:)

 

I think overall we just need to use common sense, and eat what your body will tolerate.

 

Funny story:

Have you ever read posts from EastCoast on BB? She fully admits early in recovery she survived on peppermint patties bc she was anxious of other foods.

and she healed...

 

So yes support your body in this process but don't get stressed over it.

I had terrible stomach issues during benzo withdrawal.    Sometimes, I don't think it mattered what I ate, my stomach was going to be upset, no matter what.  Just from observation of how I felt, I definitely felt better when eating healthy, non-processed foods, like salads, and meat, as opposed to fast food, but I also tolerated pasta and bread.  But I definitely felt BETTER, when I had unquestionable healthy foods. 

 

I specifically remember a time when I had a salad with bell peppers and my stomach was questionable going into the meal, and afterwards, I felt so much better.  I had a similar experience also with salmon, a different time. 

 

Hands down, the worst thing for my stomach, was something sweet.  I had to be very careful about that. 

I guess I'm wondering first why you are wanting to do AIP diet? Is it because of the inflammatory response in recovery or other reasons?

 

I did the whole 30 in the beginning (so hard..) and slowly I've incorporated things back into my diet. but I try to mostly eat clean and organic whole foods.

But I can cheat now and do not feel like I am dying:)

 

I think overall we just need to use common sense, and eat what your body will tolerate.

 

Funny story:

Have you ever read posts from EastCoast on BB? She fully admits early in recovery she survived on peppermint patties bc she was anxious of other foods.

and she healed...

 

So yes support your body in this process but don't get stressed over it.

 

Oh Trina, you are literally always my saving grace! please never stop responding to my posts! You know, I only wanted to try AIP because I am convinced I am inflamed. I have attempted this diet five times already, but it only limits me to like five foods because I am also fructose intolerant. I tend to get a gnawing pain when I am hungry, so I can't survive on that diet for more than 3 days. I should really take your advice and just eat healthy and stop trying to be so OCD about this whole thing. I just want to be well and pain free so bad that I feel like I have to go to the extreme to heal.

 

I did read about the peppermint patties and I found a lot of comfort in that, but I keep thinking that my issue is purely GI.

 

Thank you so much for your response!

 

I had terrible stomach issues during benzo withdrawal.    Sometimes, I don't think it mattered what I ate, my stomach was going to be upset, no matter what.  Just from observation of how I felt, I definitely felt better when eating healthy, non-processed foods, like salads, and meat, as opposed to fast food, but I also tolerated pasta and bread.  But I definitely felt BETTER, when I had unquestionable healthy foods. 

 

I specifically remember a time when I had a salad with bell peppers and my stomach was questionable going into the meal, and afterwards, I felt so much better.  I had a similar experience also with salmon, a different time. 

 

Hands down, the worst thing for my stomach, was something sweet.  I had to be very careful about that.

 

Thank you for the response. Bread and carbs make me feel better which is why I keep thinking I have some disease. I do eat healthy and I don't really notice a difference. Having you say that you also had stomach upset helps me to believe this is all withdrawal and will pass.

Icy I saw my GI doc yesterday and he just keeps saying irritable bowel. My stools are always baby poo colour (mustard) and for a while I had pancreatic insufficiency. He weighed me yesterday and I’ve put on 14kilos since I first saw him. So things are sort of improving. I’ve tried so many different diets and nothing has really made any difference to my GI issues. I take probiotics and digestive enzymes to try and help but I don’t really know if they’re doing much. I had to run to the bathroom this morning. Have u tried peppermint tea? It really helps me when I have pain

Shayna, as much as I sympathize that you're experiencing pain, I am glad to know that this may all be related to benzos and not an actual GI issue. I have tried peppermint tea and it doesn't do much. My worst pain is during the night. I am always so bloated and constipated with pain around my belly button area.

Yeah honestly honey I have had every test there is. Nothing at all wrong. X

 

He actually said to me yesterday there is nothing they can do for functional problems. That’s a term most of us have heard before. X we’re doing enzyme tests just to see how my pancreas is working but besides that I think it’s all wd. Actually I think bexlan posted something about gaba is found in bones and muscle snd well as the gut, so this is why we have gut and muscle issues x

Hi Peppermint Patty, sorry to hear your stomach's giving you a hard time. It was only a short time ago you were reassuring me have my stomach and abdominal issues and what was causing. Could it be that you're close to healing and the stomach just don't want to let go? Sometimes my lower right side my abdomen feels like there are pins and needles inside other times it's just a constant pain and sometimes there's no pain at all until I bring it to my memory. I believe you know what's causing this discomfort, benzo. If you were to research all 600 pages benzo post you would find countless people with the same problem you and I have the only difference is they have by now he you are bigger than any pain so keep the faith girl we will get through this.

Thank you so much for your reassurance Pops!

Have you tried some Prilosec to help with the stomach acid?  I had to start taking it. The stomach acid was getting BAD!

 

That is a Proton Pump Inhibitor, has black box warnings on the package, and should not be used longer than 2 weeks because it causes physical dependency.  I went through sheer hell from Rebound Acid Hypersecretion (RAHS)  from my many failed attempts of trying to get off that. And I wasn't even presribed it for GERD or LPR, but to protect me from getting an ulcer due to taking NSAID's at the time. RAHS feels like your stomach, throat, ears and sinuses are on fire from all the acid produced. PPI's block Proton Pumps, but not gastrin, so when you stop them, the elevated levels of gastrin tell your body to make copious amounts of acid. PPI's can cause Hypomagnesemia, which happened to me. Constant Magnesemium infusions and doctors who ended up being useless (and a few absolute idiots). I found a great GI doctor who helped me (with FDA approval), to get an Investigational New Drug called Netazepide from the tiny research company in the UK that was developing it. In 44 days I was PPI free, within two months the Hypomagnesemia ended.  Netazepide is an Orphan Drug in the US and EU.

 

Please, please, please heed the black box warnings and don't use any PPI for more than 2 weeks, at least 4 months apart (3 times a year). H2 blockers such as Pepcid (famotidine) are safer, and do not cause dependency or RAHS.

 

Many people have been helped by Sesamin, a supplement consisting of lignans from sesame seeds. There is a a thread started by 4MyDaughter on this. Like him, I found it helped with Benzo Belly. I also used the generic Pepcid (2 a day) and generic simethicone for bloating and gas.

 

I don't want to see anyone to go through what I did with PPI's. It is a nightmare. I'm lucky my kidneys weren't effected. I know of one guy on a GI forum who got off generic omeprazole by removing one sphere from his capsules every two to three weeks, it took him over a year, and it was tedious. He tapered himself off, yet he still had RAHS, though it was manageable. His was the only success story I read, most failed, just as I did. The FDA finally acknowledged around 5 to 7 years ago, that PPI's cause physical dependency due to hypogastronemia, and using them more than 2 weeks causes RAH's when trying to stop them, plus using them long term increases your risk of malnutrition, hypomagnesemia, kidney disease and kidney failure.

 

Use PPI's with discretion, when H2 blockers aren't enough, but stop after 14 days, and go back on the H2 blocker. I also find eating a bland diet of simple foods helps. Avoid acidic food such as citrus, tomatoes, pineapples, cranberries, even blueberries bother some.

Thank you both Paxia and Lottie. I had heard about the PPI issue, so I have chosen to stay away. I was on them during my acute stage and my stomach as horrible, so I am not sure if they didn't do anything or if they made the gastritis worse.

Icy: your kind words..if anything I write anywhere helps I am glad to pay it forward...goodness knows others guided me! 

Icypeppermint112, My single worst symptom was stomach pain. It kept me up into the wee hours so many nights. I found through trial and error what caused pain and what caused less...throughout my taper and the first 4 months after I jumped I seldom had no stomach pain. GINGER TEA saved my life, as well as famotidine (an H2 blocker). Something in the ginger tea helped ease the pain. I swear by it. I still eat oatmeal every day for breakfast, oatmeal caused little to no pain. I ate avocados, about 1 per day. Also kombucha drink. I li e in the US and would drink GT Dave's ginger kombucha and it would help, also green machine kombucha. I take probiotics and think they help. White rice helped, and chicken too, not fried, baked or sauteed. My GI issues were, are, all benzo related. I had a full endoscopy, upper GI and colonoscopy and got a clean bill of health from the Dr. I'm an otherwise healthy 43 year old fit man. I thought I had stomach cancer the pain was so bad! Meat seemed to be ok too. I also cant eat wheat, barley, or rye, so I was down to a limited diet. Cheese seemed ok in small amounts, yogurt was good too. I hope you heal rapidly icypeppermint!

Thank you for your detailed response, Andy!

Someone here recommended bentonite clay, so I started using that in place of PPIs. I used PPIs intermittently before I started on the clay.

Pacenik, does the bentonite clay work for stomach acid/stomach pain? Compared to tums or pepto bismol? I'm very interested....

Someone here recommended bentonite clay, so I started using that in place of PPIs. I used PPIs intermittently before I started on the clay.

 

I remember you posting that you would only use a PPI for a week, because you were aware of its dependency issues. Then you found out about bentonite clay. How much did you use, because actual servings on the internet seem to be all over the place? I did a little research and why it might work is because it is alkaline, so it would neutralize the excess acid causing GERD-like symptoms. 

Pacenik, does the bentonite clay work for stomach acid/stomach pain? Compared to tums or pepto bismol? I'm very interested....

Yes, it does.

 

I remember you posting that you would only use a PPI for a week, because you were aware of its dependency issues. Then you found out about bentonite clay. How much did you use, because actual servings on the internet seem to be all over the place? I did a little research and why it might work is because it is alkaline, so it would neutralize the excess acid causing GERD-like symptoms.

I don't have it in pill form, but rather as a powder. I took it according to the instructions given on the box the clay came in. In the night I would put one (wooden) teaspoon of powder in a glass of water (bottled, not tap), then I'd wait an hour after breakfast in the morning to drink it. I would stir it with a wooden spoon before downing it.

U have to take it away from meds tho lottie. It may stop absorption. Success story by SSRI1975 or something like that was were it was mentioned xx

U have to take it away from meds tho lottie. It may stop absorption.

 

I did see that in my research. Most likely because you need acid to break down meds so they are properly absorbed. And this is alkaline so it would neutralize much of the acid. I know many swear by aloe juice too, it also is alkaline. I'll keep the bentonite in mind, if I need something stronger than what I'm using now. The famotidine and sesamin have both done a pretty good job of keeping GERD symptoms down. If needed, I have carafate (which turns acid into a gel) and alginate in the UK version of Gaviscon (Leftovers from my attempts to get off PPI's). Doesn't hurt to have another option if all else fails.

 

Just no PPI's for me. I consider them as evil as benzos. 

 

But thanks for the head up about not using it when taking meds.