Reduce the Symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

I have struggled with digestive problems for most of my childhood and adult life. I recall my mother saying that I was a colicky baby, plagued with stomach upset, spending most of my infancy crying. As a young girl, I lived with the daily irregularities of either constipation or diarrhea. I can remember as far back as kindergarten, getting a stomach ache and cramps every morning while getting ready for school. It wasn't uncommon for me to miss the bus, or the entire day of school because I was having stomach cramps. My parents attributed most of my stomach problems to my shyness and the nervousness that was caused by having to go to school.

As I got older, my stomach problems became increasingly worse. I didn't realize it at the time, but the increase in the severity and frequency of my symptoms was probably due to a change in my nutrition habits, in addition to the stress of a being a shy person in her teenage years. I would bounce back and forth between being constipated for 4 to 5 days, to having extremely painful bouts of bloating, cramping and diarrhea that would last for hours. By the time I was in my mid teens I would have gone to the doctors numerous times only to be told it was nerves, and that I need to learn to relax. The doctors never did any testing, but would tell me to take a combination of over the counter drugs to treat the symptoms as they appeared.

By the time I was seventeen, my symptoms became more severe, including the passing of blood and mucus in my stools. I was sure that I had colon cancer, and insisted that my doctor do a Barium Enema. For those not familiar with the test, a Barium Enema is lower gastrointestinal series x-ray test used to define the anatomy of the large intestine (colon) and the rectum. Thankfully, my results came back negative for any sign of cancer, but my doctor diagnosed me with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Unfortunately, in the nineteen eighties there was not much known about this disease; my doctor gave me some suppositories and told me to take over the counter medication to deal with the symptoms. Over the years I found other drugs to control my symptoms, such as nicotine and caffeine. Smoking and drinking coffee helped to relieve the constipation in the mornings, but unfortunately they would also make my symptoms worse at night, either bringing on or increasing the severity of my abdominal cramps.

For the next ten years, my life continued to be interrupted by abdominal bloating, pain and irregular digestive habits. My digestive problems constantly interfered with both my work and social life. I would often get severe abdominal cramps while getting ready for work in the morning, or after going out to dinner with friends or family. I got the point where I did not enjoy leaving the house anymore. My greatest fear was that I would get an attack of cramping and diarrhea, leaving me stuck in a public restroom for an hour with friends or family waiting on me.

When I turned twenty eight, I had a life changing event. I had just baked a chocolate cake for myself and had finished eating the first piece. Within 15 minutes of eating that cake I was overcome with feeling of anxiety followed by a severe case of diarrhea and cramping. It was at that moment I realized that the food I ate was controlling the symptoms of my disease. I also realized that I ate too much sugar and that it was making me sick. I immediately threw away the entire cake. This symbolized a new beginning, and it was at that moment that I vowed to take control of my health.

Over the next year I would experiment with different foods eating only one food type at a time in an attempt to find out which ones were causing me problems. I would keep a daily journal of everything I ate, jotting down any symptoms or irregularities in my digestive habits. After a few months I started to see patterns that led to the discovery of the foods that were causing the worst symptoms. After I eliminated the foods that were making me sick I was able to easily quit smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. In fact, eliminating nicotine and caffeine drastically decreased my symptoms.

In addition to eliminating foods, I would also try to eat the same food every day at the same time in order to give my system some sort of regularity. I tried to eat a balanced diet including mostly plain unsweetened yogurt, cheese, whole grain cereals, fresh fruits and steamed vegetables. I also substituted hot tea for coffee, and completely eliminated drinks with any type of sugar.

Over the next few years I found that certain foods consistently lead to symptoms of bloating, diarrhea and cramping. Those foods, which I now avoid are; wheat products such as bread and pasta, read meat, onions, bell peppers, eggs, caffeine, wine, hot chocolate, nuts, cake made with wheat flour, candy, refined sugars, marshmallows, pop corn, soft drinks, sweetened ice tea, any kind dish made with white potatoes (sweet potatoes are fine), foods made with eggs such as some ice creams and mayonnaise, greasy food such as french fries and hamburgers, and foods that have artificial flavorings, colorings and preservatives, especially Monosodium Glutamate and Yellow no 5.

Another key factor I found in reducing symptoms is overeating. Many restaurants serve extremely large portions and we tend to eat much more at a restaurant than we would at home. You might find that eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day will help to control your symptoms as well as reduce your cravings for foods such as carbohydrates, which often tend to be the foods that cause the greatest increase in symptoms.

A diet of mostly the following foods left me relatively symptom free. I found these meals the easiest to digest as well as very tasty as satisfying. Breakfast: Smoothie made from frozen strawberries, frozen peaches, plain yogurt (with live cultures, and no sugar) and 1 scoop protein power. Lunch: Goat cheese on a corn tortilla with side of fresh apple or pear slices. Dinner: Sweet potato, steamed broccoli and apple sauce.

I have been relatively symptom free now for about 10 years. I say "relatively" because occasionally I will eat something that I love despite the fact that it will cause me some discomfort and upset. However, I try to eat those things very rarely and in very very small portions. As a final note, I found that regular exercise and getting plenty of rest and relaxation play a key role in reducing the symptoms of this disease as well.