Yeah I feel when that happens it’s a motility issue as fat famously slows down digestion.
It does take longer to break down, but I think it also triggers an increase in bile acid secretion and increased digestive contractions.
I’ve had bouts of heartburn and some difficulties after a freak even destroyed the tissue of my mouth, esophagus, and stomach to a lesser extent.
In defense of the profession - we don’t all suck. I promise, there are a few good ones out there. Seriously though, keep that log for me for a period of at least three days and post it in here. I might be able to help ya figure something out. If you do decide to do it for me, stick your supplements in there too and times when you take them.
I’d love to take a crack at this. I’m always up for a puzzle!!
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mum had success with not eating too close to bedtime and not waiting more than 2 hours after waking up before eating breakfast, even if it’s just a handful of almonds or a slice of toast.
idk if it’s scientifically backed, but it worked for her
I hope you didn’t think I was implying dietitians suck, I was just exampling a little more of my frustrations. Blogs, youtube, and other tools to learn from dietitians have been incredibly important for me.
Thank you so much. It almost feels like a bit of relief in itself just having someone willing to listen. Over the holidays my diet has been a little wayward as I haven’t been at home much - ate lots of things I usually wouldn’t, but desperate to get the calories in!
I will provide a 3 day food diary within the next week. 
Not at all, and if I’m being honest, a lot of us do BUT there are some really good ones out there too. It’s like all professions, just because the title’s the same doesn’t mean the level of competency is too. It’s scary if you think about it too much. lol
That is what I’m here for! And if I can help you figure this out - it’ll be a win for everyone!! I will be anxiously awaiting your report next week and let me know if you have any questions before then!
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@QuadQueen Thanks again for this. I tried to stick as close to my average diet as possible… I just so happened to avoid gluten in these 3 days. I sometimes use a half a chicken or beef stock cube with my mince meals but avoided them as there are too many random ingredients to measure.
After a hectic Christmas and New Years’ diet-wise, I actually ended up with a hemorrhoid flare-up during this which I’m sure could be from a lack of fiber over the holidays. I told my partner not to cook any of my evening meals. She does an excellent job of cooking without the things I tell her not to put in (tomatoes, onions, garlic, sugar, etc) but for accuracy, I feel I should stick to my basic-ist of diet and measure my symptoms. Looking at this, more vegetables are an obvious requirement. After following low fodmap for a while I’m a little fearful of portion sizes of a lot of the common veg. I try to stick to things I know for sure that I don’t react with.
I use a vegan protein powder which comes up often is this log. I switched to it after feeling that whey (both concentrate and isolate) was not agreeing with me, but I feel that the lactose-free milk is not a risk factor. It’s ingredients are as follows:
V+TM Protein Blend (Pea Protein Isolate, Brown Rice Protein, Pumpkin Seed Protein, Flaxseed Powder, Quinoa Flour), Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), DigeZyme® Enzyme Complex (Amylase, Protease, Cellulase, Lactase, Lipase).
05-01-2023
8am
30g of lightly salted crisps
1 scoop of vegan protein in 250ml water
8:30am
300ml water
10am
Workout with anywhere from 500ml-1litre
12pm-ish
200g 15% Angus Beef Mince
220g of white rice
1 red pepper
A similar amount of cabbage
4pm
3 rice cakes with 50g of peanut butter
300ml water
5pm
400ml 2% Lactose-free semi-skimmed milk
6pm
1 tbsp of psylium husk (I tolerate this well and it helps with my bowel movements), sometimes I will take 2-3 in a day. I spent a long time without taking this to know it isn’t
a cause of symptoms.
7pm
Around 400 calories worth of Jacket Potato
10g of butter
Tin of tuna
Two big handfuls of rocket salad with a little bit of olive oil
40g of cheddar
8:30pm
50g of peanut butter
10pm
400ml 2% Lactose-free milk
1 scoop vegan protein
12pm
Bed
Daily estimated water intake: 2-2.5 litres
06-01-2023
Soreness throughout entire GI tract this morning and loose stool. Even my sinuses feel sore. Definitely didn’t get enough fiber and vegetables yesterday but i’ve got to be honest about my average diet.
8am
200ml water
2 mile dog walk
10am
40g of lightly salted crips
400ml 2% lactose free-milk
12pm-ish
200g 15% Angus Beef Mince
220g of white rice
1 red pepper
A similar amount of cabbage
2 large carrots
1pm
300ml water
1tbsp psylium husk
3pm
400ml lactose free milk
Scoop of vegan protein
6pm
220g rice
2 rashers of bacon
2 eggs
2 large carrots
Mixed herbs
Mushrooms
8:30pm
50g peanut butter
3 rice cakes
10pm
300ml of milk
Vegan protein scoop
Bed 12pm
Daily estimated water intake: 1.6 litres
07-01-2023
Not half as sore this morning, lots of thick mucus which I guess is a recovery/inflammation thing. Bit better down below. But this is what often happens, i’ll eat close to the same stuff and feel terrible again.
There doesn’t seem to be a pattern.
8:30am
30g lightly salted crisps
1 scoop of vegan protein in water
8:50am
300ml water
10pm
Anywhere from 400ml-1litre in the gym
2pm (went to see my ill Dad was hard to cook a proper meal)
100g of ham
400g jacket potato
30g cheddar
Handful of rocket
4pm
Some black pitted olives
5pm: 400ml 2% lactose-free milk
7:30pm
200g 15% Angus beef mince
Rice
2 carrots
1 large courgette
3 large mushrooms
Fistful of cabbage
10pm
400ml lactose-free milk
Vegan protein scoop
1tbsp psylium husk
Daily estimated water intake: 1.5 litres
It is now the 8th of January and this morning again, full of abrasive mucus, lots of gas, burning right from my bottom up to my sinuses. It is such a strange one as yesterday was a much better day I feel. Keeping this log I have realized my water intake has not been the best which I will work on, and as mentioned, need to get more veg in.
I know I’m a very complicated and rare case. I’ve been fighting this for a long-time and have tried all sorts of things. I am very grateful for you taking the time to listen to me, so thanks again.
This is great! Thank you so much for all of the detail. I have some thoughts/things for you to consider/try (most of which will make you hate me a little bit… lol).
So, you said:
and since you don’t do well with whey - I REALLY suspect that the lactose-free milk could be playing a fairly significant role in your pain. My reasoning is this, whey protein powder contains VERY little to no lactose. Lactose-free milk DOES contain both whey and casein proteins. So… if the whey causes problems, the milk likely does too. Lactose is just the sugar in milk - not the protein. Your symptoms may be a product of a whey/dairy protein allergy.
That being said, would you be willing to humor me and go milk-free for 10-14 days? That’s really where I would start here. If that does nothing…
We can look at trying an autoimmune protocol - this would mean no gluten, eggs, dairy, nuts/seeds (this would pull that protein powder out), legumes (beans, peas, peanuts/peanut butter), and the nightshade vegetables (white potatoes, peppers of all types and seasonings/foods with them, tomatoes and all tomato based/containing products, and all things eggplant. It’s a rough go - but this is where I’d probably go next, for a 2-week stint. After that HORRIBLE 2 weeks, we’d add things back in one at a time. I can help guide you through that process if/when you decide to do it.
If NONE of that helps - we can look at red meat. As AWFUL as that would be, it is a thing for some people. The same can be said for cabbage.
My advice at this juncture though, is to try that milk thing. Keep recording your food/drinks and symptoms and we can move forward based on the outcome of that. What do you think?
PS: I know I’m a total fun-hater, but really, it’s for your own good. 
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Entero concentrate.
Interesting!
My son had a milk protein allergy for his first year, and I wouldn’t have matched up the symptoms myself, but those do line up very well.
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I have thought exactly this in the past. However there have been times I have gone completely dairy-free for a month at a time and not noticed much if any change in symptoms. It is my understanding that milk contains 80-90% of casein protein and that whey makes up the rest. Because of this I feel that maybe the devil is in the dosage for me with the whey protein powder. I’m not disagreeing with you, that would make me a fool. I will actually go dairy-free again because it could of course be a combination of things and I haven’t done it under the guidance of somebody who actually knows what they are on about. I’m just telling you more about history to give a fuller picture. As I have said before though, noticing a pattern with foods has been so difficult. There have been times when I’ve had whey protein powder and it’s not exacerbated symptoms.
This kind of stuff would definitely need to happen on my cuts. Good job I plan to do lots of mini-cuts of 2-4 weeks this year! It may be easier for me than a lot of other people though. I kind of avoid a lot of those things already. Gluten is kept to a minimum, eggs I only really reintroduced around 5-6months ago after avoiding them for a long time, nuts and seeds I removed because I sometimes felt they just hung around for too long, beans I leave well alone, and peas have always been a no for me due to their sugar content (the protein doesn’t contain this). Peanut butter I’ve been on and off with for 10 years, I don’t feel it’s a trigger but due to so many people having problems with it, I will go through phases where I avoid it, I don’t even have it in the house on cutting phases. I don’t go near tomatoes, I know it’s one of the biggest reflux triggers for a lot of people so it’s easier to just not play around with it.
Potatoes and nightshades, I’ve never fully taken away. You specifically say white potatoes, sweet potatoes are the devil for me. All that mucus/thick saliva will turn sweet and it can make me feel bad for days. Cleaning my teeth does not get rid of this, it just kind of sticks around, not in a thrushy way, just kind of in my saliva. Everything sugary does this through. It’s horrible.
Stop swearing at me! ahem. I guess I could slowly switch all my red meat to chicken thighs or something. I would HATE this.
Cabbage hasn’t been big in my diet for long. Putting up with a lot of inflammation you read things about well-cooked cabbage being soothing so I’ve been giving it a good go.
In terms of vegetables, what are some of the most well-tolerated ones I can home in on to become staples?
Thanks again QuadQueen, my gratitude is endless. It’s wonderful to talk about this stuff with somebody who know’s what they’re talking about.
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And you might be right, that the milk/dairy isn’t a problem, but let’s just try it. Dairy -free for two weeks. If it’s an allergy to whey protein, even a small amount can be problematic. Thanks for being a willing participant on this!
So here’s where things get tricky, if there’s any sort of intolerance, each time you expose yourself to even smaller amounts, there’s going to be an immune response and inflammation - so, we’d need COMPLETE elimination to really see what’s up. Painful, yes. Mandatory, also yes.
Good to know… This isn’t common, but I’ve seen it. The sugary stuff jives, but sweet potatoes are usually harmless enough to pass.
I know and hopefully this isn’t an issue for you! I’ve been doing some thinking on this and have a few follow-up questions for you:
- Do you have any seasonal allergies? This won’t necessarily change anything, I’m just curious…
- When you eat is everything cooked from fresh or are you reheating leftovers?
The reasoning behind my questions is that this might actually be a histamine intolerance…
Symptoms: (there are quite a few so here’s a link to the best list I’ve seen.
And here are food lists: link
Given all the information you’ve given, I’m really suspecting that this might be the “thing”. After looking at all of that, let me know what you think. If you also have allergies, that would further support this case. There’s a lot to process there, so just let me know if you have questions.
I’ve found that the veggies that are most well tolerated are cooked leafy greens - spinach, kale, chard, arugula, etc. Maybe start there and if all is good, the next level would be celery, cucumber, and zucchini.
I love geeking out on this stuff, so thank you for letting me help you! I hope that together we can get to the bottom of this and get you feeling better fulltime!
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It’s been the bane of my existence for 10 years, I’d start eating monkey poo if you were to convince me it would help!
Gluten is such a weird one for me. I’ve fallen into the “gluten is evil” pigeonhole a couple of times but there have been occasions I have not had it for several weeks, and then gone on to over indulge in a big bowl of cheesy pasta or a noodle dish and felt good that following evening and possibly even a few days after. I do know that there are fructans especially in bread though and that if I need to avoid onions and garlic that gluten should be off the menu too.
As a pre-cursor, I have read up on histamine-intolerence before. Cured meats, hard cheeses, eggs and the occasional reheated meal don’t seem to cause an effect but like with the dairy stuff, I will try it all again under your supervision. When it comes to seasonal allergies, with the symptom patterns being so hard to predict it is hard to say. I have strangely felt that I feel better when it’s raining and I don’t seem to tolerate heat/the sun much… but then, I am a naturally pale guy with ginger in his beard and that needs to be more consistent with getting his vitamin D in. Even though I say that, this summer there was a terribly hot day and I was going to a surprise BBQ party. In the morning of that day I felt horrible, so horrible that I almost didn’t go. I doubled-dosed an anti-histamine, ate a ton of bread and lots of different kinds of meats with various different spices and marinades on i’d usually avoid and that day went on to become one of the best days I can remember symptom-wise. I thought I’d found the key but have had several occasions where i’ve taken double-anti-histamines and even fluticasone regularly and it seemed to have all been a false dawn. Something in my body happens every 5 or 6 weeks where I don’t feel half as bad. I am determined to figure out what that is. I even went deep down a mental health route in the past to no avail.
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More great info here. Let’s start now with two solid weeks with no dairy, NO gluten and low FODMAP and see where things are at. Keep that food and symptom journal for me too. We are going to figure it out! I’m determined!!!
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I hope this doesn’t trivialize my symptoms or my desire to sort this stuff out. In the past I have done my elimination/trying to figure stuff out again diets when I am cutting (I do 4-6 week mini-cuts every 3-4 months). Progress in the gym is what keeps me mentally well when dealing with symptoms and feeling like my body is failing me. If I were to say I’d like to wait until my cut in 4-8 weeks so I don’t have to stress myself about getting the calories in on such a restrictive diet, would that make me appear like I’m not totally serious about this, even though I assure you I 100% am?
If I risk the chance for your help though I guess I’d just have to suck it up and get on with it now.
Uh, SUCK IT UP!!! lol
Joking, of course! We are on your timeline. I’ll be here when you’re ready to push go.
I mean, if you want to be miserable for another 4-8 weeks, who am I to get in your way?
Just give me a holler when you’re ready!
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Medicine and diet works best. Also stress management is very important.
Yeah … I’d forgotten how lousy my digestion really was back when I was a smoker. I quit smoking years ago and it really did make a world of difference. My digestion now is the best it’s been in quite awhile.
Hope you’ve been able to stay off the cigarettes! If you need any encouragement or advice on that, let me know. (You helped me recently with taking a drinking break, and I’m most grateful.)
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Heh, cheers. Haven’t touched a ciggy for a few years now though. Maybe have the odd one when absolutely steaming drunk, but as you know… that doesn’t really happen anymore.
Just wish I still had the stomach of 20-year-old me.
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Very serious topic. Hows your pain now and how was your experiment as I’ve seen no updates?
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