Re: Re: need some help need to switch to very low fat

[Guest guest]

Left-sided abdominal pain tends to be either problems in the descending or transverse colon (usually caused by constipation but could be something else) or issues with the spleen and pancreas. You might see another doctor or two and seek other opinions, to make sure it isn't something more than cramping from peristalsis, or referred pain from the pancreas or something else.

Are you also getting a lot of pain in your right shoulder or right shoulder blade? Pancreatic pain can also cause right shoulder pain, according to the folks with chronic pancreatitis in my SOD/CP group.

I have chronic constipation, due to poor digestive motility, and I can get some seriously painful twinges and cramps anywhere in my large intestine, but most of the time it's in my descending colon -- left upper abdominal, above and to the outside of my spleen and pancreas. My gastroenterologist says I now have an oversensitive intestinal tract, so normal peristalsis comes across as severe pain. I don't worry about the large intestinal pain unless it is always in the same place, and persists for several days. So far, it hasn't.

But I would get other opinions, just to be reassured that it isn't something more than muscle spasms.

High-fat foods give me a lot of RUQ symptoms (right upper quadrant) along with back pain between my shoulder blades (but I have biliary dyskinesia). I used to get bouts of steatorrhea (that's the greasy layer in toilet water after a bowel-movement) once a week, depending on what foods I was trying, but in the past few months it's happening nearly every time. I don't use much fat in cooking and or in my food combinations, so I suspect my liver isn't performing as well as it should. I, too, don't have a gallbladder; it was removed because my Hida with CCK indicated a problem, and I had a bad gastroenterologist; turns out my gallbladder was normal, my problem was Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction...

Anyway, you ask what I do eat. Well, I stick to low-carb and medium-carb veggies, all cooked (in water usually). I don't use sauces or oil dressings on the veggies or meats. I bake poultry and certain cuts of beef, but I pan-fry or saute fish in a little bit of olive oil. The oils in the fish are vaporized, and no olive oil remains when I'm done cooking the fish. I do use a bit of butter when I scramble or fry eggs once or twice a week, but I usually eat hard-boiled eggs. I do use butter when making nut flour muffins or bread, but I have to limit myself to one serving per day, because the nut flour is constipating; haven't noticed any more nausea than usual due to the butter content in the muffins. My body rejects yogurt and cheeses, due to developing a casein sensitivity plus an inability to digest the milk-fat and the density of the product.

I don't tolerate much in the way of seasonings and spices because of having Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. I don't tolerate fiber either, along with fats. So I have to limit myself to cooking or juicing fruits. I also don't tolerate much fruit per day, limiting myself to two servings per day -- and I have to dilute my juices significantly and strain for fiber several times (make my own juices).

So, I eat very plain, very bland, everything cooked. I can eat a good amount of the foods that are tolerated, as long as I eat small meals. So I eat something every 2 to 3 hours, small amounts, including some protein with every "snack."

I would guess I eat about half of the SCD-permitted foods. I don't feel at all deprived that I can't eat the wonderful recipes found in the SCD-cookbooks. I just modify the recipes, try a new one once every two or three months, when I'm needing some variety. Usually they upset my digestion for a week or so, which is why I don't do it very often...

Good thing I like plain and simple foods, since that's all my digestion can cope with [grin].

Kim M.

SCD 5 years

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction 5+ years

neurological deterioration, cause as yet unidentified, 3 years

>>>>>>>>>>

Could the fat be causing this pain? I have also noticed that when I have been to the toilet, their is a greasy layer on the water, even?now when I have formed stools. I??had my gall bladder removed prior to diagnosis of crohns?????????????My doc says the pain is muscular, but im not convinced of this at all.The list of all the things you dont eat is interesting. Can you tell me what kinds of things you do eat? How do you put meals together?Thanks