Fructose Malabsorption

Posted by CL @lelia, Dec 5, 2018

I'd like to start a discussion on fructose malabsorption, how to control it, what to eat and not eat, etc. . Is anybody interested?

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@guthealth

Thank you for taking the time to write all this information. Much appreciated.

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Thanks for letting me know it helps! I'd like to think it does.

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@lelia

Are you doing this in person with the Mayo nutritionist or remotely? I looked online and couldn't find the Mayo Clinic FODMAP Eating Plan. How do they determine the order of food reintroduction? What if you can't tolerate a food? Is that it for that category or do you just try each food separately regardless? For example, if you can't tolerate cabbage, do they then assume you can't tolerate cruciferous vegetables so you don't try them? How long do you wait before introducing a new food? Thanks. I'd appreciate any info you could give.

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I see a nutritionist face to face every two to three weeks and can access her by email if I have a question. I don’t work with the Mayo Clinic. Another major medical center in another city. Even though my insurance does not cover the sessions, the $92.00 I pay for these sessions is the best money I have ever spent, and I am not exaggerating. I went from being an emaciated 105 pound person who experienced diarrea several times per day to a much healthier, functioning adult. Have not experienced diarrhea in nearly two months and gained ten of the 20 pounds I lost. I am a fairly intelligent person, but the whole reintroduction aspect of the diet and what to eat and not eat and the amounts were too hard for me to do on my own. These diets have to be individualized, as we are all different. My efforts to implement this low FODMAP diet on my own were a disaster. I had no clue until I met with a professional. Can’t emphasize this enough. Neither my general nor my GI doctor were of any help. Both encouraged me to eat “normal” and eat high calorie foods to gain weight. Therefore, I kept relapsing while eating wheat toast, rice, jello and baked potatoes. All the typical bland foods you are supposed to eat for colitis and diarrhea. Once I knew I needed nutritional help, I kept asking, insisting and making phone calls until I found someone. Every GI practice should have a nutritionist on staff. Sadly, not the case.

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@guthealth

I see a nutritionist face to face every two to three weeks and can access her by email if I have a question. I don’t work with the Mayo Clinic. Another major medical center in another city. Even though my insurance does not cover the sessions, the $92.00 I pay for these sessions is the best money I have ever spent, and I am not exaggerating. I went from being an emaciated 105 pound person who experienced diarrea several times per day to a much healthier, functioning adult. Have not experienced diarrhea in nearly two months and gained ten of the 20 pounds I lost. I am a fairly intelligent person, but the whole reintroduction aspect of the diet and what to eat and not eat and the amounts were too hard for me to do on my own. These diets have to be individualized, as we are all different. My efforts to implement this low FODMAP diet on my own were a disaster. I had no clue until I met with a professional. Can’t emphasize this enough. Neither my general nor my GI doctor were of any help. Both encouraged me to eat “normal” and eat high calorie foods to gain weight. Therefore, I kept relapsing while eating wheat toast, rice, jello and baked potatoes. All the typical bland foods you are supposed to eat for colitis and diarrhea. Once I knew I needed nutritional help, I kept asking, insisting and making phone calls until I found someone. Every GI practice should have a nutritionist on staff. Sadly, not the case.

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I agree with you about all GI practices needing to have nutritionists. Mine is a very large organization and doesn’t Have anyone. My impression is that the docs are now focused on procedures like colonoscopies and endoscopies where the $$ is best and they are not too interested in counseling their patients about ongoing problems. I’ve been going to the same GI for 20 years and have seen this change firsthand.

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@guthealth

I see a nutritionist face to face every two to three weeks and can access her by email if I have a question. I don’t work with the Mayo Clinic. Another major medical center in another city. Even though my insurance does not cover the sessions, the $92.00 I pay for these sessions is the best money I have ever spent, and I am not exaggerating. I went from being an emaciated 105 pound person who experienced diarrea several times per day to a much healthier, functioning adult. Have not experienced diarrhea in nearly two months and gained ten of the 20 pounds I lost. I am a fairly intelligent person, but the whole reintroduction aspect of the diet and what to eat and not eat and the amounts were too hard for me to do on my own. These diets have to be individualized, as we are all different. My efforts to implement this low FODMAP diet on my own were a disaster. I had no clue until I met with a professional. Can’t emphasize this enough. Neither my general nor my GI doctor were of any help. Both encouraged me to eat “normal” and eat high calorie foods to gain weight. Therefore, I kept relapsing while eating wheat toast, rice, jello and baked potatoes. All the typical bland foods you are supposed to eat for colitis and diarrhea. Once I knew I needed nutritional help, I kept asking, insisting and making phone calls until I found someone. Every GI practice should have a nutritionist on staff. Sadly, not the case.

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Thanks. Maybe I should try a nutritionist again. We are quite happy with the way things are, but I would like to broaden the diet a bit.

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Hi:
I too have Malabsorption and I did go see a professional nutritionist and it cost me $200 for one session. After that I educated myself and I am doing great. I will not pay $200 bucks when I can do my own research and educate myself. I had a worse case of Malbsorption with diarrhea every single day for over 50 years and no Doctor could figure out what was wrong with me besides them telling me that I have IBS what bullshit that was. I did find a wonderful GI Doctor that had me do the Malabsorption Test and she recommended me to see a Nutritionist which I did. My diet is limited, I do missed the garlic, onions and potatoes and many other foods, but you must do what you need to do.

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@redhead63

Hi:
I too have Malabsorption and I did go see a professional nutritionist and it cost me $200 for one session. After that I educated myself and I am doing great. I will not pay $200 bucks when I can do my own research and educate myself. I had a worse case of Malbsorption with diarrhea every single day for over 50 years and no Doctor could figure out what was wrong with me besides them telling me that I have IBS what bullshit that was. I did find a wonderful GI Doctor that had me do the Malabsorption Test and she recommended me to see a Nutritionist which I did. My diet is limited, I do missed the garlic, onions and potatoes and many other foods, but you must do what you need to do.

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Are you sensitive to things other than fructose? I ask because potatoes, even though high in carbs, do not contain much fructose.

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I was advised by my dietician to eat potato in very small quantities because they are harder or take longer to digest than other carbs and feed the bad bacteria when you have SIBO. Prior to my SIBO diagnosis, I ate potatoes all the time without problem. All carbs are eventually converted to sugar by the body. I don’t know if I am fructose intolerant or not, but a SIBO diet limits sugars too. I am not supposed to have sweets or even honey in my tea. Honey was another wonderful and highly nutritious food I used to consume daily prior to SIBO. Same with gluten. Don’t really know if I am gluten intolerant or not but we eliminated gluten and lactose from my diet because I was having so much diarrhea and losing so much weight. So we started by eliminating all the possible offenders and start to slowly build up from there. I am very new to this. My symptoms started in July following a course with clyndomycin to treat a UTI. We have found substitutes for wheat, like Uddi’s white bread and bagels, substitutes for milk, like pea protein milk, etc. I hope to eventually return to what once was my normal diet, but also know that maintaining my intestinal health is more important. I have not cheated or gone off the diet since we started two and a half months ago. I will now have a couple of bites from my husband’s baked potato and rice. That’s about all I am supposed or allowed to have.

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@jackiem95

I agree with you about all GI practices needing to have nutritionists. Mine is a very large organization and doesn’t Have anyone. My impression is that the docs are now focused on procedures like colonoscopies and endoscopies where the $$ is best and they are not too interested in counseling their patients about ongoing problems. I’ve been going to the same GI for 20 years and have seen this change firsthand.

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My first gastroenterologist was with a large organization and I had the same experience - all they wanted to do was repeat colonoscopies and upper endoscopies, also for the $ I believe. They didn't even do any other testing. I finally went up to Mayo where I
was diagnosed with fm. When I got home, I switched to a gastroenterologist at the local university medical center.

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@redhead63

Hi:
I too have Malabsorption and I did go see a professional nutritionist and it cost me $200 for one session. After that I educated myself and I am doing great. I will not pay $200 bucks when I can do my own research and educate myself. I had a worse case of Malbsorption with diarrhea every single day for over 50 years and no Doctor could figure out what was wrong with me besides them telling me that I have IBS what bullshit that was. I did find a wonderful GI Doctor that had me do the Malabsorption Test and she recommended me to see a Nutritionist which I did. My diet is limited, I do missed the garlic, onions and potatoes and many other foods, but you must do what you need to do.

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I think IBS is the catch-all term for not knowing just what the problem is. That's my impression.

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@jackiem95

Are you sensitive to things other than fructose? I ask because potatoes, even though high in carbs, do not contain much fructose.

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I eat potatoes too, but not the skins because they have fructans (chains of fructose) in them.

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