Only bone broth and gluten free bread for several weeks, any suggestio

...I feel for you and hope you get the tests/results/help soon. I have had "ibs-D" for many years since radiation treatment to pelvic area , as has husband, and we both have bowel issues .. I also had c.diff few years ago and now fecal incontinence... we are both Seniors: is your medical problem mostly stomach or bowel? Our diets are very limited, eg no fresh veggies or fruit except bananas and him apples; mostly potatoes, carrots etc. its horrible as I used to love cooking and both of us enjoyed eating , and miss salads and fruits and many other things, but when we do eat something not on our lists we pay for it with cramps, diarrhea etc. Even eating plainly still have issues but only take Imodium. Wishing you the best....J. p.s. Can you tolerate those nutritional drinks like Ensure etc. Hope you get some helpful answers here...... take care.

Thank you @lacy2. What you are able to eat now gives me hope that I too could eventually eat those things. Yes, I use to love to eat fresh salads. As of now, I cannot tolerate the Ensure. I had to drink an Ensure for the HIDA scan and it was very sugary. I would love to be able to drink some type of protein drink that was not too heavy in the sugar and gentle on the stomach. Or even find a good clean protein powder. I would say pain wise the pain is more in the stomach and upper area and the bowel issues come from the loose stools. However, who knows if one things is creating the other symptom. Best wishes and I hope you find some peace also. Thank you for sharing your story. I appreciate your time, advice and thoughts.

Hi sunshine2023, I had to comment on your post when I saw the words bone broth! A month after I had covid 15 months ago that's all I could eat...for 6 weeks! Extreme pressure and pain under my left rib cage almost constantly. Have you had a colonoscopy? That's what finally found my partial obstruction due to my endometriosis punching through my sigmoid colon! Don't want to scare you but if you haven't already had one that's what I would do asap. gas was trapped causing me to not be able to eat was on miralax for months due to constipation and fecal burden before they could finally schedule my partial bowel resection. Since then, July 2022 the pain isn't anywhere as intolerable but still have that nagging under left rib cage pain that comes and goes. Have you lost weight without trying? I lost 20 lbs before even getting to the point of not being able to eat. Now, me and my primary care are 95% sure I've had sibo this whole time as well! Eureka! Been eating strict low fodmap diet for 2 weeks already feeling the difference no bloating! And gas is less working on getting rifaximin to kill off the bad bacteria causing the gas..also going to try herbal approach if needed as my insurance ends March 31! My acid reflux and heartburn days are behind me! All making sense. If you can I wouldn't take omeprozole for too long can cause long term problems. My heart goes out to you and I hope you are able find relief get answers and get better, it's such an awful thing to not be able to eat! Take care 🙂

Having had gut issues and cautious about what I would eat, I continued with gluten free bread and gluten free everything, ate scrambled eggs and started making smoothies since they are easily digested. You can find clean protein powders, add fruit like bananas and blueberries, I used nut milks without any additives, and collagen. Start with a small portion and see how you feel. During this time I also went dairy free (fat in dairy can sometimes be hard to digest) and sugar free (substituted Stevia as I need some sweetness). This really helped until I could find a doctor who would look for the cause of my symptoms and not treat just the symptoms. Mediation and doing breath work also helped with being stressed and anxious. Both stress and anxiety effect our gut. Read about the brain gut connection to learn about this.
Best to you, I know it’s difficult going through this.

@sunshine2023 have you had a breath test? Does your gf bread have honey in it? Or bone broth have wheat in it? My daughter has fructose malabsorption. Cannot have wheat, honey, & many items w/high fructose. Hope you get results soon 🙏 ❤️ not sure of you can have ensure clear or boost clear they tend to be on the sweeter side too

@somedaydialysisfree. Thank you for your response. No, I have not had a breath test. That's a good idea.
The bread I eat is UDI white and it does have cane sugar. There may be higher quality gluten free breads but this is what I found so far. Bone broth does not have wheat. Good idea I will always check the pkg ingredients.

Thank you for your response @gigi4. I like the ideas of smoothies. I hope to find some clean proteins. Now that you mentioned the protein and Stevia I will look in the stores. Having a gluten free powder or clean powder would be a wonderful addition. I hope to be able to add eggs. Good suggestion understanding more about gut and the brain. Thank you for sharing your suggestions. Very helpful.

What protein powder do you like? Do you avoid any other foods besides gluten and dairy? I have tried smoothies for breakfast and broth for lunch and regular good for dinner (gluten free). It helps some but feeling cranky by dinner (thinking I need more protein during the day).

Hi Sunshine!
I'm so sorry to hear of all your problems with food and digestion! I've never had any of the problems you are having but I am very sensitive to certain foods and spices. Have you tried yogurt? It's quite healthy and actually soothing to your body. I like the plain yogurt and eat the brand Nancy's from Oregon which is natural and has no preservatives. Also homemade custard may be good. It's very mild and easy to make. Look up Betty Crocker online and you could probably find a custard recipe. A boiled egg might be a good protein source. Also, mashed potatoes and white gravy are easy on your digestive system and soothing. Someone mentioned Ensure. That has preservatives in it. You might be better off with just chocolate milk. Read labels. It will help you to know what is exactly in the food you are eating.

About your medications, you might want to read all of the side effects and see if any of them could be causing some of your problems. You can look them up on the Mayo Clinic website. They are very thorough.

Prayer also works! I'll remember you in mine.
I hope things work out for you!
PML

Hi, I use Simply Tera’s organic whey protein. I use both chocolate flavored and vanilla flavored, depending on the type of fruit I use and it only has 4 ingredients.
In addition to gluten and some dairy (I found a grass fed yogurt A2/A2 certified- this makes it easy to digest and I also use grass fed butter). Grass fed products were recommended by my doctor. I avoid sweets due to the high sugar content as much as possible but I’m human and some occasional sweets is ok. I also do not drink alcohol regularly as I did before my gut issues. If I do on occasion have a glass of wine I do so with food and not on an empty stomach. Alcohol is high in sugar.
Hope this is helpful to you. It’s a real learning curve finding products that work for me. I’ve become a label reader and look for minimal ingredients, avoid anything that sounds like a chemical and avoid highly processed foods as well.