Help/advice needed regarding food

Digestive health
1

Hi everyone not new to this forum just looking for some help/advice please.

Basically i attended an appointment with a new consultant and explained to him my ongoing symptoms since having my gall bladder out he has told me now to eat any of the following:-

Nothing brown i.e bread, pastas rices etc

no vegetables except carrots and potatoes but no skins on the potatoes

no fruits

no lettuce cucumber tomatoes onions beetroot sweetcorn celery

No fried foods

no coffee

no fruit juices

no coridals

no fizzy drinks

no sugars

no oats

no cereals

no spicy food

no nuts

no chocolate

The list is endless believe me there is alot more things im not allowed to eat on the list i couldnt believe it when he gave me the list i couldnt believe it. I am only eating small portions and only managing a slice of toast in the morning and then a small white tea cake with tuna on at dinner. I want to eat healthy but as you can read not allowed salad fruit or vegetables so what am i meant to do. I dont know what to eat anymore

Can anyone offer any help?

2

Hi

I have been following your posts with interest for a while because your situation seems to be similar to mine.

After an ultrasound, 2 cts with contrast 4 months apart, a cholangiogram, 3 lots of pathology and gastroscopy and colonoscopy. I am still in ongoing pain and discomfort every other day with stool colour changes to boot.

I also have gyno issues which I feel are exacerbating things.

To date the most info I have had is sludge in the bile duct. ive read conflicting information regarding the gallbladder diet and its confusing as hell. Some diets recommend wholemeal bread, others say stick to white. Some tell you to have rolled oats, some say steer clear etc.

For me its ongoing trial and error. Rolled Oats/porridge set off pain, as does raw, even finely cut, cabbage, carrot and beetroot.

I can eat plain lettuce, cucumbers with no skin, tomatoes raw and cooked,rice porridge, puffed rice, apple puree, strawberries., blueberries but bananas cause pain. It's very much trial and error.

I have each morning a glass of 2 tsps of supergreens supplement with water each morning which I find soothing.

I have an appt with a new specialist of hepotaology in the beginning of August because I need some sort of plan of goals and outcomes instead of muddling along like I seem to be. I'm losing weight, vitamin d deficient, slightly anaemic with slight wbc count. Nothing off the charts though to warrant "urgent" interventions . It's frustrating because I seem to be driving this atm by pushing investigations and follow ups when I need a health care specialist to be doing it. My new gp has been great though I must say in referring for a 2nd opinion and im hoping for some positive changes.

Coral, can you let me know how you go with the diet if you don't mind? Did your specialist give you any diet examples or maybe s/he could even refer you to a dietitian versed in gb issues?

Sorry if the post is muddled Im typing it on a small phone and Im not that good at managing.

3

Hi thank you for your reply.

I to feel the same like it is trial and error with food but i get to the point where i am scared to eat then odd days i think sod it i am going to eat what i want but then the flare up starts. Because i am under a few consultants they can contridict one another at time. The radiologists and consultants had a coference meeting about me on monday just gone and i find out this thursday 16th what they plan to do next. I have been told 2 stick to this crazy diet and keep taking all my medication. They were talking about repeating my MRI scans and carrying out a MRCP test to look at the bile duct liver pancreas and pancreas ducts. I have been suffering since i had my gall bladder out april 2014 but im not giving up to i get answers and get abit of normality back in my life. I will let you know what my outcomes are

4

Hi again,

That's good if they had that conference meeting, hopefully they can all get on the same page and get to a good outcome faster. So I gather they are thinking a stone or sludge in one of the ducts perhaps that was overlooked in your originally surgery?

I sincerely feel for your suffering, my situation has been going on since March this year (although I have had gall issues sporadiaclly in the last ten) and has become almost a chronic condition since May. It is drifting across to the left know and of course I have alwasy been paranoid about pancreatic ca so my mind is running riot!  My GP has said highly likely it is referred pain from gb sludge in a bile duct.  I really don't know though anymore.

Like you I have become almost afraid to eat because I still don't know all  the trigger foods. I suppose I could just stick to the established "safe" foods, but that's severely limiting.

 I hardly slept last night because of the discomfort level and succumbed to taking a phenergan and a quarter of an endone.

Tonight, it's two ibuprofen and every time I take a med, I stress a little more because I know that depending it may make things worse.

August the 6th can't come fast enough and again, nothing is being fastracked because thus far, none of my diagnostic or pathology work has screamed "urgent".

I'm guessing I may be in for a HIDA scan or ERCP, since I had the CT cholangiogram.

I feel like life has been put on hold at the moment.

5

I know what u mean by sticking to safe foods that then leaves your diet very limited however last weekend we was having a family bbq and i thiught sod it for 1 day im eating what i want i thought its only 1 day god that night and day after i felt so ill so im starting to think even though its crap not being able to have much choice with foods its better than suffering every other day when i stick to the strict diet i still have flare ups but not as intense although last night i had a bad one.

I think the only reason why they have had the conference meeting is because i am sticking to my guns and im not taking no for a answer i keep going back to the doctors and consultants and explaining all the symptoms time and time again and saying to them there must be a reason behind it and explaining what massive effect it is having on my work life social life etc they are probably sick of me but im not giving up no chance i want some normality back in my life.

Be careful taking ibuprofen as it can cause pain and upset the stomach the consultants have told me not to take them as it could make me worse. They have told me to take co-cordamol 30/500 or tramadol if pain is severe.

My surgeon told me the ERCP test has alot of risks carrying it out and instead would rather do an MRCP as it is alot safer and less invasive because the ERCP test can cause damage to the bile duct so its looking likely i will end up having the MRCP test so they can look at the bile duct liver pancreas and pancreatic ducts and if there is any problems with any other them it will show.

I have also had a CT scan and i requested a copy of the report from it as they are very detailed. Mine stated - possible early onset of inflammatory bowel disease, possible diverticulitus and some other things i have discussed this report with a consultant, doctor and surgeon and they have all said different things so i am still no clearer on this. However when i return to see this professor at a different hospital in another town i am going to ask him to look at the report and ask for his insight on it. It seems well in my case all people involved in my care seem to contradict one another which is frustrating you start to feel like you getting somewhere but then feels like you are taking 1 step forward and 10 steps back. Everytime i have my bloods taken and tested it always comes back that my inflammatory markers are high but then the doctors dont really say much about it apart from i could possibly have an infection but dont want to give me antibiotics incase they upset my stomach and make my symtoms worse.

I really hope you get some answers soon and get some relief keep me posted on how you get on and if i find any useful information that i think might help you i will let you know take care

6

I would find another doctor- that's sounds a bit ridiculous. But also if you are having nausea/vomiting or anything like that I would try dandelion root capsules. They saved me. They can make diarrhea worse, though so if that's a problem be careful. Best of luck!