Hi all,

I have had an awful experience on the elimination diet and I am desperately seeking help and suggestions.

Before beginning the elimination diet I have always had food sensitivities after digesting my stomach lining 5 years ago. Prior to that I had a stomach of iron. After digesting my stomach lining I have avoided most dairy products, all yeast products, all products with durum wheat, pork, potato and any processed foods with the exceptions of staples such as gluten free pasta, flour, etc. I avoided these products due to constantly being sick and these products showing up time and time again as irritants on food intolerance tests that I had done over the years. I found that my stomach was mainly good when I avoided these foods, and I would only have symptoms (diarrhea, flatulance, abdominal pain) once every couple weeks or less.

After reading the elimination diet book and getting tired of avoiding so many foods as a way of life, I thought that the elimination diet would be the answer to solve my problems. Right before beginning the diet I went to the doctor and had blood tests, breath tests and a stool test done to check that there was no underlying cause of my symptoms. This is something I have had done several times over the years so there was no surprise when I was told that I was healthy as a horse.

I have now been on the elimination diet for 5 weeks and can’t take it any longer. I was planning on reintroducing foods earlier but haven’t been able to due to constantly being sick. I have followed this diet to a T and am more sick than I ever have been in my life. I can’t pinpoint what is making me sick and it seems to be everything I eat. At the beginning I had a couple of good days, but then started getting diarrhea every couple of days. I am now at the point where I have diarrhea every single day, multiple times a day and it is drastically affecting my quality of life and my outlook. (Yes I am going back to the Dr’s as soon as I can get an appointment in the small town that I live in). Today for example I have emptied my stomach at least 3 times. And all I have eaten today are vegetables, 2x pieces of fruit, plain meat with seasoning and oil. The previous days were much the same.

I am now afraid that this diet has done more damage than ever to my stomach and if I try to reintroduce foods I will react even worse. I am at a complete loss and am devastated at the experience that I have had on this diet. If anyone has any suggestions to offer as to why my elimination diet experience has gone so wrong or what might be causing my issues then I would be happy to listen.

Sorry to read of your ongoing digestive problems.

I don’t understand what you mean by “digested your stomach lining” nor “emptied your stomach”. Do you mean a stomach ulcer or ulcerative colitis or something else? Do you presently have vomiting or diarrhoea or both?

Are you on any medication? What is your doctor’s explanation for the intermittent gut symptoms, if you are “healthy as a horse”?

As regards the ‘remove & repair’ phase/ elimination diet …

Have you maintained a detailed food and symptom diary (p.187) beforehand and throughout? Was your previous diet balanced nutritionally (vitamins/ minerals/ essential fatty acids) or were you relying on supplements? Which specific foods did you add, subtract, increase and reduce during phase one?

What leaps out at me from the food types/ groups you do mention is the low variety, and the potential lack of fibre, which should bulk out and firm up the stool.

Are you/ were you eating plenty of oily fish, other seafood, whole eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, whole unprocessed grains (eg. steamed brown rice/ jumbo rolled oats)? Or primarily meat from land animals with processed ‘staples’?

Thanks for the responses everyone.

In terms of digested my stomach lining that ie precisely what I mean (or how the doctors described it to me at least). After a horrible experience with some gastro stop medication I had the most excruciating pain and was passing a very strange substance in my stools. I ended up in the ER with no one knowing what was wrong with me and the 8th doctor later explained that the strange substance in my stools was parts of my stomach lining. Not a pleasant experience!

I am not on any medication and after the recent tests came back all fine the doctor said he wasn’t sure what was wrong and to come back if the symptoms persisted. I have previously been put on a gastroenterology waiting list but have been on that list for 4 years…

I have kept a detailed food diet throughout. Prior to the elimination diet I was eating more white carbs such as gluten-free pasta and sourdough bread. I have mainly increased my vegetable and fruit intake on the elimination diet. I was not taking any supplements beforehand.

As I live in a small town my access to a variety of foods is limited. I have eaten lots of nuts, seeds, buckwheat, eggs, etc. On the diet but cut them out in the past couple of weeks as I was worried that they might have been irritating my stomach and causing all of the issues. I have been eating fish throughout and have been eating 2 different types of white meat and 3 different types of red meat throughout also.

I have been monitoring my fibre using a food app and have consistently been getting 20-30g of fibre a day.

It sounds like you might have some form of inflammatory bowel disease in addition to irritable bowel. The first thing you need is a proper diagnosis “digested your stomach lining” isn’t a diagnosis. There is NO WAY you’d be waiting 4 years for a referral to a gastroenterologist. You really need to start there. Also having a stool analysis may be helpful. If you post a ten day detailed food diary (ten days on your old diet then another ten on your exclusion diet) I might be able to help a bit.

Are you taking any prescribed meds on an ongoing basis?

Best of luck

Graham

Hi Misery guts
It sounds like you’ve had a very bad time of things.
Have you excluded the possibility of food chemical sensitivity? Some people are sensitive to chemicals naturally occurring in food including amines, salicylates and glutamates, as well as certain food additives. These can cause gastrointestinal as well as nervous system, skin, behavioural and other symptoms.
The clever guts diet is high in these food chemicals (and excludes many foods low in them), so it is possible this has aggravated your problems if you have food chemical sensitivity. For example, most fruit, many vegetables, olive oil, nuts and seeds, spices and herbs are all high to very high in these food chemicals. Many meats and especially fish if not super fresh are also high in amines, as are things like aged cheeses.
Your profile indicates you’re in Australia. Here in Oz the experts in food chemical intolerance are the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in Sydney. They have an elimination diet for diagnosing this condition outlined in a really useful book they produce (available online). The Fedup food intolerance network (established by a couple who suffer from this condition) also have a wealth of info on their website.
Long story short, after becoming very ill about three years ago after a course of medication I was diagnosed with food chemical sensitivity by a specialist dietician in Melbourne. Similarly to you, everything I ate was making me sick. I tried a diet high in fruit and veg, nuts and seeds, kefir, and other organic foods and became much worse. I then went on the RPAH elimination diet. I couldn’t tolerate even many of the foods low in these food chemicals but felt like a new person after a couple of weeks after sticking to all the ones I could tolerate.
Slowly but surely after two years my health has vastly improving after getting to the bottom of the problem and gradually reintroducing the problem food chemicals. I’ve also done lots of work on improving my gut health, including through probiotics and intermittent fasting. An added benefit is that my pre-existing fructose malabsorption has also completely disappeared.
My GP had never heard of food chemical sensitivity let alone knew anything about it. If you’re interested in exploring it further your best bet would be a specialist dietician. The fedup website has a list of ones who specialise in this in Australia. Some of them also do skype consultations. My GP did provide support by putting me on a chronic health care plan via Medicare. That plan includes up to five allied health visits per year which subsidised the dietician fees, as well as review visits with the GP with no out of pocket costs. This may help meet some of the costs (Medicare chronic health care plans are potentially available to anyone with chronic health problems).
Good luck. I was in a very dark place before I got to the bottom of my health problems, but there is hope!