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Suggest Treatment For Stomach Pain After A Change In Diet
Question: hi I was diagnosed with IBS-C many years ago and had many tests. I lost a tooth recently and was told to be on a soft diet. it is hard to chew regular food so all I have been eating is mashed potatos and mashed macaroni. Recently at night, every night, I have been getting the urge to go very strong like a nervous stomach and then I defecate formed stools that have to be manually removed. I don't know why this is happening but i need help. thanks What could be causing this?
Brief Answer:
Return to previous diet
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
From the history you detail here, I imagine that you normally eat more fiber and are not right now because of the tooth problem. I suggest you drink more fruit juice, and put well cooked veggies such as steamed broccoli in a blender with a little water, and eat it like baby food. You won't have to chew it, but you will still be getting the fiber you need. Living only on mashed potatoes and macaroni will not work for someone with IBS-C. So return to your previous diet that worked for you, but throw it in the blender with liquid and make baby food out of it. Not the most palatable form of food, but it will help you until you get your dental repair.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Return to previous diet
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
From the history you detail here, I imagine that you normally eat more fiber and are not right now because of the tooth problem. I suggest you drink more fruit juice, and put well cooked veggies such as steamed broccoli in a blender with a little water, and eat it like baby food. You won't have to chew it, but you will still be getting the fiber you need. Living only on mashed potatoes and macaroni will not work for someone with IBS-C. So return to your previous diet that worked for you, but throw it in the blender with liquid and make baby food out of it. Not the most palatable form of food, but it will help you until you get your dental repair.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
The truth is I haven't eaten normally in months. i go to a clinic for my teeth and it's very hard to get an appointment there. I don't know when or what they will do with my teeth but I fear I may have to eat a liquid diet for the rest of my life. I have an appointment in 3 months and it may take longer before they decide what they will do to fix my teeth. How long can I survive on a liquid diet? Even before my tooth problem, I hadn't been eating right because it is so hard for me to go to the bathroom. I make soft pasty stools that will not come out without manual disimpaction. I have been using Fleet Enemas for years now and that helps but I am never completely empty. I used to take Metamucil at night and that would help me go like clockwork in the morning. Should I try going back to that again or do I need to be eating solid food for it to work? I'm 45, I don't want to end up living the rest of my life like this.
Brief Answer:
Balanced diet needed
Detailed Answer:
You can take Metamucil. Reintroduce it gradually or you may have problems with gas and bloating.
But you need to have a balanced diet in general or your health will deteriorate.
And yes, you can live on baby food consistency food for many months (and take Metamucil with it). As long as you are getting all of the nutrients you need including protein, vegetables and carbohydrates. During a lengthy illness, I used to blend boiled chicken, boiled carrots, and a steamed vegetable such as green beans or broccoli. Threw it all in the blender together and lived on foods like this for many months. The important thing is that you have a balanced diet, because you are going to get ill from mashed potatoes and macaroni.
Balanced diet needed
Detailed Answer:
You can take Metamucil. Reintroduce it gradually or you may have problems with gas and bloating.
But you need to have a balanced diet in general or your health will deteriorate.
And yes, you can live on baby food consistency food for many months (and take Metamucil with it). As long as you are getting all of the nutrients you need including protein, vegetables and carbohydrates. During a lengthy illness, I used to blend boiled chicken, boiled carrots, and a steamed vegetable such as green beans or broccoli. Threw it all in the blender together and lived on foods like this for many months. The important thing is that you have a balanced diet, because you are going to get ill from mashed potatoes and macaroni.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Ok I will do that, but i can chew a little, the dentist told me to eat what's comfortable on my teeth. I just can't understand why I am going to the bathroom at night instead of the day. What has turned things around? It's not easy either because of nervous stomach pain. What can I do to stop that and go in the morning again?
Brief Answer:
Resuming a normal diet
Detailed Answer:
It sounds like your diet is poor right now and it will take awhile for your digestive system to recover and become more normalized. If you have IBS - C and change your diet to mostly starchy things, your digestive functions will be off kilter.
Resuming a normal diet
Detailed Answer:
It sounds like your diet is poor right now and it will take awhile for your digestive system to recover and become more normalized. If you have IBS - C and change your diet to mostly starchy things, your digestive functions will be off kilter.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
I was advised to take a laxative called Cremaffin at night to help but I never heard of it. Would this help? If I am having this problem every night how would this laxative help? Sorry for all the questions I am just worried because I never had this happen before and this nervous stomach, even though it is not diahrhea, it is usually normal stool, there is pain.
Brief Answer:
Cremaffin
Detailed Answer:
Cremaffin is a laxative used in XXXXXXX I don't think it's sold in the US, at least I haven't ever seen it before.
Is the Bentyl not helping for the cramping pain? Or is it another kind of pain?
Cremaffin
Detailed Answer:
Cremaffin is a laxative used in XXXXXXX I don't think it's sold in the US, at least I haven't ever seen it before.
Is the Bentyl not helping for the cramping pain? Or is it another kind of pain?
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
The Bentyl helps the nervous stomach pain, problem is, it can be constipating and cause more problems. I am afraid to eat a liquid diet because I do have trouble getting the stool out. I almost always have to pick it out. I know that is gross. I don't really get a cramp, more like just terrible butterflies. Not much empties out, and it doesn't bring relief. Shouls i take some sort of laxative like MOM or senakot?
Brief Answer:
Not a liquid diet
Detailed Answer:
I am not advising a liquid diet. I am advising a normal balanced diet that is pulverized via blender. This will look the same to your intestines as if it were whole food. It is just saving you the step of having to chew it because of the dental problems.
Not a liquid diet
Detailed Answer:
I am not advising a liquid diet. I am advising a normal balanced diet that is pulverized via blender. This will look the same to your intestines as if it were whole food. It is just saving you the step of having to chew it because of the dental problems.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Ok now I understand better. More like baby food consistency. I am a bit nervous now because I am not going at all in the morning. Even though I am going at night, I will still wake up early, my bowels wake me up, and I go even if it is only a little. Now I feel like I am only going to be able to go at night which is difficult and a bit painful cramping, I won't be able to do anything else in the evenings but be near a toilet. I hope adding the fiber will get me back to normal. I will try the advice you have given me and I thank you for your support and caring. Really wish you could be my doctor because my doctors don't seem to be much help. Thank you so much for your time.
Brief Answer:
Another thought - hot water bottle.
Detailed Answer:
I can't say for absolute sure, but hopefully after your diet improves with more fiber, your bowels will become better regulated. I think this will be the case. For now consider 1 Bentyl in the evening. If 10 mg is too constipating, consider cutting it to 5 mg. Another thing that can be quite helpful with cramping and feeling the need to go when you aren't even really needing to go is a hot water bottle applied to the cramping area. A heating pad will have the same effect too.
I hope you feel better soon.
Another thought - hot water bottle.
Detailed Answer:
I can't say for absolute sure, but hopefully after your diet improves with more fiber, your bowels will become better regulated. I think this will be the case. For now consider 1 Bentyl in the evening. If 10 mg is too constipating, consider cutting it to 5 mg. Another thing that can be quite helpful with cramping and feeling the need to go when you aren't even really needing to go is a hot water bottle applied to the cramping area. A heating pad will have the same effect too.
I hope you feel better soon.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank you. I wanted to ask another question since now I can't seem to go in the mornings and when I go at night it's not alot and painful, what laxative do you recommend? My GP prescribed Lizness for me, I haven't tried it yet. Then he also told me to take Senakot. Usually I take Milk of Magnesia when I am constipated but it doesn't always work. It's so strange that this is happening to me because I was going every morning very soft and easily for the past few weeks. Then I got this nervous stomach and bowel movements at night. Even if thre is not much there, I still feel like I need to get it out.
I forgot to add that the reason I seem so obsessed with this is because both my father and my maternal grandmother had colon cancer and had to wear permanent colostomy bags. I am terrified this will happen to me.
I forgot to add that the reason I seem so obsessed with this is because both my father and my maternal grandmother had colon cancer and had to wear permanent colostomy bags. I am terrified this will happen to me.
Brief Answer:
About laxatives and colon cancer.
Detailed Answer:
I think Linzess and Senokot are appropriate choices. Consider starting with just one and if after a couple of days that doesn't work well for you, add the other. Linzess is specifically for people with IBS with constipation. Senokot is a general laxative.
I too have a strong family history of colon cancer. My sister and aunt both had colon cancer. But I feel confident that if I go in at the recommended intervals for colonoscopy, that any early colon cancer will be found and removed before it causes problems. It takes years for early colon cancer such as polyps, to reach the point of causing the damage that your relatives had. So I don't worry about that and I hope this can put your mind at ease about it too.
If you think that underlying anxiety may be contributing to the nervous stomach you are having at night, it might be good to treat that instead. Consider talking to the doctor who prescribes your Ativan about this.
About laxatives and colon cancer.
Detailed Answer:
I think Linzess and Senokot are appropriate choices. Consider starting with just one and if after a couple of days that doesn't work well for you, add the other. Linzess is specifically for people with IBS with constipation. Senokot is a general laxative.
I too have a strong family history of colon cancer. My sister and aunt both had colon cancer. But I feel confident that if I go in at the recommended intervals for colonoscopy, that any early colon cancer will be found and removed before it causes problems. It takes years for early colon cancer such as polyps, to reach the point of causing the damage that your relatives had. So I don't worry about that and I hope this can put your mind at ease about it too.
If you think that underlying anxiety may be contributing to the nervous stomach you are having at night, it might be good to treat that instead. Consider talking to the doctor who prescribes your Ativan about this.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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