Lost in the woods: Skin issues, food intolerance, bloating, and the mystery therein

Hey all,

It's been a LONG time since I posted. A lot has happened in life, good and bad. But I'm back to plumb the collective wisdom and experience of this great community in hopes I can get some help.

About two years ago I was falling pretty hard off he wagon. I was eating out a lot, eating carbs, getting horrid reflux to the point where I was on Zantac every night and had bad sinus issues. Well I scaled back on that. I had an endoscopy to examine my sleeve, and aside from some redness, the GI didn't note any damage done. So I ramped back the carbs, started eating better and a lot of my problems went away.

But then I started dating a vegetarian who hates legumes and we started eating out a LOT and eating meals at home together. I slipped back into eating pretty much anything and everything. My weight went up a little, but not dramatically so.

The biggest problem I have noticed recently is a kind of bloating and whole body inflammation that causes breakouts of eczema where there were none before. Certain foods seem to trigger it: sugar alcohols, onions, sweets, but it's hard to put my finger on what's going on. My local care team has not been able to give me many answers on this and I have to constantly remind them I'm a WLS patient. I realize as a sleever my needs are much different than those of someone with an intact stomach. I've been dealing with this in some capacity for almost two years and it's starting to wear me down. Any advice would be tremendously appreciated. I could go on and on in even more excruciating detail, but I thought I'd throw this out there in hopes someone might be able to point me in the right direction. I'll be reaching out to my care team at Hospital Angeles as well, but there's no substitute for experience. Yours truly,

Rouxful

My two cents. Are you still taking all the correct post op vitamins? That would be number one. Manage your B12 with the rest of the vitamins.

Number two would be an allergy type reaction. You sound like I feel when I start eating corn. Esp. tortillas or corn chips, where corn is concentrated. It's just like my body rebels. Try eliminating all corn for a couple of weeks and see how you do. My difference is dramatic. I can eat corn once in a while but when I start eating concentrated products on a regular basis, it blows me up like a Thanksgiving Day balloon and my skin goes wild. This was even before I was sleeved and I'd be afraid to eat it after.

Some people have the same reaction to too many nut products. So if you're doing nut milks and nut spreads, for example, it might be too much for you.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

-Cher

I started following the autoimmune protocol. For me it has really changed the level of inflammation in my body. One thing a lot of people use it for is eczema.

It doesn't seem to be interfering with my sleeve at all. It is not vegetarian by any means, but by cutting out grains, legumes, sugar, eggs, dairy I have noticed a huge difference in the level of inflammation in my body.

I am going to try reintroducing back the foods in a few weeks, but it sounds like grains, legumes, sugar are pretty much off the table. - which post sleeve is not bad.

Also adding fermented foods has actually helped with the acid too. I used to take protonix daily, I am down to every other day becasue I'm leery of stopping completely.

The wahls protocol might be more vegetarian friendly but I struggled with that with my sleeve.

I just saw an article this week about reactions to gluten intolerance, and one of those reactions showed a rash like you describe. It's time for some serious elimination experiments and I would start with all things gluten.

Also having a sleeve shouldnt matter with your docs while diagnosing you for your stomach is fully intact with all moving parts working>>just smaller

Thanks for all the replies. I do think I have some material reactions to sugar, but I just figured it was because my body wasn't used to it. But in that same vein, eating lots of carbs isn't something my body is used to either. For two to three years before my surgery, so going on nearly a decade, I was low-carbing it quite a bit.

Recently I tried reintroducing a high-fat protocol into my diet and felt tremendously better, and started even losing again. I can't update my health tracker, but I'm at 212 and was as high as 245 in the fall when things were really bad. Then I started working my sleeve and got things under control.

For a while I was having brown rice and kimchi for breakfast each morning to get some probiotics, as well as chugging kefir (plain). And while it was making me feel ok, it wasn't filling me up either.

The acid has been under control more or less for quite some time, so thankfully that chapter seems to have closed. The biggest clue I've had is my lower bowel function. My inflammation always seems to be associated with fullness in my bowel and is the least severe when I can eliminate thoroughly. But I am often constipated and not sure why. I am really, as you have all mentioned, suspecting a food intolerance where there was none before. I eat a LOT of legumes, I realize, especially peanuts and peanut butter (plain). I was also rocking hummus every night too, but it didn't seem to do me any favors.

IN RE the constipation, I bought some Miralax, which I haven't really tried before. Every night I was taking SF Metamucil to try and stay regular, but I'm realizing I was going through the motions and it didn't seem to be helping as much as I thought.

I've been reading about FODMAPS and do realize that onions seem to F me up, as well as sugar alcohols (which is why I've tried to cut them out). The latter is hard, since my supplements have sorbitol in them. I will have to buy new ones.

A word about my vitamins, I hadn't been supplementing for a few years after my surgery, which was a bad idea, but it wasn't what precipitated this kind of inflammation. But for the last year I've consistently taken a B complex, large adult multi, and vitamin D3 (5000IU). I am going to cut my supplements for a week or so to see if the sorbitol was messing me up. Thanks for reading everyone. I feel like I'm closer to an answer than I was a year ago. I kinda want to get on with my life and stop itching and stop feeling achy.

It does certainly present like something triggered via what you are eating. It is tough, but if you can do a 6 week regiment following a strict AI diet, and then reintroduce one food at a time slowly you will be able to pinpoint hopefully what the triggers are. If that is a little too much to deal with, try starting with completely eliminating those items you suspect might be triggers- all of them. Then reintroduce one at a time. You have to eliminate them for a while though to let things simmer down though before attempting to reintroduce.

Regarding the probiotics, digestive issues, and heartburn. I found that kombucha is truly helpful with that. Back when I was really struggling with acid issues and taking medicine daily, I realized that when I drank kombucha fairly consistently the acid improved so much no meds were needed. It also helps digestion too. If you have not tried it, I would gently suggest maybe 4 ounces or so for the first try. See how your body responds. It will not take too long to comfortably drink 8-10 ounces once some of the probiotic benefits repopulate the good bacteria a bit. I seem to do best drinking a bottle on alternate days. this stuff is naturally low in calories (30 cals/8 ounces with what I currently drink) I was pretty happy to notice that my localCostco now carries it, and at a much better price than I had been paying at Trader Joes :)

I was going to suggest a low fodmap diet. I have a friend who is very sensitive to foodmaps and eats no onions or garlic.

SIBO - google that. Specially if you on any PPI or even Zantac - you may be prone to get that.

simply put - SIBO is too much bacteria in small intestine - not were they belong. They belong in colon... That can cause things like bloating, gas,discomfort - pain,skin issues, and eventually leaky gut - that would then lead to possible food allergies - sensitivities.

I have what immunologist and rheumatologists refer to as a "not well understood" autoimmune disorder and though I had significant joint pain for the most part my pain is caused by inflammation. With in weeks of my WLS my labs have been nearly normal for the first time in 20 years. Because I don't carry my weight in my abdomen I have a pre-op diet of any kind. The extreme change in my diet and the addition of supplements was the only change I made. I follow a Keto type diet (100 grams protein: 25 grams carbs: no fat restriction) with very limited dairy.

Since the improvement started before I lost very much weight I am convinced that sticking to a high protein diet and avoiding nightshades that I already knew increased my pain level. My skin is clear and I have been off narcotic pain meds and steroids since 11/15/16 for the first time since 2001.

I don't know if my experience will help you but thought I would share it anyway.