Help! Stomach Issues

I am a little over 4 months post op.   I am actually doing pretty well, except for stomach/bowel issues.    I am scheduled to go in for a check up on the 11th.   But I am curious to see what you guys say could be wrong.    
 
About 2 hrs after I get done eating, I am having hard cramping and stomach pains.   I feel sick to my stomach.   I will have to go to the bathroom, then I will feel fine.....for about 5 to 10 minutes.   I am running to the bathroom several times until everything is out of my system.   But its hard, annoying cramping that occurs.     The mornings are the worst when I first wake up.   But it's never pressure like before surgery.....its always hard cramping and nausea until I get it all out.   Sorry for being graphic, but it's driving me crazy.     If I end up eating fattening stuff that causes the "orange slicks" then it's even worse stomach pain.    So I try to avoid any fat stuff.....except for maybe salad dressing.   Other than that, it's usually some sort of meat and a vegetable.  

Are you taking Prilosec or something similar? ( I upped mine to twice daily ..on Kemmeters advice) and have been feeling great during the day...
But I have been laying off Gluten and my morning cramps, bloating, nausea and 5 toilet trips before 8 am have totally gone away!

Have you done an elimination diet?  What are you eating?  I would have your same problem if I wasn't careful about what I eat.

~Becky

Honestly, my diet is pretty clean.    My bad foods are a salad, baked potato, tuna/w mayo or occassionally 1 piece of wheat toast.    Other than that, it's usually meat/seafood and vegetables.   Pretty boring to be honest.   I only drink water.    Or 4 ounces of unsweetened organic apple juice to take a powdered medication that I need to mix with it.  

Today I had a tuna melt.   I took it off the first piece of toast and ate a few bites of the second piece of toast with my tuna.   Then the rest of the day I have been snacking on shrimp ****tail and hard boiled eggs.    That's it.   Still been sick.    Do you think I have too much fat in my diet?   The wheat bread I rarely have.   I don't ever see a difference, but I am still scared of it.  

You need to go back to the very basics and do an elimination diet.  Just for an example:  I can't eat any wheat gluten without bloating/gas/diarrhea.  So that one piece of toast would do me in. And wheat gluten is hidden in a lot of things.

I also can't do a salad without some pretty severe consequences in terms of my poop.  Apple juice?  Well that would make me sick as a dog because it is like straight sugar.

What were you dipping your shrimp in?

So I don't think you can have a real idea what is causing your problems until you do an elimination diet to find out.

For me I have to have enough fat to not get constipated but too much fat will cause loose stools (but not gas or bloating).  I can't eat anything with wheat gluten in it or I will bloat and fart like CRAZY.  I also can't eat lactose or too much sugar alchols.

We see people come and post every so often with very similar complaints as yours and the common factor is that they don't really know what foods bother them because they've never sorted it out.  They typically say "everything" bothers them but they can't really tell you what foods are the offenders.

I know, for another example, that I can drink straight tequilla, but margarita mix is the devil.  You have to be a bit of a scientist to figure this stuff out but it is doable.

One place that has really helped me is the Bites and Vites thread where you can post every day what you've eaten.  You can get feedback on what you've eaten that might be the culprit(s) and you can also get an idea of what others eat.

Hope something here is helpful.

~Becky

What stuff in a salad can't you eat? I ate salads every day on one of my many "low-cal" diets. Salads make me feel good, they make me think clear. Idk if I can live with out ever having a salad again

I eat salad (basic lettuce, carrot, bag-o-salad covered up with tons of protein but I think the salad gives me runny poo.

~Becky

Everyone's system reacts differently.

I can eat a salad, with pretty much any veggie on it, with lots of protein and dressing any day of the week and be happy as a clam - with no ill after effects.  No gas, no bloating, no dhr.  I DO see the veggies in my poop though.

It's not that we, as DSers, can't eat salads at any particular time (after your surgeon clears you for veggie food).  It's that salad greens, in particular, can cause some people to have a really upset stomach or simply runny poo.  I tried a salad at about 3 months post-op for the first time, just a small "house" salad at a restaurant, and was positively miserable for the next 2 - 3 hrs as it worked it's way through my intestines.  It is the single worst experience with any food I have had at any point, hands-down.  The intestinal cramping was so bad and CONSTANT, that I curled up into a little ball on my bed with running trips to the bathroom (thankfully, right next to my room!).  I next had a salad 18 months out - no ill effects AT ALL!  I've had humongous salads since then, no problem . . . the "why" for that is the fact that our intestines adapt to the starvation by elongating their villi and possibly (in some cases), the length of the common channel itself.  I absorb it better now.

Other people have been able to eat salad as soon as their dr cleared them, no problem. No way to predict any of the food stuff & how your body will react.

I should mention too that bacon, sausage and nuts will all give me stomach issues as well.   I know these are usually DS friendly foods, but my stomach can't seem to tolerate it.    Anything with high fat seems to still be an issue for me.