abdominal cramping...

[Dirty Martini]

I'm looking for some nutritional info... Yesterday I posted this on a separate message forum:

Until I get my local insurance sorted out, I can't go visit local doctors without paying most of the $$ out of pocket. And I refuse to do that for non-emergency visits.

In the meantime, I am having some problems and am hoping people can share some ideas. I've tried looking on webmd but am not getting the answers I'm looking for. Nothing seems to be quite right.

So, my problem is that I get terrible, terrible bloating/cramping in the evenings. I have cut out dairy from my diet (except for small amounts, like salad dressing or something) b/c I thought it was the problem. THat seemed to fix it for a while, but now the cramps are back with a vengeance. They happen about 4 nights a week and are debilitating.

It's gone on for a few months now and suspect that it has GOT to do something with my diet, as the cramps tend to come on about 1/2 hour after dinner. And almost always after dinner (not earlier in the day). I don't eat large meals & am not overeating. I'm eating healthy most of the time too.

I've noticed apples will do it to me though so I'm starting to stay away from them. I've noticed that processed soy foods will do it to me as well, so I've stopped eating things like veggie burgers or sausages.

I have looked at celiacs, ibs, and a couple others but they all say that diarrhea is a major symptom. I have no diarrhea at all (which is a good thing!!) so I don't know if it's any of those.

Tonight, I had a sweet potato curry, peas, and whole grain roll (airplane food. not the best, but it had to do). That's an awful lot of starch.... and I had THE worst cramps on the plane. I wanted to cry.

I can eat a veggie sandwich & be fine, so I don't think it's bread. D'ya suppose it was the sweet potatoes?

I'm going to start making a food log but thought someone might have some direction to point me toward... I am completely clueless as to what's going on. I drink lots of water so I don't think i'm dehydrated (but a cup of coffee each day as well - maybe that's the problem)... I eat lots of veggies, lots of beans & grainy bread, lots of fruit... maybe I am getting too much fiber??

In sum, these are the things I have noticed give me cramps:

- dairy
- processed soy foods
- apples
- and tonight, sweet potatoes

those have nothing in common, imo.

any ideas???

A couple of people said that it could be an allergy or aversion to natural sugars (hence the dairy, apples, and sweet potatoes). I thought it'd be worth giving it a shot to avoid foods that have a medium-to-high level of natural sugars.

non-apple fruits don't bother me at all (yay! :smitten: ) but I'm really interested in avoiding tihngs that might be causing this.

So I guess what I'm looking for in this dreadfully long post is:

- anyone's suggestions on why this could be happening
- lists of high-sugar foods to avoid that could be causing it.

Someone else suggested stress, and I suspect that may be a part of it (I've had a stressful job for years, but the level of stress waxes & wanes, so I will be mindful of my stress level when the cramping starts again). It's not like moving to a new country is stressful or anything. :p

thanks everyone :)

[NDvegan85]

Well, the thing that stuck out to me was the apple thing. My mom had horrible pain after eating and apples were a major trigger. I'll ask her what else was tonight later. Her problem was her gall bladder and she had to get it removed. Although I think that she had some diarreha issues too. She didn't have any stones, but she had a gall bladder test and it showed that her gall bladder was functioning around 30% of what it should. She had some polyps too. I hope that it's not that and that you get it figured out soon. I know that it sucks.

[catswym]

see if apples do it to you without their skins. same for s. potatoes. if it is IBS could be the insoluble fiber doing it to you. diarrhea isn't always a sign of IBS--many people are actually constipated!