Post Whole30 Digestive Issues

[ebremmer]

Having digestive issues after my Whole30...help! I finished my Whole30 on June 18th. The 2 weeks following I had a small amount of dairy without any noticeable issues. Then my family and I went on a camping trip and I stupidly sampled many off plans foods (in small quantities, but a wide variety) as well as some alcohol. About 2 days in I started experiencing severe stomach issues (gas, bloating, abdominal/stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea). These symptoms persisted most of the vacation. I did go back to paleo eating for the remainder of the week, only allowing a little natural sugar. My symptoms have improved (no more diarrhea or bloating), but I continue to have stomach pain after eating. I have had some urine, stool and blood testing done to check for any obvious problems, as I thought we (my daughter had similar symptoms minus the diarrhea) had a bug from drinking well water, but nothing has come positive so far. My doctor is advising me to try Prilosec, but I'm hesitant because of what it does to digestion. I don't know if my issues are from a virus or because I reintroduced too quickly and irritated my stomach lining, but I'd like to be able to eat without pain!

A few bits of information-

I didn't take/eat probiotics during my whole30 (I was clueless about this), but have started with non dairy kefir.

I am not overweight, and only had stomach issues here and there prior to whole30.

I have been taking digestive enzymes with larger meals since this problem started.

As a child I had a dairy intolerance, but after the age of five I "tolerated" dairy and ate it all my life until the whole30.

[Tom Denham]

I went off plan for several meals two weeks ago and have been experiencing GI distress for going on 2 weeks now! My "healing plan" is to eat probiotic rich food every day. My menu includes sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, and coconut kefir. Also, I am staying on plan. I am much better this week, but still have enough tenderness to know I am not 100 percent yet. Personally, I would have to be almost dying to take conventional medicine for GI distress with the exception of anti-diarrhea meds. Thankfully, I have not needed any since the first day. Hang in there!

[ebremmer]

Thanks Tom. I have been drinking the KeVita drinks, but I will add more sources of probiotics. Even healthy foods make me have a stomach ache/acidy feeling stomach now....it's not fun to dread eating! What do you think of aloe?

[Bet]

Yeah, don't take the prilosec, that will start you down a scary road. I had some kind of stomach ailment back in September which kept me in the hospital for 4 days on an IV with nothing by mouth. Lot's of fun. After that I had a pain in my stomach, upper left. I was also told to take prilosec, but decided not to. Eventually the pain subsided, although I do get it now and then. My guess is some type of bacterial  issue which causes inflammation (that was the only thing that showed up on my CT scans). SIBO can be one of these types of infections and when you started to re-introduce sugar into  your system, the little buggers went berserk. My attack came after eating fairly clean for weeks and then binging on a box of butterfingers at a movie theater. SIBO Is incredibly hard to get rid of. Starving it out by eliminating sugar is the best way, but it takes a long time. Longer than 30 days. As long as they didn't find anything really bad going on, you should just limit sugar (including alcohol).

[mhaynes96]

I'm having a similar issue.  Completed my first whole30 about a week ago and introduced soy, which I grew up with.  First day was no problem.  With the 2nd day of soy, my stomach went crazy.  I've been eating clean since then, but it took 3 days to feel better.  

 

Tom - I'd like to try some probiotics to help.  Do you make your own kimchi and coconut kefir or do you purchase it?  If purchased, can you tell me where?

 

Thanks so much!

[Physibeth]

Thanks Tom. I have been drinking the KeVita drinks, but I will add more sources of probiotics. Even healthy foods make me have a stomach ache/acidy feeling stomach now....it's not fun to dread eating! What do you think of aloe?

 

I love the KeVita drinks but have not been getting them because I'm pretty sure every single one has added Stevia in it which might be adding to your digestive distress. Maybe try switching to a probiotic drink that has no added sweeteners. If the only thing you are still having is some natural sweeteners perhaps pulling back to fully W30 compliant and then try them again when you feel better.

[ebremmer]

Thank you all for the responses. I did know there was Stevia, but hadn't really considered sugar being the problem! The week I started having issues was my first reintroduction of grains, and I had only had a little dairy prior to that, so I assumed it was one of those two things. Four days of indulging in some wine certainly didn't help! I expected to have some tummy troubles, but 2 weeks of stomach ache with eating was not what I expected. I think it started with food intolerance, but I think I created some kind of irritation in there that is now sensitive to everything! Going back to strict whole30 eating sounds like a good plan to let it heal.