Poop (you've been warned)

[Sparling]

Cross Posted on a whole30 facebook page. 

 

I have had incredibly large, hard painful poops for my entire life. As an infant I was tested for a variety of issues, including checking to see if the nerve in my colon worked to tell me I needed to poop. Everything checked out fine. I have tried a variety of things through out life. Tons of natural fiber, lots of water, and prescribed fibers etc. Nothing ever worked. On a good week I would poop twice. Every time an excruciatingly painful, often bloody experience.Now that I am doing whole30 (I actually almost done with 60 days) I have the opposite problem. I have diarrhea a minimum of 3 times a day. No painful stomach cramping etc, but extremely loose smelly dark stools. And once I recognize the need to go, I have to go RIGHT then or risk pooping in my pants. I am wondering if anyone has any theories as to why this is happening, what I can do to find a middle ground and your own experiences.Thank you.

[Physibeth]

Could you post a few days of what your typical food looks like? That could help us help you for sure.

 

Do you still have your gallbladder?

 

How different is Whole30 from how you were eating before?

[A_Whole_New_Me]

Dark stool as in melena? (look up a picture - I don't want to post a picture of that here).  Melena is concerning & you should definitely check in with your doc about that ASAP. 

 

If I were you, I'd try to go to the simplest diet I could to give my GI system a rest.  SCD is a diet similar to Whole30 that instructs you on how to introduce ingredients, starting with the most gentle to the GI tract.  So you avoid items like nuts & fibrous veggies, and focus on items like bone broth & ground beef & steamed carrots. 

[Sparling]

I really have a few things I rotate. I am a mom of two and babysit another so my kitchen time is limited. I cook once and eat left overs a lot. Here are some of my most frequent meals.

 

Ground beef, onion, bell peppers with sauteed spinach and avocado.

 

Sweet Potato hash with chicken apple sausage and poached eggs.

 

Plain chicken breast with guacamole and roasted cauliflower or brussel sprouts etc.

 

Hard boiled eggs 

 

Apple and cashew butter

 

pot roast with baby potatoes, carrots and onion

 

spinach salad with chicken, strawberries, zucchini and tomato.

 

I have an occasional coconut lara bar as well.

 

I drink half a cup of black cold brewed coffee in the morning

 

If i haven't made time to eat I also sip coconut milk (I am nursing two kids). 

 

Whole 30 is drastically different than how I lived before. For at least a year prior I probably consume 60% fast food, and about 100oz of full sugar soda daily. I made healthy food for my kids but would stuff myself with fast food every time we were out and the kids were asleep. 

 

Definitly not melena. I looked more closely this morning. It is very fibrous looking, and dark green (spinach maybe doing this?) The dark is definitly green though. 

[Sparling]

On a side note, I have almost lost 50lbs I am never hungry. I have energy I didn't know was possible and I am off of my anti anxiety medication.

[Physibeth]

It may take your body some time to adjust and you might be dealing with some issues digesting and absorbing fats. You could try adding a digestive enzyme to see if that helps at all. http://whole9life.com/2012/09/digestive-enzymes-101/ Be careful when you shop to make sure the ingredients are all compliant. You could also be having a reaction to something compliant that isn't agreeing with you. I would try the enzymes first though and see if that helps. If you tweek too many things at once it will be hard to know what the issue is.

[praxisproject]

If it's been painful in the past, your body might need some time to adjust, especially anticipating erm, arrivals.

 

Some forms of magnesium supplements can be too strong for some people. Natural Calm is a known trigger for some (magnesium citrate). Different forms of magnesium have less of an effect. I take one which is "magnesium aspartate dihydrate".

 

Try adding some more starches, sweet potato, pumpkin, plantains, the "fluffy" starches. Zucchini might help too.

 

Bone broth and gelatin are excellent for healing.

 

If gas or bloating is a problem, try cutting out cruciferous veggies until everything settles down. Replacing raw veggies with cooked can also help with gas or a feeling of not-digesting. These aren't usually permanent changes, they just help you through the adjustment period.

 

You may want to be careful reintroducing grains, they may have been the cause of the previous pain.

[jml666]

I'm glad someone else posted on here about this because I'm having similar issues.  Today is Day 5 for me and I stopped taking my PPI on the morning of Day 3 (last one was the morning of Day 2) because I'd started feeling much better.  After having 2 cups of spaghetti squash on Day 3, I thought I just had too much fiber, but have not had a solid BM since then.  I also feel like I'm getting a sinus infection and have been drinking Throat Coat with Lemon Echinacea this morning, but I also feel a little achy too.  I'm wondering if I'm really getting sick or if my symptoms are related to GERD and going off the PPI.  I have an appointment with my GI doc next week (1/13), so I will check then, but was interested in getting some other thoughts/ideas.  Thanks!