carbs are killing me

The issue you might be having now is that you may have had so many food restrictions with UC, suddenly introducing a bunch of new foods into your diet is causing a bit of havoc with your system. Your body wasn't used to processing those foods and has to learn all over again.

Have you tried Beano and other digestive enzymes? They can help. You should also be taking probiotics if you are not already. It's also very important to try to introduce foods back into your diet very slowly and gradually. If one food isn't working for you, eliminate it for a while. You can always come back to it later on as everything else starts to settle down.

Many people find keeping a food diary useful in figuring out what foods they can/cannot tolerate. Basically, you record what you've eaten, what time you've eaten it, and then any symptoms you might be having as they occur. That way, it's easier to trace back to a potential problem food. My dietician suggested this when I had my ileostomy, though it can certainly work equally well for a j-pouch. While I certainly wasn't meticulous about keeping one, I jotted down some general notes in the early stages and it did help, even just to keep my mind at ease. The ileo was so new to me that I expected all sorts of disasters any time I tried something new, and I was happy to see that for the most part, I felt okay.

Another thing, it does help to think outside the box. You may want to focus on what you are eating WITH the carbs, rather than the carbs themselves that might be causing the issue. For instance, if you're eating spaghetti with tomato sauce, it might actually be the tomato sauce causing the straining, frequent bms and butt burn. Tomatoes are very acidic and can cause discomfort. Same goes if you're eating potatoes heaped in gravy. It could be the gravy and not the potatoes that's causing the issue. Just food for thought... pardon the pun.

I hope you can get it sorted out!

the only thing im eating is toast and cracker and once in a while single grain babyfood rice cereal mixed with almond milk. im back to fearing foods again some including my surgeon said start fiber supplements but they get me gassy and acidy. wheat is so easy and will make eating away from home so much easier but i fear wheat is a culprit. im so disappointed so far but being patient. i must admit when the acidy gassy strained clusters start id rather not be here anymore but the easy days revive me a bit. any advice on passing gas without worry. i fear trying... oh yeah i do take a probiotic and beano seemed to pass through as a burning enzyme...

It seems like you have having far more food intolerances than the norm; sorry you are having such a rough time. At this point, it might be worthwhile for you to try going entirely gluten and lactose free for at least a good week or so, and see if there is any difference. I also think it's a good idea to call your doctor and see if you can't get hooked up with a dietician. You SHOULD be able to eat more foods than this, and fearing foods is never a good thing, so I think you might need a bit of guidance from a professional who can help you sort out what you can/can't eat and give you some options.

As for the fibre supplement, you may want to forego that. I was told to take metamucil after my surgery, but I found it make me very gassy, so I stopped. Unfortunately, not everyone tolerates psyllium fibre.

hi Tom,

your recovery sounds similar to mine. I was super SUPER hyper-sensitive to almost every food in the first couple months. it was like my j-pouch was really temperamental, spastic, grumpy, no matter what i ate. there didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason. now 4 months out, i still seem more sensitive than others, for some reason, but my pouch has slowly become accustomed to having food pass through it. but i do still have clustering episodes. i am trying fiber again, but initially fiber made things worse. there are other types of fiber that may work better for you, like citrucel (which is NOT psyllium), for example. things are going to change quite a bit, and it will be frustrating as hell. i was so sick and couldn't eat and the doctor was telling me i am not recovering well because i'm not eating! but i just couldn't, it hurt too much. eventually things settled down enough that i could eat more. but i stuck to low residue for almost 2 months. you may be able to tolerate more carbs later.

i'm bad at tracking my food and would probably have a better handle on my pouch if i did that. but i am hoping it just adapts to everything eventually, even though it's pretty uncomfortable at times.

have you tried eating all your carbs WITH proteins? bun with burger.

also since you aren't eating much... what i also observed when i was eating only tiny and unvaried portions, is there actually was more clustering. once i could expand my diet and eat more, i had more "substantial" poops.