Vegetarianism and stomach aches? [Forum Archive]

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Vegetarianism and stomach aches?

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Posted by: Crono1000

My girlfriend has been a vegetarian for over a year now and has since had serious stomach aches on a near-daily basis. They're persistant and bad enough that at least once a day she has to stop what she's doing due to the pain. It causes nausia and bloating and happens most at night. She's gone to see a gastroentenologist and got an endoscopy but nothing came up. I did an internet search for stomach problems and vegetarianism and found alot of similar cases but no explanations or remedies. The vegetarianism may or may not be related, but it has resulted in an increase in fibrous foods. Does anybody have some insight or ideas on what might be happening?

Posted by: Hoglander

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

People think it is diet and change the diet commonly, IMHO. You can have IBS and not feel stress on the surface. Try mood altering drugs from a doctor, IMHO.

Posted by: fufu

Well, what does her diet look like?

Posted by: Built

I have a hunch wheat gluten might be involved as well. Not so sure mood altering drugs are a better solution than cleaning up her diet - just because she's vegetarian doesn't mean her diet is all that good (or bad).

fufu asked a damned good question - what all does she eat?

Posted by: Hoglander

You can eliminate foods easier than eliminating stress without a doctors help. I'll give you that. Bottom line is that it may be a good idea to eliminate potential causes. THAT LIST IS HUGE. I'd suggest the doctor route first. Unless light can be shed on what might be different over the past YEAR she has been on her new diet.

Posted by: Built

Health Canada lists nine common food intolerances/allergies:

"the nine priority food allergens and include peanuts, tree nuts, sesame seeds, soy, milk, eggs, fish including crustaceans and shellfish, wheat and other cereal grains containing gluten, and sulphites."

If in doubt, nuke those, see how you feel. If you feel better, wait a bit. You can gradually add them back in, one at a time.

Posted by: Hoglander

Bring them back individually at ABOVE normal levels to see if you react to them, IMHO. If you do avoid them totally.

Bear in mind that you can be tolerant of a food for years and BOOM you are not.

My money is still on IBS, BTW.

Posted by: Built

Oh, I'm sure you're right. Gluten intolerance goes hand and hand with it, and vegetarians are prone to IBS.

Posted by: Hoglander

I'm getting into this a bit over my head but... a good example would be dairy products. When you are stressed you don't produce as many of the enzymes needed to digest milk. So the question is... is milk the problem or is stress???? Get rid of the milk and you feel better. But is there a deeper problem????

Posted by: Built

It's an interesting point, but in some situations, it's simpler than that. For example, with celiac, there's a genetic component. You have it or you don't. You can have it and not know it, but it's still quietly eating away at your intestinal villi.

Posted by: oneminutediet

Here is a solution dude. Just ask her to avoid processed foods. It's always better going for a natural diet like fruits instead of juices and so on. This definitely make a light apetitite which is very easy for getting digested.
www.oneminutediettips.com
- Have a healthy life..

Posted by: DaMayor

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneminutediet

Here is a solution dude. Just ask her to avoid processed foods. It's always better going for a natural diet like fruits instead of juices and so on. This definitely make a light apetitite which is very easy for getting digested.
One Minute Diet Tips
- Have a healthy life..

Lots of over-processed vegetables, are there?

Seven pounds in seven days? I'm all over that!!!!!

Built's right.....of course. (what's that annoying sucking sound? Hmmmm.

)

I often wonder about people who have spent their lives eating "regular" foods, and then make a rapid transition to hard core vegetarianism. The sudden increase in fibre, et al, seems like it would be pretty tough on a system that has been conditioned to process foods a certain way. From personal experience, too high of a fiber intake is murderous....and like Built mentioned, glutens/wheat/grains often made my yeast rise....if ya know what I'm sayin'.

I'd approach this the way I approach repairing my vehicle.....start with the simplest (least expensive) "repair" and go from there. No need for a dietary overhaul when all Tit needs is better fuel.

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Vegetarianism and stomach aches?

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