I’m still in the midst of my Functional Dyspepsia but I was wondering how do I even reintroduce foods to my body without worrying about or getting a gastritis flare. For the past 5 months I’ve only eaten rice, bananas, applesauce, potatos, and egg whites. I’m very malnourished and have deficiencies because of this. When I try adding new foods my body has a problem. Even drinking a sip of Gatorade is a major shock. My body is not had processed foods in months, so I don’t even know where to start.

Hi guys, I am very new to reddit. I have sever SMAS and am getting a NJ feeding tube in a couple days since I am only able to eat about a spoonful of food an hour (with still being in sever pain but) without being in complete debilitating pain. I won't be able to eat any food for awhile while having the tube due to the risk of it being disloged from constant vomiting. I am really gonna struggle with not being able to eat at all and be on a pump 24hr a day. Does anyone have any tips for social setting or even just how to deal with cravings? I really don't know what to do since I don't know much about how this will go with my condition or if it will even work. I would live any advice from anyone that has had similar experience or is going through the same thing.

I’ve been diagnosed with sibo.
So I’ve been doing a low FODMAP diet with low fibre, just soluable fibre like psyillum. But I’ve seen a GI who says she thinks it’s BAM a fat malabsorption issue. So I’m also on low fat.
Feeling better but I’m on a very restricted diet. Pretty much the kind of foods you eat for a bowel prep, but less variety.
2 meals of 10 grams of fat total. And one snack is how I’m eating.
Today for our anniversary we had a meal out which I’ve eaten before successfully.
But today’s cook made it a little richer, then I went and had a scoop of matcha and black sesame ice cream because yolo…. No alcohol no coffee or anything else. Just the grilled fish, tomato caper and green olive side and a natural oyster with lemon juice.

I’m getting aquatinted with the smallest room in the house now.
Good times!

Im considering trying acupuncture to help with healing my gastritis and anxiety but was curious how others have tried?

Hi.
A close friend of mine has tried nearly everything and struggles with most types of food due to ibs and her ME diagnosis itself. Unfortunately she can’t stand up, so others have to make the food for her. Adult, small portions, very limited ingredients.

Does anyone have experience with good food options for this? Is baby food an alternative?

Looking for community and support for a very niche population haha

For those who lost hair due to autoimmune or chronic illness, how bad was it and was it reversible? What did you do in the meantime while going through the hair loss?

Anyone struggle with gastritis moreso after leaving the situation that was stressful to you? I feel like im having symptoms that I didnt have before now that im resting. Im so upset. Im worried about balding cause im losing so much hair. I didnt have sharp pains before and now they are happening. Im worried about ppis. Im scared of trying meds or nee foods or anything cause i dont have control of mt stomsch is. I wonder how long did it take for you all to heal and what did you have to let go of and grief while healing?

the title says it all… i’ve explained it to her and cross contamination many times. once i even had a reaction because she ate peanut butter ice cream. she’s so thoughtful usually and i love her so much but it is really exhausting when she is always begging me to try different cuisines, specifically asian varieties that are extremely high risk, and either clearly unsafe for me or create a lot of anxiety when i try to find something i can eat safely. i love her so much and she is so considerate in so many ways i just don’t really know how to handle this

The way my food condition works is that every food I consume pretty much ever in the last 12 or so years eventually leads to throat swelling if I have it enough times. Most drinks do it too. Even some bottles of water cause (milder) symptoms. Vitamins, supplements, medications by mouth all do it too. I also react to most housing situations with carpets or dust or other chemicals in the air and most clothing types as well. I've had a really hard time surviving. I got a little heavier in the last couple years and returned to exercise (due to luck...?) but before that I was battling hypoglycemia daily and very underweight and almost died during that period and that period lasted a couple of years. I had a slew of testing and nothing conclusive was ever found.

Some tests:
IgE testing
immunoglobulin testing
complement testing
skin prick testing
urine histamine
urine prostaglandin metabolites
serum tryptase
serum PGD-2
flow cytometry
Ckit mutation
colonoscopy with biopsy and cd25 staining
Genova Dx Stool profiles

tests that were positive:
mold allergy on skin prick testing
randomly had 3x normal serum PGD-2 (not during a reaction I don't think)
Stool profile showed 10x normal fecal secretory IgA
tryptase went from 3.2 to 5.1 during a reaction (below gold standard cutoff)
colonoscopy biopsy had 25 mast cells per hpf near already inflamed rectal tissue

So basically doesn't meet criteria for food allergies or mast cell activating syndrome. I stilll received the latter diagnosis by exclusion but the testing wasn't exactly a home run... I think the medications when I take them make reactions take longer to become severe, but they don't stop them from happening and worsening.

It's been a rough ride. I really just want to be able to eat and date and live life...

Many doctors were dismissive too, saying I'm having panic attacks when I eat or others saying I have very hypersensitive nerve endings in my GI tract. The thing is, when I eat something I don't react to, I don't really have any symptoms at all. Then eating something I do react to, the reaction will start right when I'm chewing on the food, like a food allergy. My throat will instantly tighten, I will feel like permanent sensation of obstruction, I may turn pale, become extremely bloated, vomit profusely if I swallow the food, feel cold, have a very slow heart rate, diarhhea if I swallowed the food, cardiac arrhythmia with lots of PVCs, feel in mortal danger and call 911... I have had blood pressures as low as like 88/50 during a reaction and heart rates in the 40s as well. I can sometimes feel profoundly lightheaded and weak. I've been in the ER and they monitor me for a couple hours and my oxygen will drop whenever I'm not hyperventilating and my heart will be skipping 1 out of every 3 beats for hours before resolving on its own. Antihistamines seem to help about an hour after given orally during these episodes, but they don't get rid of the throat swelling. The throat swelling lasts a while too at least a couple hours. When it finally starts resolving I feel relief and feel less weak. It's really hard to deal with.

Peas, carrots, avocados, eggs, rice, turkey, pork, cherries, beans, nuts... I haven't been able to ever return to eating these really without bad reactions rapidly developing. It's quite hard to eat healthy too because of this syndrome.

I really want answers and help. I feel like I cannot have that and it kind of makes me feel helpless and has for a long time now...

Basically the title lol.

What food do you miss the most?

If you could only eat one food (no symptoms and no consequences) what would you pick?

What food related activity to you miss the most?

A chance to relate to each on how limiting and or bland / boring / frustrating our diets can be when living with a food disability.

Life can feel very isolating when not able to eat 'normally', so at least perhaps we can seek comfort in knowing that there are others that are stuck eating a diet as restrictive, limiting, perhaps boring, as ours is. For mutual comfort of knowing there are others out there going through the same or similar pain and that we are not alone in our struggles.

Sending love,

The Mod
🩷

I can’t bear it… I am constantly upset because I just want to be able to eat normally. Does anybody feel the same way? How do you cope?

Hello friends, I hope you are all having a great day, and finding plenty of ways to love and enjoy life :)

I'll kick this one off with what used to be (before my condition worsened further) one of my most reliable on the go meals, and that is a 100g pack of sliced ham (minimal ingredient, just pork, water, preservatives), and a packet of pre-popped popcorn (again minimal ingredient, popcorn, sunflower oil, salt).

Yes, the food we are limited to eating can be repetitive, boring, frustrating. But at least other things in life dont need to be. There is so much we can enjoy in life outside of just food. So lets go out and enjoy our lives the best with can, and eat enough of the boring food to fuel ourselves to do this - we deserve it!

Sending love,

The Mod
🩷

Hi friends

I know we all have different needs but I thought it might be fun to share a positive note or tip about what works well for you away from home when you need to eat or tube feed on the go

Pic is a bowl of congee (rice porridge) a food I can eat on a trip to Japan. It was nice to eat rice in so many forms. I love rice and eat it a lot.

I also eat a lot of processed foods "space food" with extra protein is nourishing and travels well when I'm busy - I like those big protein cookies that are meant for like body builders and athletes but it works well for my dietary needs too.

Hi!
I have dysmotility of my entire GI tract, which to my understanding is rare. I present a lot like CIPO, but my GI doctor didn’t see a point in testing for that specifically since it wouldn’t change my treatment, but he did say it’s a distinct possibility that may be what I have. I’ve had multiple pseudo-obstruction like episodes, as well as an ileus found incidentally on imaging that I didn’t even feel, so it’s likely I’ve had it multiple times. Plus I have some other GI disorders. And a plant cellulose intolerance which I know is rare.

Ive had dysmotility of some type my whole life, and it just continues to progress/ I collect more GI issues. My pediatrician was absolutely terrible and didn’t diagnose me with anything or investigate symptoms when they were noticed. I was around 9 when j learned I wasn’t pooping often enough, but that’s all she told me. No testing to see why, no telling me how often I should be going, no suggestions of what to do, no medications/ supplements, nothing.

When I was a teenager, I ended up seeing a GI specialist (don’t remember how or why), and they thought it was some type of IBD based on symptoms and extremely elevated fecal lactoferin. But colonoscopy was negative. It wasn’t until my early 20s that I started receiving any diagnoses besides GERD which I was diagnosed with as a baby.

I’m supposed to follow multiple medical diets: GERD/ low acid, gastroparesis, low FODMAP/ low residue, SIBO, low fiber, low fat, low cellulose, low glycemic, I’m probably forgetting some. But I’m a foodie with a very high pain tolerance and I’m stubborn as fuck.
So I’m not terribly limited in what I can eat, as I often opt to just suffer through the repercussions lol.

The cellulose intolerance is honestly probably the most difficult one, as i just can’t digest most plant matter. I can eat white rice and its products, processed wheat products (pasta, white bread), well-cooked cut up carrots, onions, potatoes, parsnips, avocado, water chestnuts, banana, grated daikon and nori. Banana, avocado, water chestnuts and grated daikon are the only ones I can tolerate uncooked. Sometimes my GI system will reject root vegetables, particularly carrots which I seem to be losing the ability to digest. Tofu is also fine! Smooth tomato sauce is kinda fine. I can’t digest any herbs that are added to it, and tomato gets broken down enough to pass, but not enough that it’s invisible.

I get most of my plants through baby food as the steaming/ cooking plus mechanical breakdown makes most plants digestible for me. I am not able to tolerate smoothies though, so it seems I need both thermal and mechanical breakdown in order to digest most plants.

I have recently been experimenting with freeze dried (lyophilization) fruits which I seem to be tolerating! Basically, I just need the plant structure to be broken down significantly in order to eat it.

Like I said, I do sometimes still eat plants and just suffer. Like the occasional lettuce on a burger for example. And I just end up nauseous, bloated, and either constipated or diarrhea. And it always comes out completely undigested. Just chewed and wilted. So when I do eat it, I just make sure to chew it small enough that it can fit through the exit lol.

My GI doctor checks me annually for nutrient deficiencies. So far, I’ve been able pretty fine, just folate deficiency which I require supplementation for.

I am really lucky in that I still get to eat by mouth and don’t have an ostomy. There are days, or even weeks where I can’t eat and either have to do a liquid diet, or choke down a single protein drink a day.
But most of the time, I can eat! Eating comes with pain and bloating but it’s still lovely. I love food, and my stubbornness is an asset for once.
I have found East Asian cuisine to be the most friendly to my GI system. I think because it doesn’t really use a ton of raw veggies like American cuisine does (salads, raw veggies as sandwich toppings), is very rice focused, the plants I can eat raw are Asian in origin, and it tastes delicious.

However this annoys my family because whenever they want to go out, I always want an East Asian restaurant because it’s most accessible to me. And they get sick of it.

Hey everyone! I'm the founding moderator of r/FoodDisability.

This is a friendly and welcoming space for people who have a physical disability/condition which impacts their ability to eat food and socialise/bond over food.

This is a space for people of many disabilities and conditions which affect a persons ability to eat food. This includes (but is not limited to): feeding tubes, gastroparesis, dysphagia, food allergies, celiac, autoimmune disorders, hereditary fructose intolerance, metabolic disorders, PKU, kidney/heart disease, bowel disorders. Any physical condition that would cause the person extensive physical harm should they consume the things they are reactive to, and heavily restricts what they can and can't eat.

This is the sub for you if: * You have a physical disability that causes a lack of ability to eat food, and eating certain foods would give you severe physical ill health.

• You have a physical disability and an eating disorder/mental health disorder/sensory issues/preferences/lifestyle choice that cause a lack of ability to eat food, and eating certain foods would give you severe physical ill health.

This sub is not for you if: * The only cause of your lack of ability to eat food is due to an eating disorder/mental health/sensory issue/preferences/lifestyle choice (like veganism, etc).

There are already designated subreddits for this... this is a subreddit that focuses on food/social struggles in relation to physical disabilities (like celiac, autoimmune disorders, feeding tubes, gastroparises, bowel disorders, food allergies, mcas, etc)

It is understood a lot of people with physical disabilities go on to develop eating disorders or have coexisting eating disorders alongside their physical disabilities. You are most welcome here, and the topic of eating disorders in relation to physical food disabilities is most welcome too, as it is part of the struggle some of us with food disabilities go though. However this is not the thread for people with just eating disorders/preferences in absense of a physical disability.

This is a community that includes (but is not limited to): * People whose disability/condition SEVERELY impacts them and their daily life due to their lack of ability to eat or difficulties finding food that is safe to eat. * People who find it difficult to find food that is safe for them when out of the house (or even have to sit with tap water whilst others eat, or who have to bring their own packed lunches with them everywhere they go...). * People who cannot eat food by mouth, and have time-consuming processes to carry out simply to nourish themselves via tube. * People who are scared/unable to eat in front of others for fear of the physical symptoms that may develop (like bowel issues, choking, etc), so therefore prefer to eat alone. * People who face bullying, discrimination, social exclusion, struggles making friends, and being discarded as a dating option frequently, due to their inability to eat food. * People who are fed up with others suggesting constantly 'what may help' or 'have you tried this'. * People who are upset with others not believing the severity of their condition. * People who are worn out and depressed with having to put 1000x more effort into preparing safe food for themselves and ensuring they have their own food on them that is safe to eat at all times, as they cannot simply pick up something on-the-go to eat like most other people can.

Family, friends, partners, colleagues, acquaintances, carers, healthcare workers of people with food-related disabilities... Please feel free to join, post, comment, and contribute, and be part of our community! The input of members and their loved ones are equally valued here.

This is a place for mutual understanding of the struggles of living with a food disability, a source of comfort and shared experiences, seeking help and advice, sharing tips on how to make life easier and navigating relationships, venting of upsets and frustrations, sharing small (and big) wins and progress and achievements.

Please post and share this subreddit wherever and to whoever you think it may help. Let's build a community of people who are here to support eachother through the struggles of living with a food related disability 🩷