I've only had the one attack, a week ago. I'm new to the idea of having a digestive disease. I was too sick to eat for 3 days, then began to eat bread soaked in chicken broth and mashed potatoes. I'm basically still there and starving. Yesterday I added eggs to the broth and this morning, I tried some potato salad. I feel so nauseated after the medication (Cipro and Flagyl) that it's hard to tell if food is making me sick. I eat small amounts and wait for a reaction. So far, nothing much.

By the way, Spencer, do you have cravings? I woke up wanting something salty.

This is my second bout in 10 or 12 weeks. The first was an ER visit- the second one I caught in time to see my GP. I'm going to guess and say that I had about 1 week in between bouts where I ate somewhat normally. Other than that one week I'd say that 90% of the time I was on broth, butter milk, and Ensure, with the occasional runny instant mashed potatoes- oh, and Activia.
ABout 2-3 weeks since my last bout and I am adding some 1/2 servings of oatmeal.
Yes, I get crazy cravings! Things I would normally never think too much about eating.
Up side is I've lost 30 Lbs. :)
Spencer

I love yogurt, including Activia, but it seems not to be on my diet for a while. For how long, I do not know. It's all experimentation now.

There won't be a dietician in my plans any time soon. I'm not sure even the Mayo Clinic has the answers that work for me. I'm wondering if this DD isn't more than one condition.

SStay away from popcorn and soda pop My doctor and surgen said
It was the wrongs foods also stay away from any foods that don't
Break down in your stomach like corn,seeds that means anything with seeds in it and keep a food log everything that goes in your mouth wright down. This is the only way to find your problem foods.


Best of luck
Pauline

The longest was 5 days but I was in the hospital really sick with both DD and biliary colic (gallbladder). Surgery after.

Nothing for 5 days.
Liquids for 3 days.
Soft foods for 4 days.
Craving yogurt, pineapple and coconut which all turn out to be anti-inflamatory!

Feel the best ever after 2 colectomies in almost 2 years.

Good luck,
Joanne

I'm curious, why no soda? I've been drinking it to kill the taste of Flagyl (which I find super disgusting). I have not felt any problem from it. Is something bad happening that I do not feel?

Ina - you crave foods that are anti-inflammatory! That's really interesting. I have long wondered if the body had its own wisdom in some ways. We can confuse it with endless chemicals but when it comes down to it, we're bred to eat natural foods. For at least the last 100,000 years that our species has been pretty much the way we look/act/behave today, we've eaten unprocessed foods. I find it so hard to think that my future consists of fake food for weeks at a time. I'm told the gut might take about 4-6 weeks to recover from the bout of DD I had.

Yet nobody has suggested I take even a single multivitamin. How smart is that?

ruthie61-yes, I craved anti-inflamatories especially after my last surgery. My doc said to eat anything "my body craved". The first week post home I only wanted yogurt, pineapple and coconut. Weird sounding but I recovered very quickly. After bouts of DD and antibitics I would crave probiotic yogurt, pineapple juice and cranberries.

My surgeon and doc both maintain if we only listen we will eat what is right. Even chocolate! In moderation.

I am 2 weeks out from a subtotal colectomy. 5 feet of my colon were removed. I had 6 ft, so I have 1 ft left. I had 4 confirmed flares of DD in less than 5 months, I now suspect that I had been dealing with this for a long time. I had always eaten a high fiber diet and exercised moderately. Since the first flare when I was hospitalized, I have had to eat the low residue diet almost exclusively. Any time I tried to add fiber into my diet I had another flare. The most I ever had to do clear liquids was 2-3 days. Even after my surgery I was on clear liquids at day 4 or 5 and full diet at day 7. I understood that the major problem with having that much colon removed would be diarhea which I have so much less of a problem with now.

Gramy - that sounds like an enormous experience. What is the prognosis now? Do you feel better? How long does it take and has anyone spoken to you about nutrition? I'm truly having a difficult time understanding how anyone survives and rebuilds tissue without eating any protein.

Gramy...finally someone else who feels the low residue diet works best for them! I know all research says to get back to a high fiber diet after a flare-up but I felt the best I had in a long time when I was on the low fiber diet. The minute I started adding fiber back I felt bad...bloated, etc...I can't even look at a Fiber One bar!

Just got put on Augmentin for an infection. May stay on the low fiber diet for a while.