Me and My (Sensitive) Stomach

My sister and I have a lifelong history of weird stomach ailments, aches, pains, bloat and general discomfort. To be honest, I thought for the longest time that it was normal to severely bloat every time I ate/drank and that it was just normal stomach behavior. When I learned that wasn’t the case, it became a near obsession.

When I was (incorrectly) diagnosed with Celiac disease, I lived a gluten-free diet for over a year. I was sure that once I had eliminated all gluten from my diet, that I’d be feeling better. Nope. So, the doctor suggested that I may have a lactose intolerance as well. No dairy now, either? I was down to eating apples and lettuce, and for a dorm student, it was hard to get enough to eat. I couldn’t go cook myself some vegetables, after all. And, to make matters worse, the small, private liberal arts college I attended was entirely vegetarian, which meant tons of soy and gluten-laden products. It was rough.

When I had the endoscopy done to confirm (using actual stomach tissue) that the positive blood results I had for Celiac were correct, I got a surprise. A few short minutes after waking from my anesthesia, a doctor came in and said that my tissue had tested negative for Celiac and/or a gluten allergy. “Go home and eat a pizza,” the doctor said. I did.

Once again, I should have known. Although my stomach problems were alleviated somewhat by the spartan diet I was on, they never fully went away. The bloating, in particular, was still a huge problem.

So, here I am, almost five years later with the same stomach problems I’ve had for years, with no discernible medical explanation.

I like to do my own “tests” to see how my body reacts to certain foods. Shortly after I got the bill of health on the Celiac front, I began to eat bread and soy in order to test my body. See if it could really handle that kind of gluten load after so long without it. My stomach was more or less fine—that is, to say, the same as it had always been.

For dairy, I did the same. I could have milk on my cereal, cheese and all manner of other dairy products (cottage cheese, yogurt) and, like with the gluten products, my stomach stayed more or less the same. Not great, but not catastrophic either.

I want to backtrack a bit at this point and discuss what I mean by “bloating.” This isn’t the water-weight-laden bloating that women are familiar with pre-cycle, and this isn’t post-Thankgiving dinner glutton bloat either. This is an uncomfortable, unstoppable, every-time-I-eat noticeable change in girth. No lie—when my stomach is all its all-time worst, I change dress sizes just by having a sandwich. It’s horrible.

Then, I learned about something called fructose malabsorption, a sort of evil cousin of irritable bowel syndrome. It’s basically exactly what it sounds like. Someone with fructose malabsorption cannot process as much fructose as a normal person, and this problem is made even worse through the intake of artificial sweeteners/high fructose corn syrup.

I had always suspected that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be the culprit behind many of my symptoms. Bloating and stomach irregularities are hallmarks of HFCS. But, I don’t eat much high fructose corn syrup. I eat fairly healthfully! Err, maybe not. There are hundreds, thousands of products that I wasn’t thinking about that have artificial sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup. My initial reaction was, “I don’t eat much candy or junk food!” But, I do occasionally eat white bread, most of which has high fructose corn syrup included. (Even some “whole grain” breads contain HFCS.)

I started to think back. I’d always feel horrible if I drank soda, especially diet soda (which I’ve nearly cut out, only drinking very rarely), ice cream, most fruit juices, soup, etc. etc. (The list goes on and on.)

Big wake-up call. Could I be THAT sensitive to processed foods? After reading the experiences of other people who had similar symptoms, I tend to think yes. And while this isn’t a diagnosis from a medical professional, I am already noticing improvements if I carefully evaluate everything I eat. And, now that I am not a dorm student (thank god!), I have access to a kitchen where I can cook vegetables and other wholesome foods more easily.

It’s a strange road my stomach and I have gone down, and I don’t foresee an easy resolution to the problems I’ve had over the years. But, this may be a start. Cross your fingers for me.