What's this experiment?

I've been suffering from digestion issues for a few years - maybe from 2023. I don't have any kind of diagnosis, but I get delibitating symptoms if I eat whatever, without thinking about it. In other words, I get symptoms from all fodmap categories. The symptoms depend on which categories are present, in what amounts, and with which categories. I haven't mapped out them per category in detail, though. If you wanna know about FODMAP in more detail, there's tons of resources online.

My usual symptoms, so far (if I'd eat without enzymes, which I never do!):

  • Bloating
  • Incredible pain
  • Nausea
  • Diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Sleeplessness (before the earlier listed symptoms)
  • Sweating (before the earlier listed symptoms)

As mentioned, I don't get any symptoms when I use digestive enzymes. Figuring out the correct dosage was tricky at first, and they cost money that I'd rather not spend. I've gotten used to using them, though, so I thought this is just how it'll be for the rest of my life. That is until ...

I saw a video of lactose intolerance cure. A woman had read about research, where lactose intolerancy went away within a week of digesting high doses of lactose. You can imagine symptoms, but yeah - it's a real thing. And it worked for her! She didn't recommend it, but it kickstarted her body's lactase enzyme production. Pretty interesting!

Me and FODMAPs

Do note that when I talk about being able to digest something without symptoms, that *always* means I have not stacked FODMAPs. Stacking means eating multiple categories of FODMAPs (ie. half an apple is fine, but half an apple + oat cookie can take you over the edge to painland).

Lactose

I've been lactose intolerant since I was ~20 years old. I had been using low lactose products as a kid, and switching to lactose free helped ease my symptoms. I wonder why the lactase enzyme production in my body ceased? I've been using lactose free products over 10 years now. And tbh, I am curious about experimenting what a weeklong high lactose diet would do to me. My symptoms from lactose are (in the order of tiny, small, medium, large dosages): nothing, farting, little pain+farting, diarrhea, explosive diarrhea. It's been years since I've eaten a lactose dosage that would give me diarrhea.

(excess) Fructose

It looks like I can deal with ~some~ fructose. Honey in tea doesn't bother me, I can eat half an apple or drink some apple juice without any symptoms. I'm very grateful for this, and I wonder if experimenting with fructose would a good idea, at first. Fructose symptoms seem to be softer stools -> diarrhea.

Fructans

My nemesis. I seem to be pretty sensitive to fructans. The only grocery I eat any kind of onion on, is a certain brand of gluten free pizza. It's got a bit of garlic on it, and if I eat half pizza, I get tiny bit of stomach ache. The ache itself is very fucking painful, but it only lasts for a few seconds at a time (though, for ~30-60mins). It feels like a bunch of pins and needles had teleported their way into my digestive track. Truthfully, I'm not holding my breath with this category...

GOS

Beans! Peas! Legumes! They give me the farts -> diarrhea. I used to eat beans all the fucking time, they're great! But yeah, not anymore. I can eat a tiny portion without issues, so maybe there's something there? It's common for folks to get symptoms from GOS, but any improvement is welcome. :)

Polyols

Meaning tols. Sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol ... Whenever these are used in a product, there's always a mention of "excess usage may cause farting or WORSE", but I was very sensitive to these a year ago, or so. I'd leave cookies to the store if they contained any of these. Now? It seems to be a little better..

Misc

Special mentions to some groceries! I don't know why, but I cannot stand oats (unlike many sources say "usually oats are fine" but hell NO they lie). I love oatmeal, oat cookies etc, but my gut just says NOPE let's YEET this motherfucker outta here. There's different kinds of oats, though, and some of them contain GOS + fructans, while others only contain GOS (for example quick oats VS rolled oats). Anyway. I love oats and they're great for your gut - so that's where I want to start.

:)