Poll: What are your worst food triggers

[OrlandoP]

All I can drink is Gatorade (Rain berry and strawberry kiwi), Milk (about a gallon every other day) and water. In terms of food I have it really weird, but when you think of the vitamins it makes sense. One example of bizarre is I can have iceberg lettuce, but not cabbage, spinach, or romaine lettuce.

I noticed no one listed on of my worst on here, if there is a bunch of high fructose corn syrup (its at the top of the ingredients list) or any other artificial sweeteners I will be doubled over in about 30 min.

My absolute worst is if its even remotely spicy (green peppers even does it) then I am screwed for a couple days. And onions is almost that bad, even just a little bit.

Anyone else think sugar is a trigger? God help me, I don't think I can live without sugar, but if some folks think it's a trigger, worth looking into . Guess because of the corn element of the high fructose corn syrup,that might be an indicator.

Frankly, because my symptoms are so hit or miss, I never pinpointed much, even though I lived for a while on quinoa, rice, and a few other things. I do know that crappy water, MSG, beer, and coffee (depending on the intensity of my day) are triggers. MSG is the worst, beer second. Citrus is no problem for me. Neither is chocolate. But that could be DENIAL.

[aelise]

Ugh

The ones that cause me sharp, stabbing, burning awful pain:
Caffeine. Caffeine. Caffeine. (Though, chocolate seems to be okay)
Orange juice
Cheap red wine (think: Franzia)

The ones that increase my frequency but don't hurt so much:
Beer
Pinot Grigio (lowest acid white wine, i guess)

I was diagnosed last summer after I started drinking coffee randomly. I blame the introduction of coffee into my diet as my downfall. Of course, I don't drink it anymore and since then I've had to cut out all caffinated beverages (tea used to be okay). I've been in remission for about 4 months and then I tried Yerba Mate a couple days ago (it's supposed to be gentler version of caffeine!) BAD IDEA. I am in so much pain.

Odd thing though - I cut out orange juice 5 years ago when I noticed it "made" me get bladder infections. Of course, I never thought that was odd... doh!

[VickiB]

Unfortunately, I seem to be able to handle all the sugar I desire, -and all the fattening foods for that matter as well!

But one thing I really miss is all the condiments like salsa, ketchup, mustard, horseradish, etc. Not to mention little side treats like jalapenos, pickles, peperocinis and pickled herring!

I mean,... why can't carrots or celery set off a flare? Where's the justice?

Vicki

[BAM23]

garlic anything and chicken tortilla soup gives me frequency for at least a couple of days

[alycat]

I get really NASTY pain from MSG, Vinegar, Citric fruit, Tomatoes, and soda. Only takes 10 minutes, and I'll hurt all day long.

I get pain from preservatives, coffee, some chocolate, and some candies. It usually takes up to 2 hours to start flaring from these, and a hot bath and a heating pad can make it calm down in a couple hours.

I get only frequency from asparagus. I've stopped eating it because of that, but it's kinda strange.

My food flares are very specific, and I can tell all of my flares apart; I can almost always figure out what set me off, food, stress, or my PFD. For instance, today I'm flaring from too many rice krispie treats I think.

[mnelson19]

I am new to IC. The past 4 weeks i have stayed away from the basics, coffee, alcohol, tomatoes, soda's, chocolate, etc. I have not noticed any difference. I guess I need to get real strict and really narrow it down. Did you strictly follow the IC diet?

[snowgirl]

My list is fairly short..thank goodness:

Multi-Vitamins
Anything orange..orange juice, orange gatorade, cheez it crackers
Real juice (i can drink gatorade as long as its not orange)
Advil

The following I can have as long as I dont over do it:
beer
chocolate
wine

Ok beer and wine going to Indy to party. You know Kim I think it is. I imagine you to be early 30's. When I was in my early 30's I could drink beer and wine with my IC. Then 40 came. Now 46 and I can't drink any beer or wine or I will pay for it all night long especially beer. Enjoy it while you can . Vicky

[kuntrygurl78]

You're close on my age..Ill be 30 in November I have decided that since Jerry and I are planning to try for a family in the next year, that Im even staying away from my sometimes ok stuff..like pop and beer. I went out to a bbq place with hubby last week. I love beer and bbq. It was so hard not to have one..especially since hubby did. I just keep thinking I want to feel my best when its time to become pregnant.

[Claredale]

Hormones

I I wish I could make a connection between diet and IC because I'd follow any kind of diet out there if it would make me feel better. But I don't think that's the case with me. However, I have no doubt that some people react very strongly to things like tea, chocolate, spicey food, etc.
I can eat the hottest Mexican food in the world and feel no worse or better or anything, just the same. So, at this point, I see no reason to put myself on a restrictive diet when I see no correlation. I certainly would if I thought it would help.

I keep a journal and really started recording that my pain and flares always seemed to occur during the time I ovulated. My IC doctor really didn't want me to go on the depo shot due to my age and the meds I was taking. My husband took care of our birth control years ago. When I went to my regular gyno for my annual, they had brought in a new Nurse Practioner which is who I had my appt with. I explained to her that I had IC and I wanted to see if there was anything that would be safe for me to do to help with my flares since I pinpointed exactly when my pain was the worst. She had a cousin (I think) that had IC and she was quite familiar with it. She said that she didn't see any reason for me not to start the depo shot. It has been 3 years now and I have had 2 flares in all that time. Hormones are definitely a trigger for my flares and increased pain. I still avoid citrus because it still irritates my bladder, but other foods like soft drinks and chocolate I can tolerate in small amounts.

Tracey