reaction time?

[Deirdre]

Is there an average time when foods tend to cause a reaction? I am starting to think my flares have been pretty soon after eating problem foods. This would be good because it would help me figure stuff out easier. Can you tell me your experience? TIA

[MamaZ]

Hi Deirdre,
My experience has been that it's hard to tell one ingredient from another, unless you're doing mono-meals. My pain/urgency/frequency usually flares hours or a day or so after I eat something that doesn't agree with me and by then I've eaten so many things it's hard to tell which was bad and which wasn't. There are foods that I try to avoid just because I know they always throw me off (tomato sauces, spicy foods, lots of dairy, lots of vinegar) but sometimes it seems like there's no rhyme or reason.

[meResque]

My flares occur about 20 minutes after eating or drinking something, and last 4-6 hours. I HAVE tested this.

There definitely is NOT an average time, though. It varies widely person to person.

[earthlady]

The only thing I've noticed that effects me right away is caffeine or red wine. Other than those I probably do have things that effect me, but they may have a more delayed effect so I still can't figure out all my triggers.

[icadvice]

Whiskey gives me a reaction the second it touches my throat almost..not that I'm a whiskey drinker but I discovered this one time and so I didn't complete more than one gulp and it took an hour or two to kind of recover.

Coffee and tea give me the next quickest reaction and after drinking a full cup it takes me days to a week to recover.

OTC pain/blood thinner like Advil the worst pain reaction compared to coffee/tea.. I tested advil out only one time in the last 2 yrs to see if it might help my IC pain and oh boy, when it started metabolizing in my stomach, a stabbing pain came on that was so terrible I started praying to God my bladder wouldn't pop open and that I wouldn't end up having to be rushed to the hospital for surgery. I could hardly move in my chair because I could felt like my bladder was about to tear open.

Prelief kind of helps especially in delaying the reaction to a flare but it doesn't help much sometimes for me.

Otherwise with other foods sometimes it takes a day for me to develop a reaction. Milk and yogurt even seem to increase my IC.. 2 years in and I wish I had singled out my diet more..its just hard to run tests for a long enough time to single out certain foods.. but it's worth it if you can. And menstruation will affect the results because pre-menstruation and during, increases flares.

[Julie B]

I agree with the rest that everyone is different, but that most foods affect people within 20 minutes to an hour. I also have a VERY quick reaction to any alcohol and products like colas and tea.

[Snowden1]

Vitamins C and B cause a quick 30 minute reaction. Most foods take me 3 to 4 hours to react. Some are cumulative. I can't figure it out and think it is safe and then I just have more and more pain. I eat very little now hoping to reduce the pain.

[girl]

Most foods take three or four hours for me, and the flares from them usually last 3 - 4 days. I figured out my problem foods by going to a bare bones elimination diet and adding in foods one at a time. The thing is, it can be cumulative too - sometimes it won't hurt unless I eat a food a couple of times. I still, after years of the diet, only eat my very safest foods (chicken, pears, rice) when trying something new so I know what it is if I have a reaction.