Food and bacteria - help wanted

hi unfortunately i think all of us who have pouchitis would love to find the source..i have been working on it for over 6 years an have tried many things..thinking each time maybe this is it..but for periods of time it seems so but then its back..i do diet elimination,probiotics, you name it..when its all said and done its really very complicated..as dr. shen says things change ,many factors and each of us is got a slightly different makeup of above..with everything i tried antibiotics for me on a continual basis is only thing that keeps it in check..and in my case i have to keep changing antibiotics..i still watch m diet to eliminate starches and sugar that feed the bad bacteria and i still take the probiotics but unfortunately i am presently back full time on antibiotics..

i have yet to see any real proof on this site or anywhere where the answer has been found...some of us have times ,months even when something seem to work and then it does`t ...

again the key phrase here is its complicated with various things or factors for each of us..

but keep checking site..best source of information and try some of the approaches nd see what works for you but right now there is no magic bullet..

I agree with Rebecca. IMO it's the similar to what I went through 14 years before my surgery. I tried countless diets to combat UC and I obviously didn't find one that worked.

I'm now using 2 sachets of VSL#3DS daily and don't need to use antibiotics as much as I did when I only used 1 sachet. This is the only thing I've tried that appears to be helping. It is very expensive, especially when we haven't met our insurance deductible. I watch what I eat and eat heart healthy.

From virtually everything I've had read, there is actually very little if any objective clinically proven correlation between food and the development of pouchitis - meaning, basically, that food does not in and of itself cause pouchitis. However, certain foods -- some of the most common including excess sugar, dairy, starches, and spicy foods -- may aggravate an existing case of pouchitis in some people. In that case, individuals who find they are sensitive to those foods or that such foods make their pouchitis worse, might more effectively manage their pouchitis symptoms if they reduced or eliminated the intake of those foods. That being said, there is certainly no guarantee that eliminating any potential trigger foods will amount to a reduction in pouchitis symptoms. The other complicated thing is that "problem foods" will vary widely from person to person, so just because one individual seems to do better by eliminating a food category such as white bread or pasta, for instance, does not mean another person will have the same results by following the same plan. On the flipside, while some people might do better with dietary modifications to manage their symptoms, there is no proof that any specific diet entirely "cures" pouchitis. There are numerous people with chronic pouchitis who follow various diets (vegan/vegetarian, FODMAP, lactose free, glucose free, etc) but still report little change in their pouchitis symptoms. So again, diet and pouchitis are one of those vary individual and controversial issues for which there isn't one universal answer.

What it comes down to, as with everyone, is that we are all individual, and that our results can really only be determined by trial and error. If you have discovered that some foods aggravate your pouch and that your symptoms are mitigated without them, then definitely you should systematically reduce or eliminate them from your diet. But unfortunately this does not mean that another person will have the same results by following the same plan, nor that there is one specific plan all those with pouchitis should adhere to.

If only it were that easy.

Thank you all for your answers. Let's hope the 'magic bullet' will appear some day

spooky..i have to agree with you but i will always wonder why a year ago dec. i had eliminated all starchy foods and cut sugar down to only fruit and for the first time in years i weaned off antibiotics till i was antibiotic free!!this lasted three months then i found it no working so well so i added back just one half of a dosage of antibiotics and low and behold it lasted three months..then finally admitting it was not working i was back on full dosages of antibiotics and rotating again...

what i still wonder made it possible to eliminate most serious pouch problems with diet and then not..

thats is why i say its really all very complicated...and things keep changing and the bacteria (if that be the devil) keeps figuring out how to work around the new control..

but food has been the only approach that at any time got me off antibiotics.probiotics has never been enough..however,i feel thats a tough one because there are so many of them who can say with the thousands of bacteria one has got the right one or group...

vsl#3 is helpful to some people but certainly not the magic bullet for most of us..