Banana's causing a flare!

[mela414]

In addtition to having IC I have lots of other autoimmune problems and have been really having a rought ime with my diet.
I recently found gluten to be the culprit of many of my ailments and have been trying hard to remove it from my diet. I would get violently sick for days and think I was getting yet another virus or flu. I also started working with a nutritionist and did some food allergy testing and found lots of other offending foods. So, needless to day the diet has been hard especially since I keep hitting roadblocks and get continuosly sick from foods.
I thought I was doing OK with the IC diet and actually found something that I could have for breakfast without getting sick. I"ve been having a banana every morning without it causing any harm til recently. I've noticed that about 2 hours after having my morning banana I would get bladder pain and then lower back pain. Of course I thought it was something else....like my new vitamins. So, I stopped the vitamins (I had ony take them for 2 days) to see if there was any inprovement.
Without making a connection to the banana I had a ripe plantain as a snack one night and woke with HORRIBLE pain the next day.........still not thinking it was the banana I continued and had my morning banana....nothing else! THAT put me over the edge! The pain was debilitating yesterday and I thought I would not be able to make it out of the house to a communion. I layed down with a hot water bottle and waited for the extreme paint to subside while I also drank lots of water.
has anyone esle had this experience with bananas? I'm thinking that it was just too much for my body to handle. Maybe it was too much potassium...not sure. I didn't think it was that acidic. So now the real challenge lies in figuring out what to eat for breaksfast with all these food allergies. I started with a hot cup of water and honey today, a little pear and a slice of prosciutto (no preservatives).
Does anyone else have any food intolerances along with the IC or any other immune disorders. This is really getting the best of me.
My top offenders are : SOY, GLUTEN, DAIRY, EGGS, PEANUTS, TREE NUTS, and lots of other grains....to name a few. All of these add to my fibromyalgia pain almost instantly....and some even give me a toxic effect where I am sick for a few days with even just a little bit.
Thanks for any input anyone may have.

Mel :headbang:

[ICLori]

Bananas have tons of potassium - and potassium is one substance that irritates the heck out of IC bladders. I know I can't eat bananas without flaring.

Hope you feel better soon,
Blessings, Lori

[liznazz]

I can't tolerate bananas at all.... yet I could have a small glass of low acid OJ without any problems. Go figure...... I had a similar experience that you did with mangos also... DEADLY for me. I drank a lot of water, took tums, did the heating pack and rested. After about 5 days the flare died down. Hope you are feeling better soon. liz

[ICNDonna]

It's not the potassium in the banana that is the problem. Please --- do not try to eliminate potassium from your diet. Potassium deficiency can be extremely serious. I don't get enough in my diet and have to take a supplement (ordered by my physician after a blood test showed a deficiency and I had an abnormal EKG).

I think of it this way --- if you put salt on a wound, it stings --- but if you put the salt on an egg and eat it, it doesn't cause pain. Potassium eaten in food is not the same as putting potassium directly into your bladder.

That said, bananas are an irritant for many ICers.

Donna

[DanaW]

Bananas are a no-no for me too!

[mela414]

I forgot to add that in between the morning banana and the evening plantain....I snacked on half of a mango! What was I thinking!? It was a choatic day with the communion at church and then the party at night I probably wasn't planning ahead! I think that the it was just too much for me... like Donna said, adding salt to a wound. In the past, if I had a little mango after dinner I was ok.....same goes for the banana but it seems that having it every day put me over the limit.
I know the hazards of not having enough potassium....isn't that what happened with Teri Schiavo?
So, Donna.what other way can we get the potassium? I am also having a hard time with vitamins so right now I am giving my body a break til this simmers down. Then, I need to find something that won't aggravate the heck out of me! Any suggestions on that end. I think I do OK with the B's...it's the multi that kills me.

Thanks again,
Mel :)

[Janie Miranda]

Mel,
I found out that dried beans are a good source of potassium. Like you I was worried about getting enough so I've started cooking dried beans and having a serving 4 - 5 days a week. A plus for beans is also that they are high in fiber and also protein. I make a batch of brown rice and have beans and rice and it is actually a pretty good and hearty meal.

[mela414]

Thanks Janie,

I will have to try the beans but verly little at a time.........as they cause me a lot of problems with gas and pain. I'm also allergic to soy beans and am so afraid to try any other beans.......

thanks,
mel

[hoping4acure]

I can not tolerate bananas at all. I made my husband some banana bread and I made one for myself with just a LITTLE bit of bananas in it, and NO WAY did my bladder like that. So yeah...no bananas for me. I hope you feel better soon. :)

[Janie Miranda]

Mel,
I think zuchinnis also have potassium if you can tolerate those!

[mela414]

I can't eat a lot of zucchini's either.......they are also toooooo gassy and cause a lot of distress!
anyway, I am in agony this morning. I couldn't sleep thorugh the night and had to get up to void because I had this pounding pain! I used a hot water bottle to soothe it but his morning I am still in agony. I am actually not going to my monthly hospital appointment for my IGG infusion because the pain is so intense.
My dinner last night was grilled salmon and fresh artichoke which I cooked stove top. I had my nephews over and gave them icecream after dinner and literally had less thane one teaspoon of natural vanilla icecream with a few choc chips in it . The amount was miniscule so I don't think it was that. I later had hot water with honey.
I searched the IC diet list and could find nothing about artichokes. I'm starting to think that I can't do them either. At least not when I am in a flare!
I am not on any meds....I decided to give my body a break especially since I have so many food intolerances and a lot of the meds have gluten, soy, eggs or lactose in them and were making me sick. Today though I think I am going to pick up my new script for pyridium and see if that helps. I already checked the ingredients and think the Brand name will be ok.
Does anyone have any experience with artichokes? I a going to Florida in 2 days with another couple and am starting to stress over this. I spent part of yesterday morning sobbing over this but thought today would be better. :help:

Thanks,
mel

[mela414]

OK.........I just checked the nutrtional value of artichokes. They are high in Vit C, folate and Potassium!
My bladder is screaming today.....i want to cry!
mel :loco:

[Janie Miranda]

I'm so sorry Mel. I hope it gets out of your system soon and you feel better quicklyl.
hugs, :grouphug:

[hoping4acure]

Hi Mel,

I am so sorry you are going through this. It has happen to me also, with many different types of foods.

The pyridium helps me ALOT. What helps also is a heating pad, and lots of water and chamomile tea.

Good luck and feel better soon...I think you should be fine for your trip...just drink alot of water.

:grouphug:

[ICNDonna]

What were the medications that you stopped taking? Sometimes prescription medications are what keeps me going.

Donna

[trytosmile]

I can't have a banana on its own but I do put one in my morning smoothie. I think because is is diluted with the milk and ice cubes that is makes it ok. That is my only explanation.

[Regina06]

I never tried bananas cause of the potassium so I don't know

Feel better

[mela414]

HI Donna,

Because of the many food allergies that I have and the horrible way some of them made me feel I decided to give my self a break until I figured out which ones I could safely take. I had been on Neurontin for a while and then when I tried to go back to it I got raellly dizzy and weird on it. Maybe it is something that I have to give another try. I checked the ingredients and I think the only offender so far is lactose but have to check the ingredients st again. I also stopped ativan because I started to get effects form it. Xanax makes me really sick...so ican't taek that anymore! I was on effoxor for a while but not long enough to notice an improvment. Nortriptaline was well tolerated but I lost my hair and had to go off of it so the dr thought that elavil would probably do the same thing. Percocet which was previously take for pain is now off my list too.......it has gluten. Elmiron destroyed my gut. Tylenol #3's also started to make me sick......I don't remember what was in them. so you see between the alleriges and just not tolerating drugs well I am very limited. I recently saw Dr. Kristrine Whitmore and she gave me a script for neurontin ad effexor...just to get the nerves to clam down. I was also experiencing a lot of external burning (vulvodynia) and she felt that the nerves are too fired up! I thought that with diet I could get it under control. The thing is that I haven't gotten my diet figured out yet because I have been working on the gluten issue with a nutrionist and trying to add new foods in have been causing the IC to really flare up. It was sort of calm for a little while.
Today i am just so exhausted from all of this. Between the fibro, the fatigue, food intolerances, IC it is just too much. last week I saw my new PCP and also complained that I have a lot of burning in my legs and arms. He felt it was from a vit deficiency and sent me for tests. I don't have those results yet but started on some vitamins that are gluten free and free of other allergens as well. I thought they would help but I never got to know because the vitamins did my bladder in too! I have to call today to see if he has the results yet. He said that he might want to treat the neuropathy with a low dose antidepressant which at this point would probably hep me all around. Now..I just need to find one that I can tolerate. gotta check all the labels first! Any thoughts? :confused:

[Franny]

I read in one of my books on ic that sometimes a greenish banana is not aggravating to the bladder. There is a substance that gets stronger as the fruit ripens that aggravates the bladder. I tried a lightly green banana but not so much that it was bitter - and I had no problem. The only problem -I could only eat one from the batch because within one day the rest of the bunch lost its greenish tinge.

[trytosmile]

Franny....

I have heard the same as you. The greener the better. Once they start to soften I don't use them as they can cause problems. But if ripe no problems.

[mela414]

Thanks guys,
I've been avoiding the bananas and mangos too! Yesterday about 3 hours after lunch I decided to try half of a really ripe pear as a snack. 2 hours later the all too familiar pain started. I was so upset. I can't seem to get this calm down! also because lack of fruit I am now more constipated. this morning I woke with a little pain and had my toast for breakfast....no fruit but took a sip of my hubby's coffee to try to get things moving! I finally had a BM......i am in agony with throbbing pain. I am not sure what is going on! but boy is it bad. I don't hink it could be the tiny amount of coffee that I had. Maybe I am just too sore for anything right now.
i picked up a script for ativan yesterday and Am going to try one. I have a flight to Florida later today..for some R & R....but the way that I am feeling I don't even want to go. I am so afraid that I will be in pain the whole weekend.

thanks again,

[purpleviolet]

Funny (not really) somebody posted that artichokes made her feel better! We are so individual. Maybe anti-histamine type drugs will help you. I'm trying singulair, but I don't think I'm as sensitive to foods as some IC people are. After 35 years, I still haven't identified what bothers me except for coffee, tea and booze and some too acid or too alkaline things (lemon is alkaline!)

[Franny]

Can't you take some Prelief or baking soda and water?

[Cali girl]

I know in the beginning of my diagnosis I could not tolerate bananas. But now going on almost two years with meds I can eat one a day without any problems. Some triggers for me are cough/cold medicines and caffeine. Unfortunately I can not take any cough/cold medicines because they send me into a flare. So when I am sick I just take tylenol.