flaring from cereal...anyone else?

[jeanniebug]

Well here I am saying "I knew better" and "shoulda..shoulda..shoulda..avoided it!" :headbang: I bought some Cap n' Crunch cereal at the store and tried it, because it used to be my favorite. It was so good I ate it 3 days in a row. Well last night I was up every 30 minutes to pee and hurting to boot..I was so exhausted by 6am I finally took a muscle relaxer and a codeine tab so I could sleep. Not only am I hurting but the frequency is about to drive me nuts and my tummy's swollen. I know it's a bad flare when my tummy swells. I threw the rest of the cereal out and swore "never again!" I checked the ingredients and sure enough it has 100% daily supply of folic acid. I guess there were just too many preservatives etc. plus the folic acid..it was an acid bomb! Does anyone know of any cereal that is friendly for some ic'ers? Maybe some brands that are more natural? (I know Cap n' Crunch is junk food...I was just craving it, and now I know it is a big no no for me!!!)

[Katrina]

I don't have a good answer for you on the cereal....sorry....just want to say....sorry, we all do it sometimes....and like you said...now you know it is a big no no for you....and with some things that is the only way to know for sure is trying it. Don't feel bad ....I know we never like it when we find out something bothers us....but we did learn something from that.

((((hugs))))

[sleepyangel30]

i cant tolerate no kind of cereals at all :(

[amaris]

I know what you mean about preservatives. I tried to find preservative-free cereal at the grocery store and couldn't. The only brand that might work is Kashi, but I think most of their cereals have soy protein, if that's a problem for you. Once upon a time (before IC), I tried their cherios-like cereal and thought it tasted ok.

I now buy cereal in bulk from Whole Foods. It doesn't have any preservatives and isn't fortified with anything. The ingredients are listed so it's easy to choose something that may be IC friendly.

amaris

[ICLori]

Oh I can't believe it! Someone else flares from Captain Crunch! I used to love that cereal, and the crunch berries too. Oh I miss being able to eat that cereal. Anyways, yup, I can't eat that cereal because it makes my bladder go nuts.

I do find I can eat plain old oatmeal okay and cream of wheat though. So far. Don't know what will happen down the road, my bladder might decide it doesn't like those cereals either but so far, oatmeal and cream of wheat are okay by my bladder.

Sorry to hear you are flaring too with that. I thought I was the only one!

Blessings, Lori

[kadi]

I don't eat regular cereals because too many are fortified with vitamins & that can be a problem, also BHT & BHA which are used to preserve most cereals are bad for IC bladders & mine sure let me know about it.

BUT--I do eat oatmeal (Quaker), hot rice cereal (Arrowhead mills), Nature's Path Honey'd Corn Flakes, Kashi 7-in-the-morning, plain bagged puffed rice or puffed wheat from the health food store, no problem. Barbara's plain shredded wheat cakes are ok for me & are very good with a sprinkle of brown sugar, almonds, & dates. Some people can tolerate Kashi Autumn Wheat, wish I could, it's tasty:)

[saptree]

I can't eat anything with BHA or BHT. My husband and I have spent a ton of time reading cereal box labels. I have found a couple of cold cereals that are friendly. Cracklin Oat Bran, All Bran (plain one, not the x-tra fiber one) and puffed Kashi. Warm cereals: Cream of Rice, Instant oatmeal- maple and brown sugar flavor.
My technique: if the ingreadents list is more than an inch long, forget it.
Hope this helps,
Sherry

[Mer]

I can eat Barbara's Puffins, the Honey Rice variety, also Simply Fiber, Benefit Nutrition. I get them at the health food store. Most cereals in the supermarket are off limits for me. I used to love to eat cereal right out of the box, but no more. Good luck!

[sunshine_77us]

I can eat Barbara's plain shredded wheat and Kashi Autumn Wheat. I found another organic cereal at Drug Emporium but can't think of the name of it. I will have to look when I get home from work.
I'm in a flare now and I think it's from some sirloin pork that I ate. Anyone have problems with that?

[BethW]

Hi, I know for me that wheat and gluten (sometimes corn) send me into a flare, so I dont eat anything but rice cereal (from health food store) and occasionally amaranth or quinoa.

[saptree]

Yeah, pork bothers me too. I have been trying to figure out if its from the lemon juice they inject into it, or if plain pork is just plain trouble.

[Annie2]

I used to have problems with pork, too. I checked with a couple of large chain grocery stores in my area and ALL of their pork now has additives injected. I found minimally processed and non-altered fresh pork at another grocery and am absolutely fine with all cuts of their pork. For me, it was all the additives that caused the problem. I also have to watch out for chicken and turkey because they, too, are injected with additives to keep them moist through cooking and my bladder protests if I eat it. I am very sensitive to soy and suspect it is the soy in the additives that gets to me. I now buy all-natural meats and poultry and am fine with them.

Annie

[kadi]

I am fine with pork as long as I've checked the package & nothing's been injected into it. Not bacon or ham though because of the nitrates - bad,bad,bad.

I also check the packages of any meat I buy to make sure no preservatives, marinades, additives, or spices. I've noticed deli meat in particular can have lots of stuff in it, so I check those labels too before I buy...

[jeanniebug]

Thank you all for your insight on the cereal problem! :) I forgot all about plain puffed rice etc. I will definitely be checking those out. I am not usually a big cereal eater, I am just getting so sick of vanilla pudding cups or bagles for breakfast..so far these are all I can tolerate in the breakfast department. I hate eggs and can't eat pork or sausage, either...they hurt my bladder pretty bad. I am feeling a little better today..yesterday was a humdinger! :yikes: I will never ever eat Captain Crunch again! I guess I need to start reading some labels on cereals at healthfood stores and start experimenting again-back to the drawing board! Thanks again I really appreciate it! :grouphug:

[Mer]

Jeannie,
I eat the same breakfast every morning: White toast that I make in my breadmaker, with melted mozzarella cheese. Maybe you can try that.

[jeanniebug]

Mmmm..yum! White toast w/mozzarella sounds good and very soothing right now. I could actually feel my bladder having spasms tonight for the first time in a long time. This flare up has worn me out. Ugh. :hiding:

[JessicainArkans]

I too ate Cap N' Crunch a few weeks ago and had one of the worst flairs in my life, like you I read the ingrediants and there is enough acid in there to deplete the meat off a whole turkey in one day. I saw that the crunch berries are the worst, they have SOOO much citric acid in them OOOOOCCCHHH!!! I too will be more careful in the future!
It seems like Life cereal, (has to be plain ) works well for me, I have been on a cereal sugar high for the last few weeks, It is all I have been eating, Life has a lot of sugar but I am a sugar junkie, yet it also had the benifit of easing up the bowels SORRY!! but when you take Narcotics they tend to bind you all up and it gets ugly.
Good luck next time in the cereal isle.
JessicainArkansas

[kadi]

Dates & almonds are really good mixed in with some of these really plain cereals (like the plain shredded wheat cakes). Raisins are good too if you can tolerate them.

[~*~Christine~*~]

Kind of Off Topic question: How can you eat Cap n' Crunch?! It shaves layers of skin off the roof of the human mouth while eating and it stings forever after, lol

[jeanniebug]

Ya, I was thinking I should have thought of my bladder when it made the roof of my mouth kind of sore and raw. Oh I pray this flare up ends soon. :pray: It was a little better yesterday but back in full force today. It's driving me nuts! :dizzy: