Hey guys. I come looking for some dietary advice for my gf. A little background first. A few weeks ago we started trying to improve her diet. She eats very little, usually a tiny breakfast, no lunch at at all, and a small dinner. Like 12 hrs between meals, probably getting under 50 g protein daily. Shes a 30 y/o female at about 130 lbs, 5’4".
We started her on a protein shake for lunch, and tried to up her protein at breakfast and dinner, add more fruits and vegetables, and decrease sugar and alcohol. I had her aiming for 90 g protein per day, she was getting maybe 1 or 2 additional servings of fruit and vegetable, so nothing crazy.
About a week in, she started having bad stomach cramps and less bowel movements. After a week of this the pain was intense so she went to urgent care. They diagnosed her with diverticulitis. Which seemed a bit odd bc she doesnt have any of the risk factors. They recommended a “bland diet.” I looked into it a bit and found alot online about needing a low fiber diet to combat a diverticulitis flare up. The doctors didn’t say anything about this. The next night she had potatoes with skin and raspberries at dinner, and she had severe abdominal for the next 48 hours. Everything I can find online suggests it is due to the fibrous skin and fruits.
She went to a gastroenterologist today, and they said its probably not diverticulitis, and they are doing more tests to figure it out. But again they recommended a “bland diet” and said that fiber wasnt a concern, and they don’t seem to think that the dietary changes recently had anything to do with it. I am having trouble making sense of this. I really could use some help trying to figure out what she can and cant eat. I cannot understand why the doctors advise is so terribly vague and differs from everything I’ve found online about GI issues.
I agree that this is very unlikely to be diverticulitis, especially because (I assume) the urgent care did not diagnose this based on a CT scan.
With that said, I unfortunately can’t give much advice with respect to the dietary front without a more specific diagnosis, because there are some things that may benefit from dietary modification (e.g., biliary colic, pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel issues, IBS, etc.) whereas there are others where the dietary changes are unlikely to be relevant. Once the gastroenterologists sort things out feel free to post a new thread if you still need advice.
Thanks, yeh they did not do a CT scan. The specialist said it could be Crohn’s, maybe IBS I believe. They have a colonoscopy schedule 5 weeks from now. She asked them about specifics on the diet and they just said stick with the plan. Kinda frustrating bc there is no plan, we’re just winging it.