Suggestions for gaining weight?

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CorgiGal
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Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby CorgiGal » Sat Jun 09, 2018 4:47 pm

Hi everyone. I am 25F and was diagnosed with C.diff back in March of this year, and was treated for it with 10 days of Flagyl at the beginning of April. I am at the 2 month mark post-flagyl. I won't say it is a success story yet, as I still feel very fatigued most mornings and haven't been able to return back to school yet, but the typical C.diff symptoms have resolved.

I probably shouldn't have, but I weighed myself today and I am 7lbs lighter than I was at the beginning of all this (it might not seem like a lot, but I have always been quite thin, but I haven't been this thin since high school and it makes me very nervous). PI IBS has been kicking my butt, do you have any suggestions for high-calorie foods or drinks that were helpful in your recovery?

I can't seem to eat anything in large quantities or it overloads my GI system, so I am trying to find foods/drinks that are high calorie but low quantity. Cheese unfortunately doesn't sit well with me yet or I would be eating so much of that.

After reading around this site I decided to try digestive enzyme supplements to hopefully help me eat larger meals, I have no experience with them and hope they work ok.

georgina
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Re: Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby georgina » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:48 am

You can't gain weight overnight .When IBS flares will start subsiding and you will start adding more foods back into your diet you will see that your weight will go back to normal. Digestive enzymes are a good ideea , you can try them and see if they help , there are several brands out there but not all of them are great .I tried several brands of digestive enzymes that were simpler combinations or more complex , and i found that the ones that were just plain pancreatin (that can help you digest the fats and carbs) were more helpful then the one with more ingredients.

CorgiGal
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Re: Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby CorgiGal » Sun Jun 10, 2018 7:25 am

Thank you, georgina. That is really helpful about the enzymes. I bought one that is gluten-free/lactose-free as I seem to be reacting to those two things right now, so I hope they work ok. If I don't have luck with them I will try to find those with just pancreatin and give that a shot.

I will try not to worry for now and just focus on not losing more weight if I can help it.

timskin
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Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:15 am

Re: Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby timskin » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:45 am

Hello and thank you for this group! I'm a 71 year old male whose labs are quite wonderful except of course for C Diff. In Jan, 2019 I was diagnosed with C Diff and all other labs were excellent. Actually, I've had it for about 1.5 years prior to diagnosis, and it's my fault since I minimized symptoms for so long. Sure I thought weight loss, intestinal issues were related to aging. So , after 6 months of antibiotics (primarily Vanco) I was happy to finally receive a fecal transplant a week and a half ago. So far, so good - feeling much better, have energy, appetite seems to be returning and I sure hope this takes care of it.

Here's my concern. My best weight is around 150 pounds or 68 Kg. and when i finished high school in 1964 I weighed 145 pounds. After all this time, my weight is 132 pounds or 59 Kg. and I've lost more since the FMT 9 days ago. I'm drinking 2 or 3 high protein and calorie drinks (Ensure) and at least 3 meals a day. Is there a reasonable diet or are there suggestions to gain weight? Is part of it just time - it took 2 years to lose? I'll starts with divest enzymes and hope for more ideas.

Thank you,
Tim

beth22
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Re: Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby beth22 » Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:42 am

Hi Tim and welcome to the site. Please read the first forum for more information for new posters.

I, too, kept losing weight, even after FMT. I could not tolerate the Ensure, so I had to just eat foods. You could try to eat in between meals with small snacks, adding calories. I remember eating croissants as they contain a lot of calories and I still eat those madeleine cookies. One cookie is about 150 calories. Be careful though with sweets. Not everyone tolerates them well. I can't eat a lot of them.

I think it takes some people a long time to regain weight. It did for me. Just make sure you are eating well. I also had my vitamin levels checked and I was deficient in vitamin D and A and low on B12. Some people are deficient in others like iron or B6, folate. It might be a good idea to check.

Kuro
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Re: Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby Kuro » Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:23 pm

Weight loss is very common with this. Just about everyone has it to some extent. I'm battling to stabilize my weight, myself. As Beth says, just eating more and going for more calories has slowed down the losses a lot.

One tip I can offer is that, since you know you can drink Ensure, you could look into Ensure Plus. They have (I think) 350 calories per bottle and the same good nutrition as the regular kind. I couldn't tolerate Ensure for some reason, unfortunately, and I'd really hoped they would fit into my diet.

justme
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Re: Suggestions for gaining weight?

Postby justme » Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:40 pm

Hi Tim,
Gaining weight after a devastating illness like C. Diff can be problematic due to a very sensitive colon recovering from the onslaught of C. Diff. I got C. Diff 4-1/2 years ago at 69 years old. Fortunately, I was a bit over my ideal weight when it hit. I got it from overuse of antibiotics in a short period of time due to a variety of illnesses requiring antibiotics. It has taken 5 years for me to get back to the weight i was when I had active C. Diff. I lost 50 lbs. in 6 weeks. Unfortunately, my system was extremely sensitive for a long time and adding back different types of food was hit or miss. Bananas were probably the best single type of food that helped gain weight. I ate one every day (along with papayas and poi - I live in Hawaii). Make sure you take vitamins to help keep your system balanced. I found that poultry was the easiest type of protein on a healing intestine and most of the fruits (especially apples) were okay. Vegetables (except those in the gourd group like eggplant) were the hardest for me to digest along with any type of milk-product. I became lactose intolerant which I never was before C. Diff. so Ensure was not an option for me and sweets were a no-no. Unfortunately, since we all have different tolerances toward food, you'll have to do some experimentation. If you can drink Ensure and high protein drinks, you are very lucky as those are good for weight gain. It's just going to be trial and error process for you, but you'll get there.
Good luck and aloha,
Anne


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