Keeping a Food Diary for Sensitive Stomach Prior to Visiting Doctor

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hello, I'm not sure how exactly to say this. I've never really had a problem eating or drinking anything until about last winter. I know around that time I was very depressed and dropped twenty pounds from lack of eating. But even now that I'm starting to gain my weight back I've realized that my stomach is EXTREMELY sensitive. And I don't mean just a bit. I mean towards almost everything. I've realized I'm lactose intolerant and anything more than a VERY small amount of dairy ends up with me either curled in a ball on the floor holding my stomach or with, as gross as it is, diarrhea. And I thought it was just that, which was bad enough because I love milk and used to drink it constantly. But now if I drink any more than a few sips of soda, my stomach hurts. Fast food, or even homemade fries, burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, it all ends with the same problem. And then my range got larger, pizza makes me sick, understandable because of the cheese, but pizza has ALWAYS been the one thing with cheese that didn't upset my stomach. I used to be able to eat fettucine and mac and cheese, but that brings up the same symptoms. Along with mexican food, chinese food and ANY sort of pasta. I can't even eat spaghetti anymore. Bagels make me sick, the only type of bagel that my stomach isn't sensitive to happens to be bagels from this place called Einstein bagels. It seems lately that the only thing I CAN eat anymore, is bread and my mom's rice. Too many beans upset my stomach and now I've lost my taste in meat. I don't eat pork chops, chicken, beef, the only meat I can eat is turkey and steak. This doesn't leave much options for me when it comes to eating. I hate it because no matter what I end up eating, I get sick at LEAST 5 times a week, I'm 5'1" and 18 years of age. And I used to weigh 90 after dropping weight, finally gained up to 98 which I was very happy about because I hated being so thin and looking sick, but all these constant stomach issues I'm having makes any food in my system leave within an hour or two and I hate it. I used to rarelyuse the bathroom to do "number two", maybe every other day or even once a week and now I go multiple times a day. I weigh 95 lbs now, I had dropped three in the past two weeks and I'm afraid I'd lose more again. I'm not sure if there's a pill some sort of medicine I can take before eating or drinking? Fruit makes me sick, not bananas, but oranges and grapes do, occasionally the watermelon. Orange juice makes me sick. I drink water only basically and if I drink too much, my stomach gets really, really bad sharp pains. I'm going absolutely insane. I love food and I can barely eat any of it anymore, though that doesn't stop me, but the consequences are starting to really upset me. Is there anything, ANYTHING, I can do?

Dear Samantha: The first thing I would suggest is to start a food diary.  A food diary is a log of all food and liquids you ingest - including snacks. It is important to record the day and time accurately and honestly.  At the same time, the diary should record your symptoms,  By keeping a food diary, it is possible to figure out which foods are causing you the most discomfort and eliminate or reduce them from your diet.

This information can be helpful to your doctor. It will allow him to determine if a colonoscopy or an endoscopy is warranted.

Symptoms that are a cause of concern and should prompt you to see your doctor sooner include: pain, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fevers, weight loss or a change in the color and consistency of stool