# newbie questions



## jackied (Mar 17, 2011)

Hi thereMy teenage son has been ill since January and on Tuesday was diagnosed with IBD. He can't eat anything solid without vomiting so three weeks ago (while under investigation) was prescribed dairy based nutritional supplements. The good news was that he stopped losing weight, the bad news was that he started having constant diarrhoea. So on Tuesday the doctor said to try reducing or eliminating the dairy. I replaced all the liquid milk he was having with soy milk, though continued with the powdered supplement.His diarrhoea got worse almost immediately. So... Is a bad reaction to soy milk common? Might it wear off given a bit more time?And... if you eat/drink something that sets your symptoms off, about how long does it take for things to calm down again? Obviously given that he can't eat I need to pinpoint as soon as I can whether the soy really is worse than the dairy, or whether it's a coincidence.I've already told him that for now we'll have a 48 hour break from soy and dairy to see if that gives his system a rest. We're trying really hard to get him back into school for the odd lesson - I'm sure you'll appreciate how difficult that is!Thanks v much


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## em_t (Jun 8, 2010)

Ow your poor son, I hope he gets better soon. There's a drink available here in Europe called Fortisip, which is a nutritional drink that I have just checked is both lactose and soya free. You could ask your doctor if you can get it in the US. They're really good, they have 300 calories per drink and contain all your essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids. The only problem with it is the Fortisip has a milkshake type consistency which is quite thick and difficult to drink a lot off witout feeling a bit sick. They also make Fortijuice which is the same idea but a juice type drink. Instead of soya milk you could try rice milk instead - try and get in fortified with calcium. You can get this in most health food shops. Remember to enhance all your son's drinks with milkshake type syrups and anything to try and boost the calories! Usually diarrhoea calms down within 48 hours, but this could be a symptom of his IBD as well.Hope some of that helps and good luck!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You might try rice milk rather than soy. Soy has some sugars in it that can be a problem for some people, even though they aren't lactose, they still aren't commonly digestible. A lot of people find they tolerate rice (or almond) milk better than soy.


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