Would like to hear anything positive on how you deal with IBS. I've had it since I was 14 years old and I'm now 46. Anything new that I haven't tried??
Have you tried the low FODMAP diet?
I have. Boy is it tough finding foods. But, yes I was on it for about a month. Actually some foods made me feel worse. But overall.....nothing changed. Thanks.
It may not help you, but you have to do the elimination stage for 6-8 weeks then the re - trial stage takes about 7 weeks so you have to allow 3 months minimum to do the diet.
I found it helped loads with gas and made constipation worse. Now I have ibs-d it seems to make no difference to me.
Some people swear by probiotics but I didn't find they helped.
I eat porridge mixed with milk and water. I am trying to cut out milk but not there yet. I regularly exercise by walking. I eat more salads and eliminated as much processed food as I could. I drink water instead of carbonated drinks. I still get ill but I am better. I was unable to work for a year but recently started again so baby steps as Bill Murray would say.
I am not constipated. No trouble going to the bathroom.
The foods on this diet made me more gassy and gave me diarrhea even more. After a month I had to give it up.
I do need to cut out alcohol and start exercising more. That is on my list for this week. I have to make "start" dates. I can't eat too many fruits and vegetables as they cause me to be more gassy and running to the bathroom more.
Sorry about you being unable to work. I always chose jobs where I'd NEVER have to travel. Having anxiety along with IBS is not helpful.
Hi Kelly. I have ibs-d, fructose malabsorption, bile acid malabsorption, & colitis. walking bowel disaster really. regarding diet: i found fodmap useless as most of the foods on it I couldnt tolerate anyway. i now follow a low residue diet which is very simple. everything white - bread, rice, pasta. no fibre (can't break it down & makes diarrea worse) no cereals or oats, grains,seeds. avoid fruits with skins or pips - same with veg & make sure veg is well cooked. the veg part though i can't really do, as i find most veg & salad leaves (the greener the worst it is) come out looking like they went in!! i can eat sauteed mushrooms, iceberg or kos lettuce but not the really green leaves. i can't have fruit because of my fructose problem. but the rest of the low residue diet described above has helped/improved the ibs-d element of my problems. i also take a quality liquid probiotic that begins sym*****, which i also found made ibs symptoms milder & i have not had a col since starting it a year ago! hope this info helps. xx
Thank you for the info! Do you eat meat, cheese, etc....? What about drinks? Are there any you avoid?
Fodmap diet is good, I cut out dairy and I do feel slightly better.
I'm glad the Fodmap diet worked for you.
You're welcom Kelly. drinks: i enjoy a bottle of red wine on saturday evening, no fruit juices largely due to the fructose problem, but even without that fruit juices like orange or apple particularly acidy so can upset ibs sufferers anyway. i usually have quarter pint of diet pepsi with my dinner - that's the only fizzy stuff i have, but strangely i find it assists my dinner going down -like it gets my tummy ready for food....best way to describe it. plenty of water, decaff tea(tetley decaff doesnt taste any different to normal tea) & limit myself to 3 mugs of "proper" cafettiere coffee over about 3 to 4 hours in the morning. onions & "pieces" of garlic, tomatoes are nono's for me-really make diarrea worse & don't digest, but i can tolerate garlic bread, or tomatoey sauces with no chunks in. i am fine with all dairy products - 1% fat milk, yoghurts, cheese all fine. meat i mainly eat chicken, & have sausages & a good quality wagyu beef burger once a fortnight. fish fine too. milk is my saviour - i often do not have any appetite through the day, so my brekkie & lunch often consist of half a pint of the 1%fat milk - its a nutritious food albeit in liquid form & better than nothing at all! i eat a normal meal in the evening. I've recently discovered too that i can't break down potato skin by seeing it in the loo undigested! bizarelly i can eat jalapeno poppers(jalapeno's filled with cream cheese & coated in breadcrumbs)& sliced jalapenos without any problems, but can't eat red or green peppers!!!! its a learning curve & everyone's different, but with time you can learn what to eliminate/tolerate. also if i eat more than 6-8 chunks of chocolate at a time it brings on ibs cramping. even milk chocolate. I'm not a big chocolate eater , but like a few chunks maybe 2 or 3 times a week with a cuppa in the evening-but have learnt just to eat a little bit to avoid ibs symptoms. also i do not fry anything - everything is baked in the oven - even sausages or burgers. i avoid high fat meals as that makes symptoms worse, & when buying burgers/sausages, as i said wagyu beef burgers, always buy the highest quality ones with the highest meat content & without onion in the ingredients. due to the inadequacies in my diet with no fruit & little veg, i take a daily multi vit with a bit of everything in it, & a 500mg ester c vit c tablet after my evening meal. ester c is a non acidic form of vit c that is easily digested/absorbed & particularly suited to people with bowel/digestive disorders as it doesn't upset your tum. I hope all this info helps you Kelly-gives you a few ideas/poss things to try out if you want to. let me know how you get on/if anything make a difference to you, & don't hesitate to ask anything else if you need to. xx
I am not being preachy just saying that was worked for me and I enjoy alcohol. I have a cupboard full of unopened alcohol from mead to damson vodka to single malt and port. I have a little at Christmas as I stay in one place for a while so if I'll that is fine but I abstain for most of the year. The walking was really key. I was losing a lot of weight and regularly being ill and as much as anything it helped me think and as I am reasonably young, 40's.
I was asked if I could lead a few walks for groups which I have done. I was out most weekends but suffered a bereavement recently and as much as I want to walk I do not want to leave my family alone.
I just bought a map and one Saturday afternoon map in hand decided to walk through some local woods and see where it went and about 5 hours later, should have been 2.5 hrs, I collapsed at the steepest point in my county having walked up. When I started out this was not my intention but I enjoyed it but still find that hill steep even now without taking wrong turns. Looking back I have no idea how I finished that first walk as I was so unfit but I did.
I have a 3 fruit salad around 8pm including Apple which is not fod map I am told but works for me. I try to eat 4 pieces of veg a day. When I was ill I did not eat any.
Yes it it was tough. I did take a job in March only 15 miles away but the journey was heavy traffic so I would have anxiety which would make me Ill and then I would be late so I only lasted 8 days. This is a short term contract in case I struggled but also much closer within 4 miles and pass 3 pubs and 2 supermarkets so I am covered if I have any problems.
Hi kelly i have suffered since i was about 17 and i know how nasty ibs can be, i have recently been trying a gluten gree diet which seems to help alot so if you haven't already you could give that a try