Last week I was told that my daughter has IBS, I was told that there's nothing they can do nor is there any advice on what she should or shouldn't eat, I asked if she would grow out of it and was told that they have no idea as they don't follow it up, I've bought a couple of books and read them but what one says you should do the other says you shouldn't, I guess there's no one better to ask than people who actually suffer from it so if anyone has any advice they could give me I'd be very grateful, thanks in advance.
I would certainly keep away from dairy, coffee, fizzy drinks especially coke or pepsi. Its a lot of trail an error unfortunately. I am still learning after 14 years.
For years I worked as a systematic reviewer for NICE, the body which publish guidelines on the treatment of many conditions, although you may have heard of them in the news when they recommend (or not) a particular drug. Anyway, I KNOW that their guidelines are rigorously researched and written, with all the most up to date evidence (even if published some while ago, updates are constantly reviewed). May I suggest, as your daughter is new to all this, that you start by reading the Patient Information for the NICE guideline on IBS. You can find this here: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG61/InformationForPublic Hope this will answer some of your questions :-) Cheers, Karen
It is different for everyone and doctors don;t know much if anything about nutrition or diet. You have to research it yourself, it can take a long time and lots of dedication. You can pay a naturopath. I am a strong believer in the theory that it is all to do with the flora in the gut and when the balance is right the problems go.
There's no coffee or fizzy drinks intake and I'm quickly realising it's going to be a very long and slow process as it seems what works for one doesn't work for another, thank you for your help.
Thank you for your help and yip I'm quickly realising that it will be a very slow process.
Yes stay away from all processed foods fried foods and learn what other foods set u in a flare. Like dairy lactose egg yolks and fruits and veggies with skins really set my IBS IN A FLARE,
CK ONLINE FOR GREAT DIETS FOR IBS.
CHEERS
HOPE
Mama don't believe it. For one a diagnosis of ibs doesn't tell you anything. You will find lots of good advice on these forums. You just have to wade through a lot of well meaning advice. If you tell us what your daughters symptoms are you will probably get more targeted information from forum members. Good advice is to keep a diary of foods eaten, emotion, and symptoms. Try an elimination diet. Best done with help from a dietician. When troublesome foods are eliminated from your diet you can get worse before you get better. When re introducing foods to your diet it might take days before you see a reaction. That's why it's important to keep a diary. You have to be a detective. Don't accept that nothing can be done. Best of luck.
Great advice and contribution.
CHEERS
It varies from person to person. Some can eat dairy etc with no problem.
Be very careful with diets and take things slow. I made too many changes too fast and ended in a big mess. I would eliminate one thing at a time and see if it makes a difference or not. Maybe a 2 week trial on each thing you suspect is a problem. The Fodmap diet looks interesting to me but I haven't tried it yet. It takes time for your system to adjust to change and to see if it's any happier.
I say keep a diary for a 3 month period ,what she eats drinks and any snacks.i do mean everything,write down how her IBS affects her.daily,It's trial and effort,Drs will say high fibre,but list of suffers say it makes it worse,I like porridge oats,but it doesn't like me,same with certain fruits and veg.How old is she ?.Think sugars can certainly make IBS worse.Im okay whole meal bread can't touch any white at all.Its a mine field to get it right,wish you luck.Keep a diary is my suggestion.
It's true, doctors don't know a lot about this condition, I myself have been struggling with this for 10 years an I'm only 22. Still ongoing. Have a look into FODMAP diet for simple low FODMAP recipes, it excludes dairy, gluten, wheat and certain fruit an veg that are hard or easy to digest depending if it is IBS-c or IBS-d. I myself drink peppermint tea and fennel. As a child if thy suffer from sore tummy I would suggest an all natural peppermint oil capsule. For me hot water bottles and watching wht I eat ( no high fat or processed foods) I've become a lover of chicken. I make chicken kebabs marinated in gluten free soy saice with a satay sauce on coconut milk and natural peanut butter. It is literally a case of figuring out what makes you worse. I hope you daughter is ok. Ion on my second week of a prolonged attack IBs-c. Good diaries help , but be prepared, if you eat too much of one think you can soon have an attack on it.
You are eating a great diet for anyone even if they are totally healthy. It will help to prevent other illnesses. But we are all different. One thing which I think is very important which nobody else has mentioned here is that you must not let your illness become your identity. Don't become that person who has such and such illness when you are also a nice person, may be a wife, maybe a mother, maybe a housewife or sister or friend or shop assistant. You are lots of things other than simply someone with an illness. To worry about the illness part all of the time is stressful and tedious. You have to get it into perspective and enjoy the other things in your life as much as you can too.
I used to know a lady who had ibs and all she ever talked about was what she could or could not eat and how she prepared it and what happened if she ate it. If you saw her for four hours it was four hours of that. Nobody ever wanted to spend time with her. She could have done most of that without discussing it or going on about it to everyone. I would say things here on this forum I would never say to other people because of this. And on the forum people can choose whether or nor to read it or respond to it or simply ignore it.
Hi Worriedmamabear (I clicked into this discussion because of your name, good choice!!)
I have suffered from IBS for 7 years. With doctors mainly telling me the same thing. I have found that stress does cause flare ups but some recently discovered food intolerances cause my worst bouts.
Here are some things I have found help listed by symptom:
Constipation
For me, brown bread only otherwise things just simply don't work.
Exercise can help keep things moving!!
Fibre
Fruits and veg. - however watch out for certain ones which may cause food intolerance reactions!
Overflow.
If you don't get enough fibre on a long-term basis, you can get this. Which is quite embarrassing. Basically constipation causes a blockage of faeces in the gut. The blockage can cause nausea and acid reflux. Nausea occurs especially in the mornings. You can also get "overflow" stools then, a large stools that has built up that comes out at once.
This should first be confirmed by a doctor if she has it or not. (can do via physical examination/X-ray)!!!!!
You can counteract this by trying taking psyllium husks or a bulking agent such as Fybogel for example, regularly for a certain period of time. And you should only use laxatives or bulking agents on advice of your doctor. Need to be careful with dosage!!!!!
Stomach pain
Peppermint oil, available in health food shops is great for stomach pain. I find it works wonders. You can apply it directly to skin or you can add it to hot water. You can also buy peppermint tea.
Nausea
I think ginger is supposed to be good for nausea. I found a ginger tea helped nausea but didn't have a lasting effect after I finished the tea.
Prescription drug, buccastem is very good. You take it under the tongue and let it dissolve.
Food intolerances
I also found out recently I was lactose intolerant (just from testing out not taking it.) Lactose intolerance has different specific symptoms. More severe than just upset tummy from IBS - for me, I get nausea, belching and very bloated for up to an hour (lately more) until I get rid of all the gas (by basically pressing on my stomach or rubbing my chest or back like you would a baby with wind. Sometimes hunching down, bending at the waist and leaning my head forward helps or rubbing my hand upwards above my oesophagus to help the air get out or rubbing my hand in a fist gently but firmly around in a circle on my tummy and then raising it up along the oesophagus as described).
You can get lactose-free milks or soy milk etc. as an alternative. And other alternatives eg. soy ice-cream and that. I have yet to investigate these options.
Check out the Fodmaps diet - it lists foods you can be intolerant to. Some people will be more intolerant to one group than another - for me it's polyols and lactose that really set me off. It's a scary diet with lots of things to eliminate when starting off but keeping a food diary can help. Once you identify which group affects you, it is much easier to identify other trigger foods as you can just look at the group and say well I ate that thing belonging to that group, so that must affect me too. Also, being aware of which symptoms are food intolerant specific is key to helping identify food intolerances. Be aware that some foods will cause a near-immediate reaction that is more obvious, but some foods will take longer to cause a reaction!
Diarrhaoea
I'm afraid I can't really help with diarrhoea as it was never a major thing for me - but if this happens I would imagine just lowering fibre intake should help and drinking plenty of water to prevent dehydration.
Tests:
An OGD/endoscopy/barium test can help check for haemhorrhoids/rule out Crohn's disease
Stool samples can be tested for infections
If your daughter hasn't had these done yet, it could be useful to ask to get them done just in case there is something else and not just IBS.
Hope all this helps! This is pretty much my 7 year's worth of knowledge on the topic!!
I hope she learns how to manage it effectively 
Anonymousgirl xx
Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to help, she has been attending the hospital for a couple of months now, they were sure it was coeliac that she had but all the results came back negative for all the tests they done, the did find out that she has glandular fever on top of all this but she hasn't let it get to her she's only 12 but has great spirit, she doesn't eat chocolate as she has an allergy to it and has since she was a baby, she doesn't drink fizzy juice as it upsets her stomach and has done since she was little , she doesn't like pizza, chips, burgers, any kind of junk food or takeaway foods that's just the way she is, I've read a lot about avoiding junk food as that triggers it but that's not the case for her, we will be seeing our GP next week and I will be asking to see a dietitian as I'm not willing to sit back and just leave her to cope with this, there must be more kids out there struggling with IBS and those kids turn into adults and are still suffering from it, again thank you everyone for taking the time to give me some advice x
Yes after awhile food elimination starts to make a difference. The biggest help for my IBS IS eating yogurt every day. Keeping the good bacteria in the tummy balanced changed my life.no sugars fermi noting causing gas has help a lot in my case. Especially eating sugary foods on a empty tummy.
either pill for or yogurt if has change mu IBS to just occasional tummy issues.
CHEERS
HOPE
Thank you for your help x
UR a good mum.. I hope u will find the answers for UR child.
CHEERS
HOPE
Thank you for your advice.