Feel like live lost motivation due to IBS pain

vsprocket04

Since Saturday noon I've had bad bloating / IBS pain an hour or so after ever meal :-( haven't had this for years and the pain / bloating is really getting to me now. What can I do to make it better?!?! Bought some colpermine tablets today and was hoping they would kick in but my stomachs hurting more since eating only 20 mins ago.

bradXdale

Are you sure it's just IBS?

Have you been DX'd by a GI?

I'd get an appointment with a GI & have tests done to make sure it's not a food allergy, ulcers, crohn's, etc.

Hope this helps.

JagerLewis

Since Saturday noon I've had bad bloating / IBS pain an hour or so after ever meal :-( haven't had this for years and the pain / bloating is really getting to me now. What can I do to make it better?!?! Bought some colpermine tablets today and was hoping they would kick in but my stomachs hurting more since eating only 20 mins ago.

I've been having issues as well, bloating, not going, not losing, etc...I started taking probiotics and omega 3 fish oil last week, and I'm starting to feel better. Good luck!

sad_kitty

I found probiotics and really watching sugars and starches for a few weeks to be quite helpful when my IBS was at it's worst (like you, bloating up and having pain within 20 minutes of eating).

I hope you start to feel better soon. Wish I had more things to suggest.

karimonahan

i thought i had IBS, turned out i have celiac disease. i was in a lot of pain too, especially after i ate, basically dropped down to like 700 cals....just didnt feel like eating i was so bloated! i went and talked with my doctor and after i was tested i took gluten out of my diet, 2 days later i was literally back to my old self!! maybe you should talk with your doctor, it could something with the foods that you are eating!

meritage4

I manage by IBS by taking 5 metamucil capsules every morning with 10 oz of water. Then I drink LOTS thru the day.
I also microwave my salad-otherwise it goes right through me with urgency and cramps.
For me it seems to work.

vsprocket04

Am currently on 3 colpermine tablets a day, no intense pains today but still bloated/ strange tummy noises and uncomfortable. If it continues I will go to the docs on Tuesday ( visit family in the same town as the doc so can leave kiddies with family!)

goldthistime

I also microwave my salad-otherwise it goes right through me with urgency and cramps.

Brilliant idea! I rarely have salad because I have had too many misadventures with it.

Btw, I hear there is a new Stool Bank being set up for C. difficile and IBS sufferers.

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/gory-details/introducing-first-bank-feces

"A new nonprofit called OpenBiome is hoping to do for fecal transplants what blood banks have done for transfusions. It’s a kind of Brown Cross.

And it’s an idea whose time has come. Recent trials testing transplants of fecal microbes from the healthy to the sick have been so promising that people are attempting dangerous do-it-yourself fecal transplants by enema, for lack of access to authorized medical procedures.

Graduate students Carolyn Edelstein and Mark B. Smith got the idea for OpenBiome after a friend had trouble getting a fecal transplant to treat an infection with Clostridium difficile. The bacterium causes dangerous, even fatal, diarrhea and in an increasing number of cases is resistant to antibiotics.

People tend to get C. difficile infections after antibiotics or chemotherapy has knocked out helpful bacteria, allowing what is normally a background player to take over. Transplants of fecal bacteria from healthy donors can help reset the microbiome, the mix of bacteria in the body, and crowd out C. difficile. A 2011 review of 317 patients treated for C. difficile found that fecal transplants cleared up infections in 92 percent of patients. And more recent research showed that taking a round of pills containing bacteria isolated from fecal matter (without the feces itself) resolved C. difficile infections in all of 32 patients treated.

There’s also interest in transplanting healthy fecal microbiomes into people with inflammatory bowel disease or even obesity. In one recent test, mice implanted with fecal microbes from thin humans stayed thin, while mice given bacteria from obese people gained weight."

skinnybythanksgiving

It sounds like you have dealt with this before. Me too, since 2001. If you don't have a copy of IBS, The First Year, it saved me. It's by Heather Van Vorous and she has a website too with all her helpful tips and not ok food lists. Here is what she says on her website about trigger foods. Avoid these, take Methylcellulose (Citrical) and drink peppermint tea.


"IBS Trigger Foods - Warning! Eat at Your Own Risk
The fundamental idea of eating for Irritable Bowel Syndrome is to avoid the IBS bad foods that trigger or irritate a spastic colon via the gastrocolic reflex that occurs when food enters the stomach, and to eat foods that soothe and regulate the colon. This will relieve and prevent BOTH constipation and diarrhea, as well as the painful spasms and cramps, gas, nausea, and bloating of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The most difficult foods for the body to digest are fats and certain animal products. As a result, they are the most powerful IBS trigger foods - for BOTH constipation and diarrhea - and you must strictly limit or, preferably, eliminate most of these IBS bad foods from your diet altogether. Will this require an enormous change in the way you eat? Probably. But it is a change for the better, and we will walk together through the steps needed to make this change as easily and deliciously as possible.

Fat is quite simply the single greatest digestive tract stimulant, and thus the most common IBS trigger food. When food enters your stomach, it triggers the gastrocolic reflex, which cues your colon to start contracting. (Have you ever had an IBS attack within minutes after eating the wrong thing, even though common sense tells you that the food was nowhere near your colon at that time? The gastrocolic reflex is why.)

Fat will trigger this reflex more powerfully than any other category of food. While this is normally something that would simply result in a a bowel movement, it is paradoxically likely to cause problems for people with IBS constipation OR diarrhea. This is because people with IBS do not have a normal gastrocolic reflex response, and their colons tend to spasm irregularly and often violently. In people prone to constipation, if those spasms are too strong they'll actually "seize up" the colon in a type of charley horse, and motility can halt altogether.

This will cause severe pain from the ongoing cramping of the colon, and it will also result in or worsen constipation, because motility has shut down and fecal matter is not moving through. Only when the muscles finally relax will you begin to feel a little better, but it can take quite a while after suffering such violent spasms for normal colonic motility to return.

In a corollary way high fat trigger foods also typically worsen IBS diarrhea, as the muscle spasms triggered by fats result in gut contractions so fast and hard they rush matter through the colon, without enough time for water to be absorbed. This causes pain from the spasms and diarrhea from the hypermotility. So, though it sounds odd, high fat foods are triggers for BOTH diarrhea AND constipation if you have IBS, as they are each a possible result of the gastrocolic reflex gone awry.

When it comes to reducing or eliminating the high fat trigger foods from your diet, I sympathize tremendously with you. At first glance the IBS diet changes can seem overwhelming and just too difficult, as by nature most of us are resistant to any great transformations of our lives. It is almost always easier to not alter a habit, simply because inertia takes less effort than action.

However, I really cannot stress enough that the changes in diet required for IBS do NOT equal deprivation. You will not be expected to simply give up all the foods you love, and offered a tasteless starvation diet in return. These changes are in fact a terrific opportunity for a better life, as you can easily learn how to eat safely for IBS without giving up an ounce of flavor, fun, favorite restaurants, or delicious home cooking. It is simply a matter of substitution, of replacing IBS trigger foods with safe choices. Remember that the only thing you're really giving up is the constant worry and dread of attacks, as well as the pain and agony they cause."

And here is her list of trigger foods.

"Please don't read this IBS trigger foods list and assume that you can never again eat any of these IBS bad foods, so life is no longer worth living. These are all IBS trigger foods, yes, and some of them you will probably have to completely eliminate from your diet.

BUT - others can be eaten in small quantities when you follow the How to Eat for IBS diet plan coming up, many of the items listed have safer substitutes you can use freely, and there are quite a few tips and tricks you'll soon learn for cooking with the nutritious foods on the list in a safe manner. So take heart, this isn't the end of the world – it's just the end of IBS bad foods and the beginning of a better IBS diet.

Red meat (ground beef, hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, roast beef, pastrami, salami, bologna, pepperoni, corned beef, ham, bacon, sausage, pork chops, and anything else that comes from cows, pigs, sheep, goats, deer, etc. )

Poultry dark meat and skin (skinless white meat is fine, as is seafood by the way – try to buy organic turkey and chicken)


Dairy products[1] (cheese, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, milk, cream, half-and half, ice cream, whipped cream, yogurt, frozen yogurt). Dairy is an Irritable Bowel Syndrome trigger even if you're not lactose intolerant. It's simply not just the lactose. It's also not just the high fat content of most dairy products that can cause your IBS to flare. Even skim and lactose-free dairy can trigger IBS attacks. In addition to fat and lactose, dairy contains components such as the proteins whey and casein, which can cause severe digestion problems. Though yogurt is traditionally recommended as an "easily digestible" dairy product because fermentation has reduced the lactose levels, even non-fat versions contain whey and casein, and should be avoided.

Egg yolks (whites are fine, do try to buy organic)

Meat, dairy products, and egg yolks are particularly dangerous for all aspects of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. In some people their high fat content causes violent, rapid colon spasms and triggers diarrhea. Alternately, for others their heavy animal proteins, complete lack of fiber, and very low water content can lead to drastically slowed colon contractions (or one prolonged colon spasm, which is extremely painful) and severe IBS constipation. No matter what Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms you're prone to, these three categories of foods pose high risks and are trigger foods really best eliminated from your diet altogether. Other high fat IBS trigger foods to watch out for:

French fries
Onion rings
Fried chicken
Corn dogs
Anything battered and deep-fried
Anything skillet-fried in fat of any kind
Shortening
Margarine
All oils, fats, spreads, etc.
Mayonnaise
Salad dressings
Tartar sauce
Cool Whip
Coconut milk
Shredded coconut
Solid chocolate (baking cocoa powder is fine)
Solid carob (carob powder is fine)
Olives
Nuts and nut butters
Croissants, pastries, biscuits, scones, and doughnuts
Pie crust
Potato chips (unless they're baked)
Corn chips and nachos (unless they're baked)
Store-bought dried bananas (they're almost always deep fried)

Fats are usually fairly obvious foods to identify, but not always. The worst culprits are listed above, and many (particularly meat, dairy, egg yolks, and fried foods) can simply be eliminated from your diet entirely and your whole body will be healthier for it.

The thought of this can be deeply shocking, but giving up these foods does not equal deprivation. Honestly, it doesn't. There are a great many easy IBS safe substitutions that will let you cook and eat safely while still enjoying many of your traditional favorite foods. There's also a lot of fun to be had in trying a wide variety of new ones. And when you're tempted to indulge in a dangerous treat, just remember that everything tastes a lot less delicious when it triggers a vicious IBS attack.

There are also some hidden sources of fat to watch out for. Cookies, crackers, pancakes, waffles, French toast, biscuits, scones, pastries, doughnuts, and mashed potatoes can all be sky-high in fat (virtually always so at restaurants), so be careful. Give thanks for the fat-free craze that has given us supermarket aisles full of safe alternatives.

As an aside here, while it's crucial to maintain a low fat diet in order to manage Irritable Bowel Syndrome, it's equally important that you do not go fat free. Though it makes no difference to your gastrocolic reflex if you're eating lard or extra-virgin olive oil, it will make quite a difference to your heart and your health in general. Your body needs healthy fats in order to function. Keep your fat intake to 20% - 25% of your total calories, and make your fats count. They should be monounsaturated and contain essential fatty acids, so choose fat sources such as olive oil, canola oil, avocados, finely ground nuts, fatty fish, flax oil, etc. Because all fats, even heart-healthy choices, are still potential IBS triggers, please follow the Irritable Bowel Syndrome dietary guidelines detailed in How to Eat for IBS.


Warning! GI Irritants are also IBS Trigger Foods
These foods and beverages offer no IBS benefits but plenty of IBS risks. Avoid them.

Coffee ~ both regular AND decaf contain an enzyme that's an extremely powerful GI tract irritant. Go cold turkey today and drink herbal teas instead.

Caffeine is a GI stimulant and should be avoided, especially in higher doses.

Alcohol is a GI irritant and often triggers IBS attacks, especially on an empty stomach (though small amounts of alcohol used in cooking are fine).

Carbonation in soda pop and mineral water can cause bloating and cramps.

Artificial sweeteners, particularly sorbitol, can trigger IBS pain, cramps, gas, bloating, and diarrhea.

Artificial fats, namely Olestra, can cause abdominal cramping and diarrhea in people who don't even have IBS – imagine what it can do to you.

MSG has acquired lots of ugly anecdotal evidence against it regarding all sorts of digestive upsets. It can simply be avoided, so why take a chance?

Inulin and FOS are cheap manufacturing by-products used to add fiber to many processed foods. They ferment very rapidly in the gut and can cause extreme bloating and gas. Always check ingredients for these.


While fats and GI irritants are best reduced or completely eliminated from your diet, there's another crucial component to eating safely for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: understanding the difference betweeen soluble and insoluble fiber.

If you're already familiar with how the different fibers can dramatically help (or hurt) IBS, it's time to learn why how you eat for IBS is just as important as what you eat"

This is what worked for me.