Any Ladies Here Have IBS?

zellagrrl

Forget Shakeology.

What helped me most was an elimination diet. If you want a plan, Dr. Junger's got a very sensible one, and you can probably download the guide from their site (just tells you what not to eat). I'm now effectively Paleo (going to see if cutting out legumes helps improve things, doctor already has me cutting out dairy and grains and that was not as helpful as I'd hoped). I'm still waiting for a happy medium and taking Miralax, a probiotic and acacia fiber daily.

I have IBS, my fiancé has gastroparesis and my dog's got weird stomach issues and ends up on a white rice diet quarterly. I'm waiting to see what the cat comes up with. Feel free to add me as a friend if you want to see my sometimes incomplete, sometimes misbehaved diary.

As a note, my GI doc told me that my IBS had nothing to do with my diet... so he's no longer my GI doc. My naturopath has been treating this as a holistic, systemic thing and we're trying to find a happy medium, as opposed to taking medications that really didn't do a damned thing. No, I'm not still bitter about that episode.

GoodMorningGirl

I have problems off and on, mainly during times of stress or before my period. I have found the most helpful treatment is to avoid certain foods (for me, it's anything fried or spicy, alcohol, coffee, and dairy). I went vegan in January and it's done wonders for how I feel. I have times where I need to eat nothing but Corn Chex, applesauce, and water for a day or two until things settle down. Another helpful product for me has been fennel tea. I bought mine from Heather's Tummy Care. On her web site, she has a list of foods that are good and bad for IBS. She shows them as green light foods (eat any time), yellow, and red. One more tip: never let yourself get really hungry by going several hours without eating, because then your digestion goes haywire when you do eat. By following all of these tips, I've been able to live drug-free and usually very comfortably. Stress is the major trigger for me, though. I don't think I have food allergies or gluten intolerance or anything like that.

Lauren8239

I posted an article for people suffering IBS.
One response.
It had all you needed to know about diet and what foods make it worse.
Yikes.

cazwillis99

I suffered from IBS for years - painful cramps, runs, liquid poop, mucus and general yuckiness, having to rush to the loo minutes after eating the wrong food and basically exploding. I have done two things and it has completely gone. I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerence and my doctor suggested I look at FODMOP - it is about foods that set you off. I can't have onions or peppers in anything at all - I now use asafoetida in cooking for an onion taste because you can't have onion salt either. You can get a fodmop food list of the internet - it shows you foods to avoid and the best foods to eat. You don't have to exclude everything but when you read the list you may see some trigger foods in there. I now have a "lovely" regular bowel that moves once a day at 8am. Also, going gluten free cured my migraines that I had suffered from for over 20 years. My diary is open please feel free to have a look if you need ideas :-)

allisondra23

I used to have it (D), but seriously the following things completely elliminated it. It's amazing. REALLY.

1. NO SODA
2. Take L-Glutamine supplements at least 1000 mg a day. (I don't take it anymore but you will need to the first few months)
3. Seriously seriously try to completely cut out dairy. DAIRY IS HORRIBLE FOR THE BODY. Almond milk is a good replacement and I personally think it tastes way better both plain and in cooking. Almond cheese is a good sub too but it can get pricey. Sour cream - use toffuti better than sour cream.
4. Cut out red meat as much as possible. This was HUGE for me. Red meat is bad in general but I think it's especially bad for those with digestive issues. If you like recipes that call for ground beef use St Yves Meatless Ground. Sounds absolutely repulsive and looks it in the package but it tastes SOOOO good, seriously if you season it like you would beef you cannot tell the difference.
5. eat at least 2/3 meals at home, home cooked and if possible not frozen meals.
6. when you have to have sweets try and make them at home using agave nectar or raw sugar or brown sugar instead of plain white processed sugar. Sugar especially when combined with chocolate was horrible for me but if you don't use processed sugars its way better.
7. DO NOT FRY THINGS. Sautee = fine, fry = bad.

It seems really hard to do everything I suggested but it really isn't. The first week is a bit of a challenge after that its so easy to stick to it because you feel AMAZING. No more stressing when traveling or going out etc.

Kincar

I have IBS too (IBS - A). I wish I knew what my trigger foods are because I'm having a hard time with it right now. It's been way worse so I appreciate that it's not too bad, but I would love for it to go away. Probiotics usually help, but lately they aren't helping.

I'm going to try some of the suggestions in this thread. Thanks to all who have posted!