ibs getting in the way?!

hello fellow ibs sufferer.
unfortunatley ibs is a rather individual condition, everyone will have their own symptoms and their own triggers, for me i'm not the constipated sort of ibs sufferer, which meant that when i was first diagnosed i lost a stone in a fortnight, through talks with my doctors we soon realised my main trigger was stress, with very few food triggers although if i'm going through a rough patch and have a cup of tea before 9am i'll be in and out the loo untill half 11. unfortunately my doctor when discussing the weight loss he gave me the wonderful advice of just eat what you want if it doesn't set you off and we'll worry about your cholestorol when you are 40, i took him at his work and am now overweight.

be wary cutting out whole groups of food as it is often unecessary and you may miss out on vital fibre and nutrients.

the best book read on the topic was actually the ibs for dummies one, as it talked through lots of different aspects and i learnt an awful lot from it, regarding how the digestion system worked and how it can be affected by hormones and stress.

use the notes section of your food diary to keep track of how you have been feeling that day, things you have done etc and you may find its not just food thats giving you problems

^^ I agree with PregosaurusRex; I am actually diagnosed both as Coeliac and Crohn's (In the same family as IBS). Gluten and wheat intolerances present very similar symptoms to IBS/IBD and are often misdiagnosed or (like me) both are found as factors. I'm not someone who suffers from constipation, and as someone else has said, every case responds differently and it's hard no name causes for someone else. For me, I have to avoid citric things, as they make my problems worse, vegetables and fruits with tough skin and seeds (i peel tomatoes and capsicums for instance) and spicy, greasy foods or things high in sugar. But, that's all personal experience, and constipation obviously reacts differently to my own symptoms-your worries are opposite to mine! Bananas are meant to be a good all-round bowel assistant though, I believe.

I too have IBS and have done for a number of years. At first I kept a food diary to try to discover my trigers etc but in the end, they found out my trigger was stress. I have looked at my whole life now, not just my diet. Keep a diary as Whisky sugested but not only of how you were feeling but perhaps along with the foods you eat which can be done through MFP, think of situations you have been in? How did you feel? Have you had an argument? Did you have an interview or difficult meeting etc. Keep all your notes in your diary and keep a note on a scale of 1-10 how your IBS has been. By doing this you may discover more of your triggers and find ways to help you control your IBS. The reason I say about making notes is that perhaps say on Monday you have a meeting but you feel ok throughout the day then perhaps you have a bad night with pains in your stomach etc or when you get up the next morning. You can look back and see if it relates to anything. Perhaps once a month you have a meeting on a monday then every month the following night you have a bad night etc, you can then link it to that meeting. I hope that makes sense.

As Whiskey said, IBS is very much an individual illness and you have to work out what works for you. Its not always food triggered. Also various medication for IBS does not always work the same for different people so if you are on Meds for it, and you dont think your meds are working, ask your GP about alternatives. Peppermint tea and other peppermints items I have found useful. Plus originally I was taking colpermin which you can buy over the counter but you are not supposed to take that for too long.

Be careful increasing fruits etc as this can sometimes trigger an attack.

Hope this helps and that you get some relief from your IBS. It is a Horrible illness but one which many people do not understand.
I have also in the past been a member of IBS Network. http://www.theibsnetwork.org/ This may be of some use to you.

I was happy to find this thread, as I believe that I have begun to have symptoms of IBS in the past few months. I have had the same bloating, and severe stomach pain a few times now, and I have been slowly eliminating things from my diet to see what my triggers are. It is not consistent, but anything like cream cheese or hard cheese seem to reek havoc with my body, as well as carbonated beverages. I agree that stress triggers it for me too. Yesterday, I had a very small amount of ranch dressing, which I have had before, but then a stressful incident happened at work and the rest of the afternoon and evening, I was in agony. I was still queasy this morning, so did a modified workout at home instead of the gym, just in case it got worse.

I am going to make an appointment to see my doctor as soon as possible to find out what I should do. But, in the meantime, it is comforting to know that there are lots of others out there going through this too.

bump to read properly later!!

I have been reading a book called "Eating For IBS". It talks a lot about information that I've found a couple other places. There is also a website HelpForIBS.com that is connected with the book. It has helped me quite a lot.

*Edited to say, the website is a sales site for a supplement, but there is a lot of good information on there too about the condition. I generally ignore the sales pitches.