IBS Sufferer? Let's help each other.

Along with using the recommended stuff from the doctor, I went out today and got some almond milk to put on my cereal and in my coffee in the mornings, I’m going to try and go non-dairy to see if it will make a difference with the IBS.

YES i'm lactose intolerant but i'm not a big fan of dairy for IBS ppl, I think (hope!) you'll notice a big change without the milk. I have rice milk with everything I need milk for.

good luck with it!

Hey Guys,
I have been suffering with IBS since an accident in 2000 which meant having to have an ovary and fallopian tube removed and my bladder and bowels stitched up.
I have tried everything under the sun from fibregel ( little sachets you add to water to drink ) to Ducolax and Senokot ( sorry about spelling ?! ) Peppermint oil capsules, Buscopan tablets and changes to my diet.
I saw a food specialist a few years ago and she found me to be intolerant to wheat, egg whites and asparatime.
I have learnt over the years to reintroduce wheat - although am better with brown rice, pasta and bread, and kind of know when my body is ok to have an egg or two. Asparatime is a big no no - any soda cola, lemonade, etc whether diet or not bloats me terribly but I have found vimto cordial ( UK cordial you add to water ) and Red bull ( only the normal full sugar stuff ) are both fine.
I have been majorily addited to red bull ( or cheap alternatives ) over the last couple of years but know trying to lose weight am drinking more water ( which I don't really like ) and cut back the red bull to one a day.
Sometimes I get an attack though and I have to throw up to get the pain to subside and take strong painkillers - Doctor has previously given me Tramadol as codeine blocks me up. Its really annoying that sometimes the attacks happen and you can't understand why - you have been eating right and not stressed !!
One big factor I have is the week before I am due on is always when they are most frequent!
Hot water bottle on my stomach helps loads as well - little tip for you - I have one at home and one in my desk in work.
There is nothing worse than having an attack in work and knowing that you can't leave as you have loads more to do. It doesn't help me being a training consultant - could tell lots of tales of times when I have had to run to the bathroom in the middle of training people and then returning to the room and trying to carry on knowing they are wondering "what the hell is up with this woman?"

cool about the dvd!

@helsebels: I totally know what you mean, i'm also a total energy drink addict (sugarfree V) but am trying to cut it out....Im not sure about you but coffee makes my bowel/stomach REALLY bad and i want/need the caffeine so I figured energy drinks were the lesser of two evils! ha.

i was at the doctor this morning discussing the IBS and she didnt really have anything else to add, I'm kind of just at a loss with it some times (most of the time) as everything seems to make it worse, i'm just like....whatever, I guess i just have to live with it at this point!

not having a great time with it this week, am swinging between the 2 extremes, but am rather stressed with work issues so i guess its to be expected. certainly not helped this morning though with work being chaos, i work at a train station and half of my rush hour trains have been cancelled, so i'm trying to piece the services together so i can give customers the best options, but its very difficult to do that when the control room keeps moving the goal posts so to speak. arghhh!

i have to be honest after starting exercising all though its killing me my tummy hast been as bad as it was it still bloats up liek a balloon but it seems to be going down a lot quicker as well which is a good thing

Bump... busy now, but really want to join this conversation.

For several years my doctor thought I had IBS. It was ruining my life. I went to Vegas with a friend and was sick in the bathroom most of the time and sending all the ladies out of the bathroom running! I could not go anywhere without the stress that it may happen and I would have to find a bathroom immediately! And I think my IBS was like most others, awful pain like I was having a baby (and I have had 3 so I know what it feels) bloating, diarrhea and being light headed all at the same time!

We came on some harder times a few years back and I decided one of the cuts we could make was my weekly and bi-weekly Star bucks run. Well guess what I figured out? After about a month of no coffee, it dawned on me that I had not had a IBS bout in a month
!
Well, the coffee was triggering the IBS in me and I have not had a cup or mocha in 3 years and have not had any troubles!
I am so excited I found out what was triggering it, but I still miss my mochas!

interesting comment, yes i have varying degrees of reaction with different types of coffee....filter and espresso (from the store) is very bad, plunger not so bad....instant coffee is bl**dy awful, not only do i have cramping and all the other associated stuff (not going into it, you know what i mean), but i also vomit. i thought it was the additives they freeze dry it with? who knows.

slightly off topic but I'm also vegetarian and (mostly) dairy free (due to the lactose intolerance) - i have been vege for so long (10 years) i cant remember if there was an improvement from eating meat vs not eating it - however it seems from other peoples comments that there is, which is interesting.

in other news i have a going away drinks to go to tonight, its at a bar so i will have a wine or two (not good for the stomach), also TRY to select something healthy for dinner....its all bad for my stomach and since i've started working out every day and drinking alot less my stomach seems to not be ok about greasy/bad food and alcohol as much! so fingers crossed!

Along with using the recommended stuff from the doctor, I went out today and got some almond milk to put on my cereal and in my coffee in the mornings, I’m going to try and go non-dairy to see if it will make a difference with the IBS.

YES i'm lactose intolerant but i'm not a big fan of dairy for IBS ppl, I think (hope!) you'll notice a big change without the milk. I have rice milk with everything I need milk for.

good luck with it!

I have IBS and drink about a gallon and a half of milk a week and never have any problems with the IBS due to it. Isn't it strange how it is so personal?

and how much it can vary depending on what else you've eaten/how tired you are/etc.
sometimes i am ok with white flour/pasta/bread and other times not, i just had some cous cous and now i feel like throwing up

Great thread! IBS definitely runs in my family, but I thought I had escaped the family "curse" until a couple of years ago. Looking back, I did have a lot of 3-week long "stomach bugs" where I had diahrrea every day. Stupid doctors!

My new doctor says I have IBS and some "sludge in my gallbladder." I've been given every medical test known to man due to abdominal pain and that's what they finally come up with. His advice? Not much. He said to work on exercising and reducing stress. He also said to take peppermint oil. I asked him about diet and he said it doesn't matter what I eat. Well, I haven't had a solid BM in over four months now and the peppermint oil makes my eyes sting I'm so minty! There has to be something I can do!

I've been wanting to try an elimination diet, but my doctor doesn't support it and says there is no point!!! After reading this thread, I'm even more motivated to give it a go.

Also, I've started taking some pro-biotics I got from the health store. I think it is helping a bit, actually, but not a miracle.

My symptoms seem to be a little different than the constipation that everyone else is mentioning. I have a lot of gas and sometimes have stomach pain. My biggest thing is, first thing EVERY morning, I have diahrrea. This last "episode" is going on 5 months. The odd thing is, when we travel (and we travel frequently), my body stops moving completely. The only time I have relief from the daily diahrrea is to have travel constipation the entire trip. Miserable. I feel like I'm obsessed with my bowels now.

I'm worried that all my nutrients are leaving the body before they can be absorbed and have occasional bizarre bruising. I'm not anemic, but it makes me wonder all the same. So, I'm with the rest of you - this is very frustrating!

not sure if i mentioned it in my first post on here, when i was learning about the whole tea thing, my specialist tought it would be the caffine in the tea until i pointed out that coffee DIDN'T affect me (unless its from costa, but their coffee isn't nice lol) so it might be the tannins or something. Tomatoes are apparently also a common trigger for some sufferers. must get my book out again and read it as i know i've got a stressful period ahead ove the next few months, forewarned is faorearmed as the say