IBS

I read somewhere that a lot of people with IBS don't chew enough. I can testify that I do not chew as much as I should (which results in problems later). So I try to chew a lot better now especially raw veggies. Our body has a hard enough time digesting raw veggies already, not chewing doesn't help.

not eating the peelings of fruit and veggies helps me

I agree with the fiber supplement - It does help, Also - Ditto on the "will get worse before better" but your body does adjust to not "eating constantly" which is how I self medicated the problem

I have struggled with IBS for years. It comes and goes. One thing that I know for sure is...aerobic exercise helps stop the pain. I think moving around get the gases out of my stomach. I do not eat the skin on apples, peaches, etc. I use to eat a high fiber cereal every morning with blueberries and that helped alot. You need to introduce the raw vegeatables into your diet slowly. Make sure when you do, that you are also eating them along with something else so you have other things in your stomach besides just that. Keep a diary of what you can't tolerate. As you do it more and more, you will be able to eat healthier. Drink lots and lots of water. Good luck.

Hi I have IBS, was diagnosed a couple of months ago (although suspected for long time due to family members having the same) after things got so severe i was hospitalised whilst they tried to get things going again.

I was told that although people are told to eat more fiber, it is not always necessarily the case or best way forward. I was eating a hell of a lot of it and was still having quite severe problems (5weeks without BM), with several different remedies not working, and the doctor said that sometimes too much fiber can do as much damage as too little fibre.

once my initial problem was resolved, to stop it from getting bad again, I was told to try and cut out/avoid all wheat from my diet and ensure i was drinking 2 litres of just water a day (ie not including teas, squashes etc in my 2 litres). I was also told to cut back on dairy, but not have to cut it all out, and eat more fruit and vegetables.

Touch wood before i finally had it diagnosed my BM would vary between 6 days to 8days and in that instance it was 5 weeks, and since i have come out of hospital and followed the advice given to me my BM are normally daily, sometimes every other day, and i have found that my weight is a lot more even (not up and down so much).

IBS is a general term used by doctors when the bowel doesnt work the way that it should, but there can be many variations in the way this happens.

Everyone who suffers with it will have triggers and you need to find out what yours are and try to avoid. The most common ones are:

Wheat intolerance
Dairy Intolerance
Stress/Anxiety
Caffeine intolerance
Chocolate Intolerance

You probably wont even know you have one or more of these intolerances - i certainly didnt, and i never used to have an intolerance either, but something my consultant said was that sometimes if someone eats too much / a lot of a type of food, ie wheat, dairy etc, even though they are not born with an intolerance their bodies can develop one through too much of the foods.

i guess the best thing to do is look at your diet, see what you eat and what could be triggering it, and try avoiding/substituing them. it may take a bit of time to get it right but you'll find once you have cracked it youll feel lots better in yourself and your weight wont go up and down so much.

hope this is of some help to you!