Endo and IBS?

[SarahMia227]

Hi ladies,

I was diagnosed with endo in November 2017 via a laparoscopy.

My main symptoms are painful sex, but also extreme abdominal pain and bloating. I often bloat so much that my jeans won't do up in the space of an hour, and it's sometimes so painful I can't walk.

I've been trying the "endo diet" (so no/low meat, dairy, gluten, sugar, caffeine or alcohol) which I felt was helping a bit. However, I'm still getting painful flare ups, and they happen especially in the afternoon, when I've eaten lunch.

When I saw (an admittedly shockingly bad) gynae last week, she basically dismissed all of this and said I might have IBS. I wasn't sure that to think, but today for instance, I had a lunch of falafel, hummus and lots of veggies, which would seem ok under the endo diet, but a red flag for IBS (chickpeas and cauliflower aren't good, apparently) and now I'm all swollen and in pain again.

Does anyone have endo and IBS? How do they interact? Do you have to follow the endo diet and a low fodmap diet? How do you not starve?

[Char411]

Hi

I have Confirmed Endo and did the fodmap diet for 2 months and I did find that my bloating was much less frequent.. it didn’t stop Endo flare ups though and neither did the Endo diet when I followed that. My gastroenterologist said that IBS is a symptom of endometriosis (he was amazing, much better than my gynaecologist )

Luckily I don’t get the bloating too often (when I do, it horrendous I can barely walk) but I haven’t found any food that triggers it. I can eat the same meal 2 days in a row and one day I will bloat and one day I’ll be fine. I did find fodmap really good but was advised not to do it longer than 2 months as it’s very restrictive. I have kept to some elements of it, I still don’t eat cauliflower and I know too much onion really angers my stomach so I avoid that too.

Good luck xx

[joelle34]

Your Gnae sounds just like mine, I wanted some information and better understanding of my endometriosis and went away with a fact sheets on IBS! I tend to have flare ups near or on my period and have been given medication to help with constipation. To be fair, I'm quite lazy and haven't bothered with food changes because everything they say to do for endo is bad for IBS and vice versa. Hopefully, you'll find a balance but if pain is severe then go back.

[Flicque]

Hey, you posted on my thread I think we have similar things! The low fodmap diet is so amazing and I have been doing it for over a year now, 3 months super strict and I have slowly re introduced quantities that I know I can handle. It’s worth being strict for at least 8 weeks for your stomach to heal properly and re set. I honestly wouldn’t go back because that bloat is so awful and the constipation has caused me to have a pile. It’s a nightmare! I don’t know much about the endo diet as I’ve only just found out about it, but for fodmap download ‘MONASH’ app, it’ll really help with knowing what you can eat in what quantities. The key is to keep quantities small and lots of variety. Once you know your triggers it’s easier to do! It’ll be worth it, there’s also some great stock cubes called ‘massel’ On amazon that don’t have onion or garlic in those are the two main ones to avoid and often the hardest. good luck