The Doctorsaid to start :
Gluten Free Diet
Pain killers
Antidepressant which worked a few years ago.
and Valium for a few days.
He said all fruits are ok. Are they? Last night I had lentil soup - then a piece of apple.
This morning I was in agony in diarrhea.
Is it trial and error with foods - fruits and vegetables?
My dad said to do the Gluten free diet and not take meds yet.
Ims cared to just start with diet alone without the meds because one flare up is like an earthquake.
Both lentils and apples are a no no on low FODMAPS. Get the app from MonAsh university and try using just the foods marked with green traffic lights for at least 6 weeks and then add back food groups one at a time to see which affect you. Good luck.
This worked for me like magic. Now no meds at all other than occasional immodium. Still gluten and lactose free although I do occasionally have them if no alternative if out. I use oat or coconut milk.
Ok I have downloaded the APP.
when will my appetite return - Why is this worrying me.
After 6 weeks I really don't want to add back those foods - its scary!!
What if it happens againn
I added back various foods but found most affected me in some way. I still eat almost entirely the green symbol foods but do eat others occasionally if I know I'm not going to have to travel anywhere next day. At least all pain is gone my only problem left is rushing to the loo.
IF you have anxiety associated with IBS you could try self hypnosis. I use Ibsaudioprogram100 from healthy audio.co.uk which is a 100day course on DVD
Have you had a proper test to ensure that your problems aren't caused by a parasite? Appetite loss is a big indicator of this. If you are at any risk of this it is worth paying for a proper stool test, either an antigen test or ideally a PGA test. I recently saw a specialist who told me that many people who have been told they have IBS actually have got or have had a parasite infestation. I got giardia in India and although I eventually got treatment I still have symptoms just like yours and no diet changes help. My latest specialist has given me a different anti parasitic treatment so I am hopeful that this is my answer. He says that even when the parasite is eradicated IBS symptoms will remain as the gut recovers but appetite should return quickly and I should slowly return to normal. Fingers crossed! Keep searching for the answer and never give up hope x
Why did your doctor tell you to eat gluten free? Have you been tested coeliac disease?
However, it does sound as though a low FODMAP diet would help and I also highly recommend the Monash app. I did 7 weeks elimination and am now on the re-introduction which is showing me the foods that I react to and is so helpful.
Good luck and let us know how you get on
hi fruits not all alike. try peling all fruit and avoid plums,sultanas. amytrpline anti deptr are very mild and you can always stop after 6 months . i did with no withdrawal probs.
im wary of lentils too. have decided to stop them. cold pasta not good either i find.
try pears instead of apples usually kinder.
im taking normacol as a fibre substitute as wholemeal,veg messys me up.
discovered my vit d level was low and that can cause ibs flare ups.
i take mebeverine before meals and top up if ibs comes on. usualy helps. if pain bad then parctlmol ,zydol pain killer and heat to groin as well as rest usualy does the trick.
keep away from codeine and imodium is not the answer unless you are out and you get an attack.
hope this helps. iv suffered for many years. some people get free all together others battle on.im settling for managing. iv been much better since i cut my caffeine to two cups a day-none if i have ibs symtoms.
hope you soon get right
graham
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-296...
This is quite interesting and explains how our bodies digest cold or reheated food differently. For me the main problems are frozen (chips for example), reheated (leftovers) or rehydrated (rice/lentils or dried pasta), plus onion and MSG. I can eat gluten with no more problems than usual so I stick to white bread. If I stuck to the FODMAP diet AND took out the things I couldn't eat I would be starving myself which is very very bad. So I eat what I know doesn't make me worse (avoiding things doesn't make my symptoms less frequent, just not even worse if that makes sense). I know trial and error is hard but then at least you can eat without being worried what it will do to you-I've been known to collapse unconscious in the middle of a meal it can affect me that badly! Definitely get a referral to a dietician and remember gluten-free is not always the answer for everyone, plus those very expensive products are usually filled with far worse things. Good luck.
I'm not diagnosed with IBS. I have ongoing issues that are being looked at but when I initially saw colo-rectal they said to try wheat free; I got the feeling it was an automatic suggestion along with have you tried more fibre. For me it made no difference apart from the shopping bill!
What are your symptoms ?
I have previously had left side abdo pain which they thought was ovarian cysts, it wasn't so a laproscopy was done for suspected endometriosis and they found none of that but adhesions were pulling my bowel out of line. They removed these in March 2012 and I was great after that.
I now have eft side abdominal pain all the time at a low level. This escalates - sometimes gradually sometines suddenly. This started when I had 2 spells at A&E in November caused by sudden mind-blowing abdominal pain where they thought I was constipated or that lack of bowel sounds meant my bowel was switching off, also urine tests showed blood and protein so query kidney stones. This triggered referrals to colo-rectal and urology. I had some pain free days in December but since Jan I have had at least low level discomfort every day.
Urology did a CT and said that I have a small stone but it is not causing an obsturuction so there should be no pain.
Colo-rectal treated me like I was making it up, told me to try wheat free as I had already tried extra fibre and dairy free with no noticeable improvements and no foods that trigger. Sent me for a barium enema. Before I made it to that I had a couple of spots in A&E at the start of March where the pain was excruciating even through doses of Tramadol. I was given Buscopan and Diclofenac and the A&E Dr was very thorough and said I should see gynae given my past history; she said adhesions are odd without endometriosis. The second visit I was feverish and also had pain on my lower right side so we went as we suspected appendicitis. I was given Busopan injection which lowered the pain a bit and told I had a pain management issue to take up to 3x 100mg Tramadol with Buscopan and paracetomol to keep pain at bay. Had my barium enema and was told that it was normal. Now pushing to be seen before my scheduled review in June.
It has taken three weeks for the pain to start easing off to the point where I only need a couple of Buscopan a day. The 5 to about 10th March I was using the Tramadol and Buscopan every day which is not an ideal situation given the Tramadol makes me woozy.
Now waiting to go back to colo-rectal and see gynae.
Hi I tried the Fodmap diet through a dietician ,but I found it to restricting,and it made me quite ill. I tend to agree with some people,were far to obsessed with Gluten free which usually only affects coeliacs, it's more to do with wheat if your not a coeliac. I don't think wheat is any good to you whether you've got IBS or not. I'm in pain every day with IBS,because I can't find any triggers. I think if your lactose intolerant you can tell with that because it would be diareah . You just have to keep trying different ways to help yourself. I wish I could give you and everyone on here a cure,but as they say one shoe don't fit all. Good Luck Genuinely.
My opinion - NEVER just start a gluten free diet. You need to phase it out gradually. Some forms of gluten are important, while others can be damaging to the bowel - especially in conditions like Coeliac Disease. They take a stool sample to test for this. Even then, you need to phase it out gradually. Cutting something completely out of your diet all of a sudden can do more damage than good.
1. Lentils - these can upset your gut, especially if you haven't properly lined your gut during the day with dry foods. Soup can often cause upset stomach if you haven't eaten enough 'solid' or dry foods during the day. I now only eat soup occasionally as I often had stomach upset afterwards.
2. Apple - try apples without the skin, and ensure you remove the core and the pips. This might help. Try not eating them in the evening - as the acid could build up and cause upset stomach. Try at lunch time instead.
Trial and error - yes and no. If you can rely on certain foods that are not full of fat, salt or sugar, it's probably best to keep them in your diet. You could always write a food diary for a week and see what causes your symptoms to occur. Remove anything the following week that you suspect caused the upset stomach and see if the symptoms reoccur. I have switched from regular pasta to gluten free, but still eat bread. The pasta didn't weigh me down and bloat me as much as regular pasta did, but I still kept some gluten in my diet. I was tested negative for Coeliac.
Never go on a special diet unless your doctor or dietition / nutritionist suggests it - and that is after they monitor what you have eaten for a few weeks and looked at your symptoms.
Hope this helps.
The low-FODMAP diet, designed for IBS/IBD suffered, separates out the fruits into groups to avoid, ( and everything else). Apples are a no-no, for example, and Lentils definitely forbidden. Also things like onion and garlic--except the green tops of spring onions. You probably had onions in your soup?
You can get the lists off the internet: there are several sites. Just Google FODMAP. Several Universities reworking on making this FODMAP discovery easier for us mere mortals to understand.
Of course, we all want a cure, really, rather than all these restrictions, but being pain-free is worth the small price. I have to remind myself NOT to walk the dof past our marvellous old-fashioned bakery...
Keep us up to muster with your progress.
FODMAP:elimination phase,2 weeks?or 6 weeks?Not feeling any better after 2 weeks on the diet, could it mean I might need a few more weeks?
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