I am really glad I found this ...

[lccd2311]

I am really glad I found this forum, I stumbled across it yesterday after having a bad weekend.

Im 27 and have suffered with IBS for 11 years. Its gotten a lot worse over the last few years. Looking forward to getting to know you all.

[ivesy]

Hey. Nice to hear from you. I'm 28 years old and have been suffering from ibs d for the past 5 years. Actually had a flare up tonight which was horrible 😥 it's a great community here. Hopefully we can help each other. It's nice to know we're not alone with this horrible condition.

[lccd2311 in reply to ivesy]

It is good to know we arent alone. Ive gone from having a flare up once in a while to several times a week. I hope you are feeling better

[ivesy in reply to lccd2311]

Hey. Yes I'm feeling better today thankfully. I always find it takes a couple of days after a flare up for my stomach to settle down. Have you noticed any triggers for your flare ups?

[Hidden]

Welcome to this site - it's very informative and helpful. Best of luck

[VA80]

Hello,

Lots of comments on here talk of taking probiotics - check these out for artificial sweetener, e.g aspartame, Sucralose, saccharin etc. These sweeteners gave me IBS for years and now I've cut them out I'm "cured." See my post "cure for IBS after years of suffering" for more details. In my experience most of the products on the market that are supposed to restore digestive health actually cause poor digestive health. You keep suffering and the company makes more and more money, as the last thing you consider is the probiotic. Immodium also has sweetener in it and causes same issues. The food industry does not give a toss about whether we are healthy or not, they just want to make money out of us. I used to think chilli, garlic, spices etc caused my stomach issues and all along it was artificial sweetener. I eat normally now, have everything I want except sweetener! And I've lost weight!

Good luck

Vikki

[VA80]

Hello

This may not help everyone but a few years ago I was suffering from constant stomach issues from bloating to cramps to constipation to diarrhoea and no two days were the same. It was very hard to live with and very upsetting. The doctor told me I had IBS and to try eliminating one food at a time, e.g. Gluten, dairy etc to see what worked. This made no difference.

I then went to the health food store Holland and Barrett (in the UK) as they take a blood sample and test it for you. The nutritionist said it could be a number of things but also asked if I ate atificial sweetener. I did, (on a very regular basis), as I was trying to lose some weight and thought that diet foods would help. He then told me the first piece of advice he would give me would be to give this up, especially aspartame as it is a chemical which is not supposed to be ingested in large quantities and has an extremely negative effect on lots of people. I was eating it all the time -

Sweetener in my cereal and in coffee/tea

Diet coke, sprite etc

Cordial (most of the full sugar ones also have a percentage of sweetener in them now as well). In fact the only cordial I can find in tesco without sweetener is Ribena full sugar.

- low fat yoghurts (SOoooo many of them! Even Activia low fat which is supposed to be good for your gut)

- flavoured water!!!!!

- some fresh orange and apple juice

- some cheap ciders and flavoured beers

- some full sugar soda e.g schweppes tonic, lemonade and supermarket own brands

-lucozade sport

-sugar free chewing gum and mints

-lite hot chocolate drinks

The list goes on and on and on.

It is also in several medicines that are sweetened, e.g. Lemsip and I have also heard it is in Imodium (how ironic seeing as it is supposed to calm diarrhoea!)

There is also sweetener in some of the probiotic drinks we are constantly being told will settle our stomach for the day ahead, e.g actimel, yakault

It takes a while but I started by checking every label and avoiding all artificial sweetener. These have many different names but common (in the Uk) are aspartame, Sucralose, saccharin etc.

Overnight my problems disappeared! My stomach literally returned to being calm and normal for the first time in years and I have been fine ever since.

I also told my mum and sister as they had worse problems than me. My mum was diagnosed in 1985 with IBS and had always just "managed" it. They both were cured as well by cutting out sweetener. My sister had been at the stage of giving up her job as a fitness instructor as her stomach was so bad she couldn't get through a class. The sweetener in the lucozade sport she was drinking at every class was causing it.

This was all in 2007 and since then I have told many people who have not believed me at first but once they have seriously checked all labels and tried it, they have been amazed.

My mum said it made sense for her, at the lowfat diet industry started in the 1980s and that is when she started getting IBS. Also it often seems to be women who have more issues and in my experience more women than men buy these products. The only man I ever helped by telling him was my brother in law who was in agony and on a diet before his wedding. He had been stocking up on low sugar products and this was what caused his pain.

I have also read recently that stomach issues in children have increased massively since 1990 and researchers are trying to find out why. Every child I know is constantly being given low sugar juice, yogurt etc as their parents think they are healthier. Before the 1990's no one drank low sugar juice etc as a child.

I believe that the food industry know the risks of sweetener but make far too much money from it (one tea spoon of sweetener is a tiny fraction of the price of sugar).

This is well worth trying, it has changed my life. If you are worried about weight gain, I found I lost weight by eating more natural products and regular sugar when I feel like it.

I hope this helps someone!

Vikki