After over 15 years of living through this nightmare, being frightened to eat food due to the hour or 2 afterwards where I would be in extreme agony with intense stomach cramps, explosive diarrhoea and vomiting I finally have found my cure. I have not had a single stomach cramp after eating in over 5 months now and I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that feels. I had my gall bladder removed in 2005 via an open cholestectomy due to stones obstructing my bile duct and a failed attempt at keyhole surgery to clear them. Ever since I have had a love hate relationship with food. I love it but it hates me. I was unable to find a trigger food and could eat something 1 day and be fine but eat it the next day and I would be doubled over in pain and have to spend the next few hours in the bathroom. I couldn't eat at work, I couldn't eat at a restaurant I couldn't eat outside of my home at all in case I had an attack. It was like I was living in hell and no doctor could help me. After years of online research that got me nowhere I was searching online for information about enzymes for cleaning as I use these at work and have had amazing results compared to other cleaning products, I stumbled upon some information on digestive enzymes and the more I looked into them the more promising they sounded so I went to the pharmacy and bought a bottle of the Blackmores brand that they had in stock. I took 2 with my next meal and have not looked back since. I generally take 2 with each meal and 3 if I am having a large meal or fatty food. I am in disbelief that In 15 years not one doctor has ever made mention of digestive enzymes to assist me with digestion which I was clearly having a huge struggle with. These things have literally changed my life! They may not help everyone but if like me you have tried everything else to no avail then these might be worth a shot.
Digestive enzymes have been a god send!! - IBS Network
Digestive enzymes have been a god send!!
I like you have tried everything to no avial. I live in the U.S. Can you tell me where I can get this brand of Enzymes?
I have had equally good results with other brands as well. I saw a heap of info on iHerb in the reviews section. Have a read through some different types on there, they vary in price and also in the types of enzymes they contain, I haven't tried an enzyme that has failed me yet so I don't think the brand is of too much consequence so long as you are taking them consistently with food and taking an adequate dose. (I began with 3 a meal and have tapered back to 2 a meal or 3 if it's a big cooked meal, I weigh 54kg and am 156cm tall if that helps) I have been reading that some brands are better than other etc etc but I would honestly just buy whatever is affordable and give it a try, if it works then you can experiment with the other brands at a later time
I went on there website was there product called "Digestive Aid". Thank you for any help you cab give me.
Hi jenny,
Yes those are the ones that I have, but there are heaps of other brands out there that you can try. I have gotten a bit more adventurous and currently have a few different types that aren't vegan and also contain probiotics and glandulars. I have wonderful results with all of them and will continue to experiment. Different formulas contain different enzymes which break down different types of food. I found some wonderful information on iHerb in the individual product reviews and iHerb also seems to be very good price wise (some were around $7 for a bottle of 60) In saying that I havent purchased from them yet and sourced my other types through eBay (I particularly wanted the ones with ox bile, yes I know it sounds disgusting but i have found quite a lot of research online about its efficacy for those of use without a gall bladder to aid digestion) The digestive aid from blackmores is vegan and one thing I noticed it has that my others don't is lactase enzyme which is great for those with dairy intolerances. I really hope this helps everyone like it has helped me. I feel like I have been given my life back. I have suffered from terrible anxiety the past few years and I can't help but see the link between ibs and anxiety as so many others also experience depression and anxiety. The past week I have noticed a big change in my outlook on life, I have been free from anxious thoughts and actually leaving the house most days. I don't take any medication for anxiety but it feels like it is becoming a thing of the past for me. Being able to absorb more vitamins and nutrients from my food and knowing I can eat anywhere anytime without fear of my stomach wreaking hell on me could be part of that too, I don't know. It's just something I thought to mention as it only just dawned on me yesterday that I haven't had anxious thoughts all week. I can't wait to hear from others who try this. I just know in my heart that this is going to be the miracle many of you have been praying for.
I bought the bottle of digestive Aid. It had a lot of ingredients I can't tolerate. I had my Gallbladder out in 1990's. I was told I have IBS/C. I have tried everything from Diets, drugs , Accupture, etc.
+1 for the enzymes. I haven't had problems as bad as yours but it was grim at times and i rarely had an undisturbed night but tried these enzymes and they've really made a difference. I can eat almost anything now. I still avoid artificial sweeteners but they really really helped.
That's so awesome!! I don't use artificial sweeteners because I don't like the taste so they aren't a problem in my case. How amazing does it feel to be able to eat whatever you want!! And seriously why are we not being told about these?? I just can't understand how something so simple and effective isn't common knowledge amongst doctors. I could have saved so much time and money that was spent on ultrasounds and blood tests and doctors appointments and gastroenterologist appointments, none of which helped me one single bit. I feel like 15 years of my life has been stolen from me with this condition unnecessarily.
The cynic in me would say the doctors don't recommend them as they can't be patented and monetised by the 3 or 4 mega companies that medicate the world. We should spread the word. Glad it's worked for you.
Please do share!! I just know this is the answer so many sufferers have been waiting for. I am hesitant to make any type of claim when it comes to people's health and wellbeing because clearly I am no doctor and have no right to be telling people what they should put in their bodies. But after nearly 6 months of 100% symptom free living after 15 years of daily symptoms I felt It would be irresponsible of me not to share this information. I would love to hear any feedback from anyone who tries this.
Thanks, for sharing your story, I have terrible stomach/ colon every day no matter what I eat.
Thank you very much for sharing your story and it's something I would never have thought of. I will have a look for these.
Hi.
I've just started taking them to. Bit this brand though.
How long was it till you started seeing positive effects??😊 xxx
Straight away. From the very first time
I bought an Enzyme from Amazon. I thought I head read the ingredients , but I found out it has soy, milk, and wheat. I am now stuck with having to send it back.
Are you sure you are actually allergic to those additives?? Often we attribute our ibs symptoms to food allergies. If you are definitively allergic though I wouldn't take them. That sux you went to all the effort to get them and can't use them 
good you can send them back though.
Lol I’m not married.
I’m sorry to hear you are unhappy in your relationship. Can only recommend that you leave before you make each other any more miserable. It does not sound like a nice way to live. For either of you.
I am 39
No I am not sorry. An IBS network is not really a place to troll for potential hookups 🤣
Wow!!
Yes, they are good. You can get mixed enzymes for fats, proteins, and starches which help everything, or just lactase for milk. With no gall bladder I think the most effective ones would be lipases for the fats. I had been on a low FODMAP diet for many years, and used mixed enzymes if eating out or knowing that I had had a FODMAP meal. But please allow me to share the following with you, and also for your readers, as after 27 years of IBS-D and SIBO, I have found the most successful cure in the following:
This is my general response to help people find a baseline with GI problems. First, go to the doctors and get yourself checked for intestinal infections, and whatever other tests they want to do. Most people find they are all clear, and that IBS is a condition brought on by our modern diet, freely accessible food, sedentary lifestyles and a trigger of an earlier GI infection. After 27 years of suffering with IBS I have found that the long-term solution that actually works is all about vitamins and fasting and both are equally important. You are effectively the manager of a “food nutrient extraction factory”, I know that is obvious, but I have found that IBS is not about medicines, but about changing the way you run the factory, and thinking about it in that way. I now eat a normal wheat and milk diet with no problems.
This is based on some excellent publications, and also by observing how healthy people live. If you are all clear from the Doctor’s, then the first thing to sort out is your vitamins and the timing of your eating and fasting periods. An incident of food poisoning or infection can start you on a cycle that you need to make a really concerted effort to break out of. IBS causes vitamin deficiencies which are very difficult to overcome in most people’s diets, especially because you are probably eating selectively to manage your symptoms. Your vitamin levels affect the health of your intestines, and the health of your intestines affects your vitamin absorption, so it is a vicious circle that you have to break. Get some really good, expensive, multi-vitamins (ideally constituted for your age) and take them without fail every day before your breakfast. Get a blood test for Vitamin D and get you doctor to judge your supplement level required in IU’s. Do not get the ones with high calcium and magnesium content initially as certainly in large doses these minerals can mess you up as they consume your stomach acid, and you should get enough of these minerals from your diet. If you are on low FODMAPs, go for all lactose free dairy products to boost your calcium. At the same time, sort out your fasting periods immediately. This is normally completely overlooked by GP’s, but is critical. Your small intestine should be practically sterile, and your stomach acid along with bowel cleaning during fasting (called MMC) will usually do this. You need to fast for this to be effective, and by that I mean, ABSOLUTELY NO eating in between meals, only water, or zero-sugar drinks. Imagine that you never washed your dinner plates and just kept putting food on them all the time!, they would be permanently loaded with bacteria. You need to give your small intestine plenty of time free of food for cleaning and maintaining the factory. The modern scenario of have cupboards full of rich foods permanently available day and night is a modern luxury outside of the original design of the human being. Your stomach will sort itself out when you have got control of your small intestine (although if you've got gastritis you'll need to finish a course of omeprazole first), and then your large intestine will improve later as nutrients are more efficiently absorbed from your small intestine. But also, you will avoid gastritis by having a higher stomach pH of around 4 during the fasting periods. To do this, eat a good breakfast at say 7am (porridge with 50% lactose free milk) or what suits you and then a good lunch at 12 o'clock - absolutely no food in between. After lunch, no food again for at least 5 hours, and eat well again for your evening meal because it has got to get you through the night. No supper or snacks, no food or milk at all until breakfast the next day.
Seek out and try to eliminate “trans-fats”. These cause inflammation of the colon, separately to bacterial overgrowth and you will be more sensitive than most because of SIBO and this confuses what is causing you trouble. Chips, hash browns, butter, popcorn and things cooked in cheap or old frying oil as you find in many restaurants can give you colon pain directly through inflammation. It usually passes in a day or so, but trans-fats are bad for you in a miriad of ways, not only by inflammation of the colon. Ideally, starches should only be boiled, and this is enough. Red meats take a long time to digest, and also contain some trans-fats, only have them once a day, and just a light salad to go with them, not a load of starchy food or grains, as they have long digestion times. You don’t want carbohydrates being held up with these in your digestion by heavy meats.
You will feel hunger in the fasting periods, this is doing you good, and you must NOT respond to it - only with water or no-sugar drinks. This is critical. Importantly, when you are feeling better, do not resort to your old ways, you are still recovering, and you need to make a life-style change to have this level of discipline in your eating and continue with it. Do start doing some exercise if you don’t already, as this will really help with your gut motility, and your general health. It takes about 3 to 4 weeks to get to normal, but you need to persevere. You then need to maintain a healthy and consistent way of eating and always keep the vitamins topped to prevent you from relapsing. In a couple of weeks, you should be able to be getting off the low FODMAP diet, and mixing back in the higher FODMAPs.
There is a lot of support for L-glutamine to help with repair of your intestinal lining; this means buying 500g of the bodybuilder powder type and having a couple of tea-spoons of this a day, one before breakfast and one just before you go to bed, and you can have this in a light cordial drink. A lot of this was taken from this excellent paper below, but it does fit exactly with what I have experienced. For the first time I really feel in control of the IBS mystery that has been a burden for years. Good luck. Please reply if this works for you.
Treatment and Management of SIBO — Taking a Dietary Approach Can Control Intestinal Fermentation and Inflammation
By Aglaée Jacob, MS, RD
Today’s Dietitian
December 2012, Vol. 14 No. 12 P. 16
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