Low FODMAP diet app.

[Uncle7]

Hi.

I currently live in Vietnam (been here for 2 years) and whilst I’ve been living here, I’ve had diarrhoea/loose stools at least once or twice a week, I put it down to some food I’ve eaten whilst here. For Christmas, I returned home to the U.K. and tasted home cooked food for the first time in months, It tasted delicious, however, 2 days later I had diarrhoea twice in the morning, I knew then that it wasn’t the food I was initially blaming in Vietnam.

I saw my doctor and after having a full blood test, a FIT test and stool samples, my results came back as all clear. My doctor said I could see a Gastroenterology, I mentioned that I was flying back home to Vietnam, he mentioned of keeping a food diary to see what was causing the problems I was having.

He mentioned about the FODMAP diet, I returned recently to Vietnam and downloaded the Monash FODMAP diet app, cost for the app was £7.99, I’ve been on it for a week now, and at first I had two bouts of mild diarrhoea (number 6 on the Bristol stool chart), today my stool was number 3, a normal stool, this has raised my spirits greatly.

I’m not following advice from a dietitian, I didn’t have time in the U.K. to find one, I’ve tried to find a decent English speaking one in Vietnam but it was difficult, the Monash app is great, it has a traffic light guide next to the food, so I look on my app and eat the food and the correct weight for it that has a green circle next to it (see photo). For me it seems to be working, I hope anyone who is similar to me and is feeling lost or frustrated, finds a bit of hope in my post.

[Pig2]

Hi, yes i quite agree, it is worth it. I am happy to keep to it if it keeps my ibsd at bay!

[Munchkinfeet]

Good luck with it all, the NHS dietician recommended the foodmaestro app to me, £3.99 i think, can scan all the barcodes and has a tracker. Got several booklets too. This aspect of my health is much better, although it is being caused by something else ongoing. I am managing to cope better

[xjrs]

I agree about the app. It's brilliant. You are probably bearing this in mind, but just in case... fodmaps are good for you! Once you've been completely fodmap free for 2 weeks, rather than sticking to the diet perhaps pick each of the fodmaps from the app in turn to try and see whether you can tolerate it. The NHS advice is to try a small amount on day 1, a bit more on day 2 and more on day 3 and then wait 3-4 days for symptoms. However, I have been trying a different approach. I have read that your microbiome can become adapted to fodmaps, by encouraging more of the bacteria to proliferate in your gut that can handle them - I think the key is to only give your body one thing to deal with at one time. I am trying a small amount initially for 2-3 days, then increasing slightly for another 2-3 days and so on. If I get a small amount of symptoms I carry on. If the symptoms are bad I cut back to the amount where I didn't get symptoms or they were more tolerable and stay at that rate for longer. For instance I tried this approach with prunes (high sortbitol), had some symptoms initially but eventually these went away! When I used the NHS approach I had to almost completely remove all fodmaps and I lived like that for years which wasn't good for my health. However, I am also getting support with my IBS-C and intestinal nerve pain (from Linaclotide) and I just started the free trial (through theibsnetwork.org) of Alflorex probiotic which has been studied for IBS. The Linaclotide didn't completely eliminate the pain, but with the Alflorex on top at the moment I am pain free! It also seems to be helping me with my food introductions. Good luck.

[IBSNetwork Partner IBS Network]

We always recommend working with the support of a registered dietitian but understand this can be difficult, especially with you being in Vietnam. Pleased you are finding what's working for you.

Please remember that the low FODMAP diet has three stages, which includes reintroducing foods. More info here theibsnetwork.org/diet/fodm...