Hi everyone, I am having an IBS flare up, bloating like I’m 6mths pregnant.... any tummy kind ideas?

[Meno50]

Hi there, I am having a long painful bloated flare up, does anyone have any gut calming ideas?

I take mebeverine and peppermint oil. I am gluten and dairy free and my stomach won’t tolerate meat .

[Hidden]

That is exactly what I went through over a 3 year period (no pun intended) No one seemed to understand and I ended up eating once ever few days. Usually enough to feed a Sparrow.

I know it wasn't easy and basically I eliminated all food and fasted for 2 weeks living on cups of tea, black and a little sugar. I started eating raw onion ( I like them) and taking a probiotic tablets with a small portion of fresh fish or an omelette. Be sure to get the ones that don't need refrigeration as most do, usually anything that is to be refrigerated is dead from not being continually refrigerated in transit or on shop shelves. The enzymes die quickly. Onion is a prebiotic which you must have for the probiotic to live and survive on. This almost cured the gut until a massive does of antibiotics undid all the hard work and I have not recovered fully since. Now I content myself with a breakfast to line the stomach and still only a small portion of food a day. I'm slowly eating more wheat products but still have to be careful not to go too far. Eventually you figure out what your stomach can tolerate and you stick to it, religiously. I never found a quick fix and it has been around 6 years of slowly reintroducing more variety of food into the diet and NEVER over eating. Now I can tolerate most foods but do not touch spices, soda's, and some herbs. It was very difficult but I was determined to make the chief of the Gastroenterology Dept eat his words, "you have to live with it". I even told him to get retrained as he had his head in the sand. I was being polite by not suggesting he had his head else where! He would not accept there are probiotics. Now they are prescribed with antibiotics, I hope he has retired.

[Meno50 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply, I have an endoscopy in a few days so if that’s all clear I will just spend time keeping things as calm as possible and hopefully get some peace in my tummy at some point soon.

[Hidden in reply to Meno50]

I had endoscope twice without anaesthetic, not too bad once you get past the gagging reaction.

The first time I had sinus and couldn't breath. Not able to communicate to the med staff and ended up with violent writhing on the table. Second time I made sure I took an antihistamine an hour before, all went smoothly. Make sure the airways are clear for the procedure.

Hopefully there is an answer for you.

The first time I got an answer nobody expected and I surely didn't want. I went through hell until the second time when a different operator gave a totally different opinion, poles apart.

You could say I know myself inside out now!

The good enzymes in my stomach were destroyed with massive amounts of antibiotics leaving just the so called bad enzymes which are basically yeast. In order to reintroduce the good enzymes you need to weaken the yeast, hence the fasting, and then hit it with pre and probiotics. Otherwise the yeast gets stronger leaving you in the same place or worse off. Without the antibiotics I would not be alive today, so it wasn't all bad, just not too nice to live through.

I can tell you as a male to have the skin stretched as tight as possible, to look and kind of feel pregnant was not a good place to be.

Don't be worried about the endoscope, my experiences are not common and you will be fine.

Cheers

[Beth673]

Congratulations! Sorry to hear you’re having a hard time. My IBS was also awful during pregnancy, lactose helped a bit with the constipation phase. I don’t really have much more advice than your already doing. I spent a lot of time in the bath as the warm water seemed to be the only other thing that helped. I hope you feel better soon, it’s such a shame to feel ill like that when you’ve got so many exciting things to prepare for. X

[Meno50 in reply to Beth673]

Thank you for your reply, I am not actually pregnant.... I am bloated like I am pregnant 😂sorry for the confusion!

Thank you for your kindness though, I have never been to one of these sights before, it’s good to know it’s not just me and that other people have complicated issues and I’m not the only one that can’t wear waste bands lol

Thank you 😊

[Kelill in reply to Meno50]

That made me 😂 My experience is it’s all trial and error. Hopefully endoscopy results all clear. I was on mebeverine and it was changed to Buscopan after another bad flare up. It’s working as well as it can. Peppermint oil doesn’t do much for me. I also take Omeprazole. Changing to fresh pasta rather than dried was life changing for me as I LOVE pasta and bread but suffer with bloating. I try Low Fodmap diet eliminating things as I go along. I’ve really cut down mixed fruits and eat more berries instead. I can’t really eat meat (have never really liked it tbh). I’m ok with most sea food but avoid spicy sauces. Still paying the price for ‘indulging’ at Christmas but stomach calming down a bit now. Thank goodness. Good luck. Maybe try and get referral to a dietitian that helped me 😊

[Beth673 in reply to Meno50]

Oh so sorry! Serves me right for reading stuff without having coffee first! 😯🤦‍♀️😂 xx