I made some notes about what I’ve been experiencing this past year. In addition to what’s below I should add I never really have any pain and currently my main symptom is terrible, foul gas pretty much everyday which is embarrassing and uncomfortable. Dr suggests an endoscopy next so I’ll be scheduling that after the holidays. Historically I’ve never been one to go to the bathroom daily. It’s usually every 2-3 days. I’m at the point now where I’m thinking of eliminating gluten and maybe starting something to try to go to the bathroom daily. Really at a loss right now for how I am feeling.
Late 2019
-looser stools
-nighttime diarrhea (1-3 am)
- gurgling/bubbly stomach
- happen on a roughly monthly cycle
- Bad gas
February 2020
-well visit pcp showed anemia
- contributed to heavy periods but referred to GI
- GI visit led to IBS dx
Spring 2020
-symptoms lessened greatly with no medication or diet changes
Rest of 2020
-late night diarrhea becomes infrequent
-gurgling stomach and terrible gas increase
-pelvic and abdominal ultrasounds normal
-negative for blood in stool
-started birth control for periods
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Mangomama
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If you feel that your troubles are caused by constipation - for example overflow diarrhea can happen when liquid stool gets backed up behind constipated stool and overflows around it, what is your fibre intake like? To improve constipation in the short term you can try ground flaxseed on your breakfast, starting at 1 teaspoon and increasing at 1 teaspoon every 2-3 days - you'll need to consume extra water with it.
These foods are also high fibre:
Oat bran
Wheat (All) Bran (if tolerated)
8-9 Prunes
2 tablespoon chia seeds (soaked for 10-15 mins in milk or non dairy milk with cereal or water)
Shredded wheat (or if GF: Nutribrex)
60g Quinoa
Wholewheat bread
75g Whole grain pastas (if GF: Buckwheat)
2 Hard pears
5 Dried apricots
90g Raspberries
1 orange (contain a natural laxative)
2 kiwi.
I find that I need to have 1 orange a day and then another high fibre fruit later in the day to help with BMs.
I also take 30 drops of ginger extract before bedtime to aid motility. You may need to work up the dose to say 7 drop increments each night.
I have been giving Optifibre a go, which has been helping but I need to be careful with the amount since it gives me gas.
Exercise can help with BMs. The government recommends 150 mins of moderate exercise (e.g. walking as if you are late for an appointment) or 75 of intense exercise (e.g. jogging) per week. I also have a bit of a walk around straight after breakfast to get things moving.
You need to ensure that you are drinking enough fluids (2 litres of fluid per day).
There is some good advice about constipation here:
There are also medications that help IBS-C (constipation dominant IBS). I suffer from IBS-C and have been prescribed Linaclotide for it. I also take Alflorex probiotic which has made me more tolerant to taking in the extra fibre I need for a BM.
Some people are more prone to constipation due to their intestinal anatomy. Through colonoscopies I have been told that I have a long loopy (redundant) colon. This means that food takes longer to pass through and in the mean time the intestines have more time to suck out water from the stool, drying them out and causing constipation. I have found that I need to consume much more fibre than other people to have regular BMs.
I have also found useful having most of my food at meal times, leaving 4-5 hours of not eating between meals, eating my fruit snack before a meal. This means that your digestive system has time to process each meal. It also allows something called the MMC (migrating motor complex) to run which sweeps food waste from your small intestine into your large intestine. This only happens when you have an empty stomach. When people snack regularly, it prevents the MMC from working properly. I also find the larger meals help to push things along better than drip feeding through snacking.
I get same symptoms. Pasta or noodles cause my smelly rotten gas. I'm thinking same could be gluten but doctors dismis as just ibs cos I eat white bread with no symptoms
Hello, very similar symptons but a lot of diarrhoea. Ended up getting referred to gynecology and after an operation diagnosed with endometriosis. A side affect of endometriosis is IBS symptoms. I was diagnosed with IBS a year before by the gastro team and since I've had the endometriosis treated my IBS has improved. A common sympton of endometriosis is bad periods. Definitely worth a conversation with your gp x
My GI doc did say that sometimes ovaries can cause stomach issues so I did see GYN and he had me get a pelvic ultrasound and everything came back normal. I did just start a continuous birth control pill so I won’t get a period anymore. Hopefully that will I’ll help. I’m also going to get Metamucil bc I do think I am not regular enough
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