Well what a journey, day 4 and still no kick back from IBS.
So far the foods that have triggered my IBS that I have tried again.
Tomato sauce, crisps/chippies, gingernut biscuits, water, saveloys, marmite/ vegemite and wholemeal bread. All in moderation except for the bread, love my bread.
Not a reaction anywhere.
Typically my day is started with omeprazole before each meal with a probiotic in the morning. Then breakfast Sultana bran no sugar and trim milk and a cup of tea.
Lunch could be a ham sandwich or sardines on toast with tomato sauce, really missed the tomato sauce. Alternatively 2 boiled eggs with or without wholemeal bread. All washed down with a cup of tea. I only have omeprazole before lunch if I'm eating a known trigger for me.
For evening meal I'm trying to be adventurous! Omeprazole 30 minutes before the meal. A meat or fish grilled not fried, usually with garlic, cabbage, carrots and sweet potato and you guessed it all washed down with a cup of tea with 2 laxatives. A cup of tea for morning and afternoon break and again 2 hours before bed. Everything is in small amounts apart from the cup of tea.
If I get peckish during the day, when because I'm always hungry, 2 grain filled biscuits with margarine. Any further hunger then 2 kruskits with margarine between them.
The menu for this evening will be a little adventuresome with a small cut of pork with peas added and possibly some mint sauce. I haven't had mint or tomato sauce in 5 months, they have been missed!
If this all goes well then I will risk pickled beetroot that's been waiting for me for 8 months.
I have been reading up on fodmap and found some interesting information. For anyone interested.
I'm finding it really hard to accept I could have got the better of my IBS. Nerves are on edge waiting for the kick back which so often happens. Worse than trying to stick to starvation diet. I wonder if hamburgers and fish n chips still taste as good as I remember! Probably not as I have discovered the real taste of food without the salt, sugar and spices, it's not bad once you get past all the enhancers.
My answer to this is eat healthy foods, the ones you you can get away with, when you can, because in my experience with my own guts, I can eat things at times, but the same things on another occasion will make me ill. I can never ever get complacent about anything. Just enjoy it while you can. Don't pine for unhealthy foods though, choosing as much unprocessed food as possible will do you more good.
I'm with you on the food selection. Always thought it was nonsense until I had to go salt and sugar free. As a result of that I have to ensure all food is not processed or man adulterated. There seems to be a need to add sugar or salt to everything on the shelf. Sadly from birth we are programmed to need such rubbish. It took a little while but eventually you can retrain the brain not to crave these items. It is amazing the reaction to salty or sugary food from then on.
This does sound pretty positive for you, and I hope it holds on like that. Maybe you have found a way with your IBS.
However, I also get phases like that. There are phases when I cannot eat lettuce, or boiled peeled potatoes, or avocado. or even some of my "safe" foods that I can usually rely on. Then all of a sudden I find I can eat....more or less any food with absolutely NO harm to my IBS, and totally normal bowel movements, and that can sometimes go on for weeks until my body flips to the dark side again.
It might not happen that way for you and I hope it won't. But that's a common trend with me.
Lettuce and potatoes is an issue for me. My dietitian disallowed them both. I have been allowed sweet potatoes as a substitute. In the back of my mind lettuce isn't the greatest food with IBS, I can't remember why though. But I have just planted some so guess what, I'll be eating some soon.
I wonder if being able to eat a particular food one day and not another is related to anxiety in the mix. Just a thought, I do have anxiety over my health, like it or not it is part of me and who I am.
All we can do is to keep trying to find the best situation for ourselves. We may not get it right but it is the trying that counts.
Yes, maybe not being able to tolerate a certain food one day and being able to tolerate it at another time, could be related to any other IBS triggers (such as stress or anxiety)
But all I can say is I have not been in such a stressful situation as I'm in now either ever, or for a very long time. My gut has not been too great for a month or more, and then suddenly for no obvious reason it's fine for a few days!! (still the same stress levels happening)
So for a few days my tummy has been settled. Why? No definite changes to diet. But I thought what the heck, and ate both lettuce AND peeled boiled potatoes last night. Now while it was fine to do that a few days ago it wasn't fine exactly this morning, and my tum wasn't too happy with it. I can never understand why foods can be okay at times and not at other times.
I think lettuce is made up of a lot of insoluble fibre as well as water. Yes it has goodness and some vitamin C etc but it's high in insoluble fibre (often too much can be hard on IBS.)
The kind of lettuce I get on with best generally is Little Gem, but that might not be the same for everyone.
I don't know why I'm fine with potatoes at times, then suddenly not again. They act like a laxative for me! Even peeled and plain boiled with just a tiny bit of salt. I am usually fine with a bit of salt so that isn't it. Maybe it's the "resistant starch"?
I know from my experience that when I don't believe I'm stressed I'm just kidding myself. It's there because that's me, below the surface. I can't stop worrying about what I'm going through or the circumstances that surround me. Usually when I'm having a difficult time with IBS a little bit of anxiety tips me over the edge. I have no answer as to how to control it despite many many people telling me not to worry. However I do use Rescue remedy pastilles to good effect. Problem is I'm reluctant to use them too often in case the body get's used to them.
I read recently that both IBS C and D are both the same and likely caused by too much fibre. I haven't verified this and will have to research it, it is not the first time I have heard this. They also questioned the amount of food being excessive triggering IBS flare ups. Who knows how much excessive really is, likely relative to each individual I would think. Mind you they also questioned the validity of probiotics. From my point of view they have worked for me before and believe they have been a contributor to my current rehab.
Bottom line surely has to be, suck it and see, you don't know until you try.
Yes, IBS itself causes stress, and even the symptoms can put us into a form of "fight or flight". Then mix that with other things we are supposed to do in life, and I can understand being at some level of stress all the time even if it's just in the back of your mind while having any times of not feeling too bad.
That's interesting, what you said about fibre. For many many years I ate a really "super healthy" diet and it was a very high fibre diet. I never counted grams or anything, I just ate what I liked, but it was vegetarian , not-quite vegan (because of eggs butter and cheese sometimes) I had at least "5 a day", more like 8 or more a day! I ate a lot of lentils, pulses, nuts, and every vegetable and fruit you can imagine.
I don't know if my fibre intake was excessive but it was certainly high
When my gut flipped it was the weirdest thing. I had to go low fibre as that was the only way of managing it. I actually felt healthier and better the less fibre I ate!! Most veggie proteins were horrible to my tummy and I started eating fish again as well as eggs .
Fast forward to now...I can now toleratesmall amounts of peanut butter on (white) toast! what a treat.
But yes, I wonder about this high fibre thingy and whether it's just not the right thing for some people.
I always reverted to grilled chicken of fish with severe flare ups. Didn't work this time until I got rid of my BP meds and finally stopped the aspirin that was inhibiting the recovery. Warrants more research I think.
I agree most of us were probably brought up on white bread and all veg cooked, so perhaps we have ‘evolved’ to have lower fibre and easier digestible stuff .
Great post , I’m not at the stage you’re at , meaning I don’t fully know all my trigger foods , some foods are tolerated then the very same are not ! I think confusion is the best way to describe where I’m at , the more I hear from the likes of yourself, and do research on the low fodmap I think it’s something that would help me , I don’t have enough knowledge to do it myself, my next step get in touch with a nutritionist 👍
I always thought fodmap was a waste of time. Having been through it with my dietitian who in a similar position and appreciates the problem I have changed my view of fodmap. I came across this yesterday while doing some research and thought it was a good example of fodmap. Hope it helps you some.
I was put on a very restrictive diet with limited amount of food allowed. She went through and picked out the foods I like that matched the fodmap and away we went.
I didn't get a lot out of the 8 week low Fodmap diet either really. I found so many low Fodmap foods still upset my gut, and my diet was so restricted to about 3 veggies (on the low list) that seemed okay. Later on re-introduction I found I'd never had a problem with quite a few HIGH Fodmap foods anyway, and wasn't gluten, sugar, caffeine, or apparently lactose intolerant. I did find out though: which foods were not great for me....okay sometimes....okay in small amounts....okay all the time even in flare ups....and absolutely not to be eaten (yet anyway.)
If I stay away from herbs, spices and anything pickled I can get by with small amounts of most things. Basically bland foods.
The more I hunt through my medical records the more apparent it is that medication has done this to me this time. Other than being a gust a few days ago my IBS is fairly stable, always there never to be forgotten.
I can identify with your musings and it sounds like you're on the right track for your case.
I have food allergies, so've been off nightshades (tomato, potato, etc) and off gluten for 20+ years. And I don't eat processed foods. This all didn't keep me from having IBS attacks though.
Like others, I go in phases. Right now haven't had an episode probably for a month. In my case it's overeating that is the trigger. And this is easy to forget when I'm eating along.
I haven't had an all-nighter episode for a long time. For those I'd be up all night in labor like pain. And several episodes of vomiting in that time. But, at times, I have felt a possible attack coming on. If I act fast enough with bits of valium it'll not happen or be milder.
I struggle with recognizing the beginnings of an episode. My first reaction to a signal, a slight tummy ache, is to ignore it. I'll think, "Oh, I don't get those attacks anymore". Yes, and I forget the problem even beginning to think it's not necessary to skip the nightshades or the gluten.
And it's hard to remember to stop eating. Now, I've got a little schedule of meals in the kitchen to remind me.
Still, I can't become overconfident cuz that'll do me in. Well, thank God, I've been well (in the ibs way) for a couple of months now.
I am not allowed tomatoes but as I grow them in ZooDoo and they are so tasty there is no way I'm going to forgo them, minimise the amount yes but that is the limit.
As my wife tells me I'm only in remission.
I have been in this last flare up since November last year. In that time I have developed even more allergies with food, food I have eaten all my life and a lot of it gutsed all my life, to be fair.
I think anybody with IBS or any other health condition should firstly do there own research and secondly try, try and try to improve their situation. Anybody that does try has my admiration because it is not always easy to do.
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