Please help!!

[wafaaaomar]

I've had ibs C for over 15 years now and the symptoms vary but i have trouble catching my breath sometimes and i get aches and pains in different parts of my body like my legs, shoulders or arms, i don't take any medication for the pain as i can't find anything that will help and for the constipation i take stool softeners, however, the pain is too much to handle sometimes and im living in a nightmare and ive been to countless doctors and theyre of no help. If anyone has any advice on what i should do or take, it would be greatly appreciated!!

[xjrs]

I am the same as you. Here is what helped me:

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:

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 or 2 kiwi a day and then another high fibre fruit later in the day to help with BMs. Introduce new foods and any fibre increases slowly, starting with one new thing at a time, waiting for 2-3 days for a response and keep a food diary. You may not need to consume as much fibre as I do.

For breakfast I make a porridge of 4 tablespoon of oat bran and 4 tablespoon all bran (wheat bran), 2.5 small cups of water and microwave for 10 mins. I then mix in 2 tablespoon of chia seeds and 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed and leave to stand for 15-20 mins since the chia seeds need to form a gel. On top of that I place 8 prunes and eat. The best thing to do is to start with normal oats in similar quantities and, if needed, replace one of the tablespoons of oats with oat bran for a couple of days, carrying on doing this every couple of days until you get to 4 tablespoon of oat bran and 4 tablespoon of oats. Then start replacing with wheat bran in the same manner. You can then add the other ingredients one at a time. You might find you do not need the complete 'recipe' to have a BM. All these individual components are down to tolerance e.g. you may not tolerate wheat (see later about Alflorex), so it is best to keep a food diary (I do this on a spreadsheet) recording symptoms for up to 2-3 days after each change.

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.

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:

theibsnetwork.org/constipat...

theibsnetwork.org/constipat...

There are also medications that help IBS-C. 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.

Both Linaclotide and Alflorex have helped me greatly with the pain. After 10 week bedding in period Linaclotide reduced my pain by 50%-60%. When I added in Alflorex the pain reduced to zero and only comes back when I am challenging with a food I am still intolerant too - though I can eat much more than I did. Every GP I have spoken to had not heard of Linaclotide, so wouldn't have known to prescribe it. My gastro recommended it. It is meant to help calm intestinal nerves and help constipation, though it only helped me with the pain which is why I use dietary measures for the constipation. The Alflorex assisted since pain can be caused by a dominance of bad bugs in the gut over sensitising gut nerves - it helps to kick these into touch as well as help to break down complex carbs. My IBS started with a bout of food poisoning many years ago.

Failing dietary measures, you can try Optifibre, which needs to be worked up to a dose according to instructions. You may not need the full dose - watch out for gas and increment to a level that is acceptable for you.

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.