Feeling rough!

[JulieB5200]

Hi, I’m really suffering this evening with so much pain and discomfort and intermittently having to go to the loo. All I can put it down to is earlier I had a fry’s chocolate cream bar . I think it’s the richness of the dark chocolate and fondant cream. I started feeling really bloated and twinges of gut pain like my stomach was being pushed up into my chest.Since then,in the past hour I’ve been to the loo 4 times and now on top of the twinges and discomfort I have an awful pain under my left ribs that feels really painful like an injury 🤷‍♀️. It’s after midnight and I literally can’t go to bed as I don’t feel well enough. Does anyone else have flare ups like this? I could kick myself for eating that chocolate bar. How could something so simple cause me this much pain 😢

[BabsyWabsy]

Here is the nutritional info, and the 'may contain' list. Anything here that might have triggered you?

Allergy Advice

May Contain: Nuts, Wheat. Contains: Milk, Soya.

May contain Nuts, Wheat.

Ingredients

Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Glucose Syrup, Humectant (Glycerol), Palm Oil, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithins, E476), Flavourings, Skimmed Milk Powder, Chocolate contains Vegetable Fats in addition to Cocoa Butter

It is also surprisingly high in sugar, but so easy to eat a whole bar. It was also one of my favourite sweet treats.

I hope you feel better soon.

[JulieB5200 in reply to BabsyWabsy]

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it. I honestly don’t know which particular ingredient has harmed me.It does seem after many years of suffering with ibs and gastritis that very rich foods are no good for me. I don’t generally eat much chocolate and these ones are definitely on the “black” list now.The few minutes pleasure of enjoying it was 💯 not worth the following pain ect.x

[BabsyWabsy in reply to JulieB5200]

Its on my No list now too. I never spotted the may contain wheat before and I'm allergic to it!

[buggins55]

I also get that pain under the left rib (feels almost like I've pulled something) with a flare up you could maybe keep an eye on anything like that you think might be triggering you bearing in mind that not all sufferers are food triggered IBS loves to come at you out of the blue it's unsettling random nature is one of the things that makes it so difficult to deal with hope you feel better soon

[JulieB5200 in reply to buggins55]

Yes it actually feels like a painful injury.Perhaps it’s inflammation in the stomach/bowel lining 🤷‍♀️. I suffer pain and discomfort pretty much on a daily basis with my gut but it usually passes quickly and isn’t so bad I cannot function . However last night came on so quickly and like you say so random. I must have been to the toilet 8 times (I lost count) but after 2 gaviscon,3 rennies and a buscopan I eventually dropped to sleep.This morning my insides feel very unsettled and fragile.Hoping things settle as the day progresses 🙏

Thank you for your reply x

[Dh19]

hi Julie

Hope things are getting better. I get the same under my left ribs on a regular basis and as you say it’s a strange soreness almost muscular with stabbing pain also. It’s quite unpleasant. I’ve had a CT scan, colonoscopy all clear. Awaiting an upper endoscopy but Doc has it as routine so don’t know when that will happen. Anyway good luck and hope you feel better soon.

Dave

[JulieB5200 in reply to Dh19]

Hi,yes I’ve had all the tests! Colonoscopy,3 endoscopy’s,capsule camera endoscopy and ct scans. Thankfully they find nothing yet I live with so much pain and discomfort 🤪.This whole ibs thing is such a wierd random condition. I’m not sure what this under rib pain is because the hospital consultant said it was bowel spasms and my gp says it’s gastritis which is basically inflammation of the stomach lining. It’s not a constant pain,it hurts me in intervals but it’s horrible!

[Luisa22]

Oh yes, that can happen.

I remember Fry's chocolate cream bars. Yummy! (back in the old days!) I don't blame you for indulging.

But a really difficult thing to come to terms with is the weird way IBS can sometimes eat certain foods, and sometimes not. And even one small innocuous ingredient can upset our guts.

I know. Sometimes I can eat avocado, lettuce, celery etc and be fine for weeks and sometimes I have some of those foods and it definitely upsets my gut the next morning as of I'd eaten a bucketful of vindaloo curry! Like the food is being treated as poison by my body! I never know when that's going to happen or when it's going to be fine.

And with chocolate in mind....I can regularly eat Galaxy chocolate happily with no bad effects at all. I can also happily eat Lindt 70% dark chocolate. I can't eat Bournville (why?)

One day I bought a bar of Galaxy caramel instead of a bar of their ordinary chocolate.

I had a flare up next day. Not caused by my other "safe" food. I waited, and tried again some days later. same effect. Bad. I compared the ingredients and could not find anything suspiciously different between the two, except two innocuous ingredients like glucose syrup and something else harmless and which I'm usually fine with.

So I've no idea what was in the Galaxy caramel that isn't in the ordinary Galaxy chocolate bars, that my gut didn't like.

But sometimes I can trace something such as polyglycerol polyricinoleate, which upsets me and I have to avoid brands which contain it.

So check the list of ingredients in the Fry's chocolate bar. There might be something that every time you eat it you get a flare up, and it might be in other foods too.

But on top of that is also the crazy thing about IBS -that sometimes a food is fine and sometimes it's just not, for no logical reason.

[JulieB5200 in reply to Luisa22]

Thank you for your reply. I have looked at the ingredients and I’m still clueless! Certain foods I haven’t eaten for years such as weetabix and Shreddies,they literally would cause horrendous pain within minutes of me swallowing them! Milk chocolate I’m usually fine with although Cadbury can cause me bloating at times.Recently I’ve eaten Lindor and I’ve been fine with that too .Anyway my pack of three Fry’s chocolate creams what’s left will be going to a friend 😜. My gut didn’t settle down until lunchtime the following day, I had a very severe reaction to it.x

[Luisa22]

Aha!

I just checked the ingredients of Fry's chocolate cream bars, and guess what? They contain E476, and that is Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate.

That is the ingredient that I mentioned in my last post, that I have to avoid as it causes me gut upsets and flare ups.

It is a cheaper alternative for cocoa butter.

I have found that always checking labels and avoiding any brands with that additive allows me to still enjoy chocolate!

Someone gave me a lovely box of Thornton's chocolates at Christmas. I thought they would surely be fine as I always liked them years ago, and I ate a couple after my dinner one evening (my "safe food" for dinner, and my gut hadn't been too bad at that time.)

The next morning I had a bad belly. The only suspicious thing I'd eaten was the chocolates. I checked and they also have that E476.

Maybe it doesn't affect everyone badly or manufacturers who use it would be out of business! But maybe if someone's gut is sensitive it's different. Or maybe it has a laxative effect? And many people who don't have IBS don't notice that very much?

[JulieB5200 in reply to Luisa22]

This is interesting because the amount of times I’d to run on the toilet was crazy.Felt like I’d had a strong laxative and even the next morning when I got up it started again. I’m going to make a note of this for future reference. Thanks Luisa x