How to detect triggers?

[brusselsprouts]

Does anyone have any advice for detecting triggers? I ate the same thing for 3 days. The first day I went once, the second day I went 11 times and the third day 3 times. Sometimes I have to go immediately after eating, other times I dont. This makes it really difficult to detect triggers. Any advice is welcome. THANK YOU!

[Hidden]

Yes, I couldn't discover what my triggers were either until I was advised to try the FODMAPs diet. This cuts out 5 food groups initially, and you do it for 2 weeks. If you've got a huge improvement at the end of that period, you know that most, if not all, of your triggers are in one, some, or all of those groups. You then 'challenge' each group in turn by reintroducing it into your diet and, hopefully, reaching some accurate conclusions. This worked for me, and, apart from a restricted diet, I now lead a normal life. I have found a few other triggers outside of the FODMAPs group, but these are easily identifiable once you've solved the initial problem. Hope this is useful, if you need more help let me know.

[brusselsprouts in reply to Hidden]

Thanks RozB. I will try it.

[brusselsprouts]

Thanks kerrym212. I actually downloaded a food diary app, so I will keep note of everything! Thanks again.

[Nicia]

Hi, I use an app, seriously,

Mysymptoms on iphone

You log what you eat, medication, attack effects and intensity. After a week or so it will have a lot of data and it breaks it down to risks, causes and probability of an attack based on the foods and conditions (stress).

It highlighted that milk was good for me but strong cheese is the anti Christ.

When I did my original food maps cheese was ok,

[brusselsprouts]

I'll check it out. Thanks Nicia

[harpic]

I was having typical problems for over a year, but still fully certain if it is IBS. After reading several webpages on the subject, I started off by reducing tea and coffee to 4 per day down from 8 or 9 and reducing milk intake to less than 1/4 litre per day. Though I take coffee whitener in coffee and nothing in tea. So far, after 2 weeks the problems I was having, ie sudden need to go NOW, not in 5 or 10 minutes, with an associated lower abdom pain, which passes after a good 3 motions inside an hour and a half. I also have a small hernia, which although not giving me any obvious problems, could though be interrupting steady bowel transit. Could anyone make a comment on this latter one please?

[dionne1234]

Hi thr. hope ur feelin little better?

I find there r no triggers for me apart from havin to deal with too much stress without enough chill n me time as i like u can eat same things for days n bang it happens. however the more i try n work it out the worse it gets so never endin circle. i have come to the conclusion that when i.ve given my brain too much to think about it shuts down on me by ibs. a d e en though i don.t feel particularly stressed myself my gut tells me enough! i then take tabs to stop me n when i get home from work listen to hyp otherapy on my phone. i try not to beat myself up or find trigger i just try stay positive as poss

[brusselsprouts]

Thanks Dionne1234. i feel a bit like that myself. i have been following a diet for some time now and have recently "upgraded" it to the Fodmap diet. However, so far this has not made any difference. If anything it has got much worse. I believe that stress is a big part of my IBS.

[marky555]

Hi

As a thirty year sufferer from IBS I certainly understand what a struggle it is to cope with this condition. The symptoms and causes are so varied and changeable it's very difficult

to treat the symptoms alone and I've learnt over the years to take a holistic approach, this has finally lead me to a place where my IBS is currently under control and I'm living a full life again. I would suggest the following as a holistic and lifestyle approach to the condition......

Firstly and most importantly get a proper diagnosis of IBS, in my case my doctor referred me to a gastroenterologist and I had a raft of tests to rule out any underlying medical causes. Once they could found no medical issues I was diagnosed with IBS .

If you can afford it join a self help group such as the IBS network for support and information and in my experience I really needed both.

Research: you are already doing this by posting your question, Unfortunately as a typical young guy I tried to ignore my condition, especially as I was told it was all in my mind.This led to many years of unhappiness until desperation finally forced me into self help. Research into my symptoms led me to the following......... leaky gut syndrome...which can cause food intolerences and all sorts of other digestive issues which then led me to the four r's approach

The four r's

Remove, replace , re-innoculate and repair. Along with that Iwould add relax as I suffered from anxiety and stress, a great deal of which was caused by the IBS itself ! I researched this approach and implemented into my life along with relaxation techniques.This approach helped me greatly.

Remember that we are all different and to tailor your self help to you.Also within your self help approach you may find one particular element that is a silver bullet and leads to a drastic improvement in your condition. In my case this was taking vitamin B12,for you it may be something else.

I apologise for the length of this post and also if I don't reply to questions ( just don't have the time at the moment ) you may also find this same answer to other questions on the board as I feel I needed to share my experience. Please remember there is HOPE that you can control this condition