# My IBs,my journey,my future



## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

Hi all, I am Louis , a nutrition student in university of Sydney.this is my Ibs journey, this my life and my future.Childhood：When I was a child, I loved to binge on food. However, unlike other people who gained weight, I lost weight and got diarrhea. Although I kept seeing the doctor from months to months for the gastrointestinal problems, they just kept giving me antibiotics and some traditional Chinese medicine, which did not cure the disease.Adolescence: I was hoping the situation would get better when I grew up. However, it didn’t. As a young man, I was still very sick and went to hospital even became my daily routine. I was weak and thin, vulnerable to infections. As a young man, when others were dating and studying, I was in the hospital. I even got two surgeries, experiencing the fear of death. In my colonoscopy, there were ulcers in the small intestines…Adult: I thought my life was totally ruined. The days went on and I kept seeing doctor who kept giving me different kinds of antibiotics. Not until I saw a doctor who gave me probiotics did I realize there were still hopes. I kept taking the probiotics and my puff became better, and after one year my colonoscopy showed my ulcer recovered!!!


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

These years： I was totally shocked, and there were strong feelings inside me that the treatment of IBS was not drugs but diet and other alternative therapies instead.At that time, I was about to graduate as a bachelor in food quality, and found a job already. However, because those strong feelings, I changed my mind, deciding to study nutrition and dietetic science in western world. I took the medical school courses while my friends were finding jobs. When they graduated, I was taking the IELTS test. I failed the test with 0.5 less than requirement in writing , then I took it again, failed again, took it again ,failed again, took it again, failed again. Finally, after 5 times of IELTS I passed, and… and I received the confirmation letter of University of Sydney!!Now: It was like predestinated. When I came here, I found out the FODMAP diet and the elimination diet, both of them were treatments of IBS and both of them originated from Australia. I tried the FODMAP diet last for few months ,but it didn’t work well on me, may be I cheated sometimes. My gases reduced in the FODMAP,however, my puff didn’t look good.Then , this month I found out the elimination diet, and I went to the RPA hospital which just next to my campus!I just commenced the elimination diet for one week, and not strictly followed it. I just find this forum , and I will take my food diary here, so to record my whole journey.My dream is to become a gastrointestinal dietitian, helping people like me who suffer a lot from the bad disease.


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

First day record on elimination diet.I just ate lettuce, chicken, egg, rice, pear and cashew.There are not much recipe available and I am too busy to find them. Need to take some time to find the recipe.It is quite difficult to follow the diet,since everything you eat is so similar. I found myself easy to overeat cashew nut, which is only allowed to be eat no more than 10 of it,to compensate without eating other tasty food.And once I overate cashew nut, I got excessive gases. Overall, today is not bad, but still need to eat less cashew nutWhen it comes to not overeat something, my teacher said it is better to raise the self-conscious, like recording the situation that you overeat or slip, including triggers time and place, so that we could cope with it.For instance, in the cashew nut case, the trigger of my overeat was seeing the pack of cashew nut and felt hunger. It is also important to not take lapse seriously and feel control of yourself I used to blame myself for slip or cheat, however, I started to accept that I could not completely follow the diet and a little slip is acceptable. So even I overate cashew nut, I still felt good instead of feeling crab like I　used to.28.5.2012


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

Second day,The food was similar,I ate lettuce, chicken, egg, rice, pear and cashew.I overdid cashew nut again. There was no other food available for me , when I was hungry. Also, I found myself a little bit addict to cashew nut and once I started I could not control myself. Need to put it separately to avoid overdo.Symptom: still excessive gases, and a little bit constipation. Problem probably lie in the cashew nutReduce the cashew nut portion tommorow, at least 1/2 of my normal consumption


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

The third dayGot diarrhea twice a day and smelly gases.I think probably I ingested too much cashew nut previous day. So I avoided it today.However, today, we had a kitchen tutorials, everybody in the class brought their snack food in the class to share, including chocolate, cupcake, lamington, tim-tam, crackers, muffins, cookies..... I was not able to control myself, and ate lots of food that I should not eat.Feeling guilt and lack of control...One boy,also in my class, successfully controlled himself without eating anything, even though he is strong and health.Eventually, I figured out a saying"You are the decisions you made 10years ago"By keeping choosing the right food, he became strong and healthy, while by indulging myself, I got IBS..I should really change and follow his example!!


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

Today, as expected, got diarrhea beacasue of yesterday's fault. I was trying to gain weight by consuming more oil. Although it worked, it seemed that my bowel and stomach couldn stand more oily food anymore, and I felt sick. I felt sick the whole day.Not sure whether is the effect of elimination diet(get worse before get better) or I am on the wrong track.Any way, I will keep going for one monthTOday, I aslo ate similar things, eggs, lettuce, rice, chicken drumstick,potato...not enough variety, waiting for the elimination diet handbook to come


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

today, I felt much better, maybe because i took the probiotics?or the diet is showing effecttoday and yesterday i didn't eat nutand i just eat, lettuce, eggs, rice,potato(no need to be so strict, I just could not find anything more I like and I know how to cook in the elimination diet， and I also want to make it consistent to pinpoint certain problematic food)Also, in order to counter the poor nutritional quality, I also took multivitaminAnyway , I felt much better, with good shape of poop, and less gases today


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

today, I felt quite well, except some gasesI also added mussel in my diet today. I am pretty sure it will not cause anything, because I consume it in FODMAP diet before.Have a look tommorow


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

yesterday, I got constipation,maybe because of the mussel?not sure yettoday, still eat mussel,lettuce ,potato, egg, chicken breast,pear...feel normal：）If i get five good day, I will start introdution of new food


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

same food...today feel abdominal pain and more gases than before...really don know why? may be stress?


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

got constipation these days...I ate snappers, rice, lettuce, potato, eggs, pears these days, and lapsed to eat cashew nut and some walnut today.Also yesterday, I followed the diet book and made some chick pea dip. Not sure which one is the cause of constipation.SinceI currently suspected my supplement, multivitamin and vitamin D, calcium....not sure which one is the cause


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

Eventually... I have a perfect poop today!!Yesterday, I ate rice, potato, cabbage, lamb, tuna, chicken drum stick and rice wrapand took vitamin D, calcium, zinc and selenium , vitamin b and c, instead of taking the multivitamin.Then , it turns out to be I am right, the multivitamin cause me constipation.And I can not tolerate cashew nut and beans.I will eat the same thing for five day... If I get perfect poop five day, then start reintroduce things. Really want to eat bread and milk.


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## Louis cjj (May 26, 2012)

a little bloating but the poop is finestill eat the same things..


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