# IBS Treatment Center: Have you been there?



## Karren

Hi Everyone,








I am thinking about going to the IBS Treatment Center in Seattle, and would like to hear from those of you who actually received treatment at the Center and still did NOT get better. In light of your experience with the Center, how would you evaluate the effectiveness of their approach to IBS?I have tried everything I can, but my bloating and diarrhea don't go away, so I want to find out if it's worth of my time and expense to go to the IBS Treatment Center in Seattle. I live on the East Coast.... Any comments or advice are more than welcome.Many thanks!Karren


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## nickieAZ

Sorry but I haven't been there before or even heard of it until now. But please let me know if you decide to go, and if it worked for you. I know some people claim that they became better after participating in studies, but that it took a few months to feel better or normal again. I am also experiencing mostly diarrhea, and it is definately life altering. I believe much more life altering than constipation. I know both can be painful, but I can live with that, as long as I don't have to find a restroom several times while being out and about! I have been told that antidepressants can work, because it helps calm the nerves in both the mind and the gut area, as well as the side affects are constipation. I am hoping to see a counselor this week now that I have heard this. I hope that she can prescribe something to help out, while I figure out how else to help my self through gaining a regular exercise program, and really finding and staying away from the foods that trigger it.


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## TicoTico

Karren, try omitting annatto from your diet. Send me your email and I'll get it off to you. Only took me 40 years to figure it out. But, I did. Yale University will be publishing my link of annatto to the cause of IBS this fall in their medical journal.


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## gicarecenter

We are looking to start a support group in Miami, Florida (South Florida). Contact me if you are interested.







Thank you,Alejandro Fernandez, MBAAdministratorGastroenterology Care Centera Division of Gastro Health, PL7500 SW 87 Avenue, Suite 200Miami, FL 33173T 305.913.0666 x4060F [email protected]


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## dl123

Karren said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am thinking about going to the IBS Treatment Center in Seattle, and would like to hear from those of you who actually received treatment at the Center and still did NOT get better. In light of your experience with the Center, how would you evaluate the effectiveness of their approach to IBS?I have tried everything I can, but my bloating and diarrhea don't go away, so I want to find out if it's worth of my time and expense to go to the IBS Treatment Center in Seattle. I live on the East Coast.... Any comments or advice are more than welcome.Many thanks!Karren


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## dl123

Karren,My reply might be way to late, but I went to a couple of their support group meetings around Feb 2009. I have never received treatment from them. Based on my experience from the 2-3 support group meetings, they seemed to be heavily focused on food allergens, especially gluten. Since, I don't think that my intestinal problems come from allergens,I left the group wanting more.


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## IBSam

This is an old thread, but since I live in the Seattle area & have gone to the IBSTC several times, and since others may have an interest in this option, I thought I would convey my experience. When I visited in 2011-2012, the center's approach seemed a bit "One Trick Pony", in that it was centered around the results of 2 tests, a Standard Food Panel, which aims to detect food allergies by measuring IgA/IgG/IgE levels for a range of foods, as well as a Fecal Microbial Ecology Profile, which is a bit like the standard Ova & Parasite test on steroids. Both of these tests are highly appropriate, and while they do go way beyond what you're likely to get from most MD's (Wangen, the main guy at the IBSTC is a naturopath, with a personal history of Celiac disease, about which he is a bit of a zealot), if nothing comes up on either of the two, IBSTC is basically done. When this was the case with me, all Wangen had to suggest was a referral to a massage therapist in the area who specializes in the gut. Again, the issues which may be revealed by these two tests are likely to be the cause of a significant number of IBS sufferer's problems, but if you're not one of those people, in my experience at least, they don't have much else to offer. If you live in the PNW, I'd say they're worth a visit, but any doctor CAN (as opposed to WILL) order these in-depth tests for you. In retrospect, I doubt I'd have flown across the country to see them, had I not lived in the area. Also, my insurer at the time (Cigna) would not pay for anything associated with IBSTC, scumbags that they are (Cigna, not IBSTC).


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