# has anyone actually cured their ibs?



## lookingforanswers2014 (Jan 31, 2014)

looking for some success stories here. i haven't always had ibs, it just started like 2 years ago. i have always had a strong gut from impression but something kill that. the suspicions i had are a one -time using too much grounds for coffee hurt my gut and i didn;t know how to heal it right and genetically modified food(weird thing is whenever i eat processed food containing assumingly gmos, i get sick. but never any problems with organic counterparts. and this pattern continues thus far. so it is logical to suspect a strong connection between gmos and digestive/biological problem. )

like to hear the nature of other people's problems.

i think i read at least one success story with vsl 3 from amazon...


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## kelly564 (Jul 23, 2014)

I think I found a cure. Within 3 days I felt like a new person. This is day 11 and still fantastic. I read a lot of reports and found that 2 probiotic strains are the best for treating IBS, and I found concentrated strengths of them at Walgreens. The firs tis Walgreens Super Probiotic Digestive Support (20 billion active cultures per capsule) and this is the Lactobacillus Acidophilus strain. The other one is Walgreens Natural 4X Probiotic and this one includes the Bifido Infantis strain. I take one of each of these twice per day and I hope it continues to work for me. Please pass this on in the hopes in can help others. Good luck!


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## lookingforanswers2014 (Jan 31, 2014)

kelly564 said:


> I think I found a cure. Within 3 days I felt like a new person. This is day 11 and still fantastic. I read a lot of reports and found that 2 probiotic strains are the best for treating IBS, and I found concentrated strengths of them at Walgreens. The firs tis Walgreens Super Probiotic Digestive Support (20 billion active cultures per capsule) and this is the Lactobacillus Acidophilus strain. The other one is Walgreens Natural 4X Probiotic and this one includes the Bifido Infantis strain. I take one of each of these twice per day and I hope it continues to work for me. Please pass this on in the hopes in can help others. Good luck!


hey thanks for reply. i think i know what u talkign about. i also found n tried this already n it worked for me also. have not finished month suppluy but serious improvement.

though i think u forgot to mention the name. i think there is only one type of this treatment, vsl#3. i sifted though a lot of literatures n found really conflicting information. some say there no true cure. some say there are things that may cure.

but the only literature i found at top of search list was mark hyman's piece.

this kinda case is really bad for ibs patients struggling when there is confusion like this surrounding treatment. i actually ran into some doctor didn't get it n tried to put me on ppi which i read to be controversial n could make things worse by lower acid.

vsl came just in nick of time when my ibs seem to be getting worse.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

lookingforanswers2014 said:


> looking for some success stories here. i haven't always had ibs, it just started like 2 years ago. i have always had a strong gut from impression but something kill that. the suspicions i had are a one -time using too much grounds for coffee hurt my gut and i didn;t know how to heal it right and genetically modified food(weird thing is whenever i eat processed food containing assumingly gmos, i get sick. but never any problems with organic counterparts. and this pattern continues thus far. so it is logical to suspect a strong connection between gmos and digestive/biological problem. )
> 
> like to hear the nature of other people's problems.
> 
> i think i read at least one success story with vsl 3 from amazon...


"Cure" assumes that a person can go back to doing what they were doing before the symptoms arrived, so presumably eating GMO packaged food would be the test of a "cure" for you. But I will venture to say that it's probably also the trans fats in packages that are affecting you (there may be up to 1/2 gram of trans fats and they can claim it is zero on the label). Chips and cookies are a major source of trans fats, even "healthy" chips and non-GMO cookies (look for a list of foods that often contain trans fats to find out if you're being exposed or not). The organic counterparts often do not contain hydrogenated oils (the most common and dangerous of the trans fats). These particular fats are not something anyone should be eating, so should not be expected as part of a "cure" anyway. Technically, the jury is still out on GMO's, but even the genetic breeding that led to today's dwarf wheat has led to unique problems, so I don't see why GMO's would be any less of a potential problem.

Another thing that's in a lot of ordinary packaged foods, but not in organic ones, is fillers. These fillers are often made from different types of cellulose, or various FODMAPS. Although, even organic packaged foods can and often do contain FODMAPS, they don't often contain sugar alcohols, added pure inulin, mono and di-glycerides, etc... The type of cellulose used in packaged foods is derived from wood pulp (sawdust treated with chemicals basically). This type of cellulose contains much higher lignin than cellulose that you get from eating greens and veggies. The lignin acts to stop fermentation in your gut, so your body can't digest vegetables or grains properly, or does it very slowly. Depending on your body's reaction, this may have different effects. For me, it causes constipation (motility slows while my body gives the germs a longer chance to "work"). Your body might say "eek, get this outtta here" and give you D.

At first, my way to deal with it was to avoid all FODMAPS, and by definition, that meant, no packaged food. I also avoided the foods I could no longer digest like wheat, and most grains. As my gut healed, I got braver, and now I can digest milk again, even in fairly large quantities. I introduced sauerkraut and other fermented VEGGIES (also fermented dairy, but it wasn't until I was eating all kinds of fermented foods that this problem fixed itself - for me yogurt alone didn't work). Then I tested the FODMAPS and found that I could eat them again, not in crazy large quantities, but that's ok, my diet doesn't allow that anyway. I could however, eat more than the low FODMAP diet allows, and could eat onions again, which I'd been missing.

I can't say it's a "cure" because I still don't eat grains, but I'm on my way I think. I'm going to cautiously eat grains again sometime in the future, but probably not wheat ever again. It's too much of a frankenfood nowadays.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

I agree with the VSL #3 idea though. The Lifeway kefir is one of my favorite dairy based probiotics. Its formula is very close to VSL #3 and it's extremely powerful.


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## lookingforanswers2014 (Jan 31, 2014)

to nojokeibs, yea, could be trans fat thats problematic too. but i pick up habit of looking at nutritional fact on food package. n i tried normal chips that not certified organic but didn't spot any baddie ingredients( gmos n so on). so yea i'm not saying processed food that only gmo in thems the problem but that reason enough for me.

yea the verdict still out on gmo n all. but i have enough evidence to avoid them. yea sure there doubt out there on that. some say monsanto block research into safety and all.

this is how i break it all down n rationalize on the matter.

arpad pusztai was like this world renownded scientist that published a study back in the 90s that gmo was bad bad bad with rats. like 2 days after publishing his study, he become a hero ,then his rep was ruined n he was fired, his team disbanded. very sad for this guy. the allegation was that monsanto used it mega influence to protect its rep n destroy pusztai's rep.

unless someone can prove the story to be fake which i have yet to seen.

n then there's monsanto history, it been around for about 100 years. n pcb n agent orange was created by monsanto. n these things done a lot of damage. oreange hurt american gis n caused a lot of mutation in vietnamese civilians n soldier alike. many vietnamese would not have babies cuz they end up being severe birth defects(no arms, retardation, limp walking, etc).

so in a perfect world there be heavy investigation into monsanto products. even though doubt surround gmo, when i weight monsanto's history n things they did, the conclusion i arrived at is its best to err on side of caution.

if u judge monsanto as a person, it is so suscipion i would not trust this person. others can judge however they like, if they want to give monsanto a chance n eat /try gmos, none of my business, but i won't give them a chance.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

lookingforanswers2014 said:


> to nojokeibs, yea, could be trans fat thats problematic too. but i pick up habit of looking at nutritional fact on food package. n i tried normal chips that not certified organic but didn't spot any baddie ingredients( gmos n so on). so yea i'm not saying processed food that only gmo in thems the problem but that reason enough for me.
> 
> yea the verdict still out on gmo n all. but i have enough evidence to avoid them. yea sure there doubt out there on that. some say monsanto block research into safety and all.
> 
> ...


Monsanto is definitely the devil as far as I'm concerned. I've actually had direct dealings with them because my final college project was about GMOs. They were very unpleasant from what I remember. But they had no reason to attack the reputation of an undergrad, so I was spared. Actually maybe not, since my project was entered in a contest and had a critic from a surprising direction. But it was pointless, there's nothing you can really do to an undergrad at a place where there are no grad programs in their field. Even if that was an attack, which I don't think it was... I think it was an honest criticism, it had no effect on my later grad work elsewhere. Nobody even asked me about my undergrad project. The behavior of Monsanto though, was truly awful. They dodged all my questions until one day they stopped responding at all. They only ever sent me marketing materials I could've found on the Internet. It was a complete stonewall, and my attitude was one of honest academic inquiry.

I'm not religious about it, but I avoid GMOs and have done since the 1990s when I found out how evasive Monsanto was about it. Lately I've noticed a real push to discredit the Organic label. I think that's probably Monsanto's doing, or a coalition that includes them. It's mind boggling the junk science that seems to support the discrediting of that label. But it's also true that Organic farms, especially large ones aren't as dedicated to soil enrichment as they are to toxics avoidance. That's the equivalent of being a vegetarian by avoiding meat, not by seeking more nutritious food. Being an academic type, I can hardly ever take just one side of any argument. I'm not cut out for the "talking head soup" of most TV shows or tabloids.

It might not be clear when I write things, so let me be clear, while I can see both sides of most arguments, including GMOs and the Organic label's effectiveness, etc.. I do seek Organic food whenever possible and especially for meat where I seek pastured and organic meat. Reality being what it is, things aren't always available, but I do what I can.

I think that some entrepreneur needs to come up with a home test kit for nutrients in food so we can equalize these claims about what's "more nutritious" and whatnot. It should also have an accessory for testing toxics in food. Then we'd have in our hands the tools needed for actual clarity. Until we have that, I won't believe anyone who tries to discredit the Organic label on any grounds, even if they are "scientists."


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## IndianRopeTrick (Jul 25, 2013)

Not really. I am much better though. I am 70-75% healthy now.


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## lookingforanswers2014 (Jan 31, 2014)

ok i recently tested organic honey several times n getting this mild stomach discomfort/nauseousness. n i haven't been aable to figure it out. i mean i read reports normal U.S. honeys not real honey but i did organic n from brazil.

i mean i read that bee might 've picked up honey from plant with mild toxicity to human so maybe.....

pre-ibs wise, i always gotten energy boost from honey but i'm not getting the same thing these days. i mean it is possible honey contaminated these days or just different or something.....

anyone got plausible theories worth considering?


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## IBS is BS (Jul 2, 2012)

Nojokeibs said:


> At first, my way to deal with it was to avoid all FODMAPS, and by definition, that meant, no packaged food. I also avoided the foods I could no longer digest like wheat, and most grains. As my gut healed, I got braver, and now I can digest milk again, even in fairly large quantities. I introduced sauerkraut and other fermented VEGGIES (also fermented dairy, but it wasn't until I was eating all kinds of fermented foods that this problem fixed itself - for me yogurt alone didn't work). Then I tested the FODMAPS and found that I could eat them again, not in crazy large quantities, but that's ok, my diet doesn't allow that anyway. I could however, eat more than the low FODMAP diet allows, and could eat onions again, which I'd been missing.
> 
> I can't say it's a "cure" because I still don't eat grains, but I'm on my way I think. I'm going to cautiously eat grains again sometime in the future, but probably not wheat ever again. It's too much of a frankenfood nowadays.


This is almost exactly the approach that I used to first get decent results. After reducing and reducing and reducing FODMAPs, further and further, it came to a point where my diet was practically 2-3 food items....









It is a 'cure' in that it completely works BUT it's not a cure if you mean allowing you to act/eat like normal people. After spending so long avoiding feeding the bad bacteria (the whole point of low FODMAP) i decided to just try and kill them away instead of starving them down (including starving the good ones down). Only way of doing that without killing off good bacteria (like antibiotics) is by using good bacteria themselves!!! I.e. using probiotics to competitively exclude the bad bacteria.

But if you think a little 20 Billion capsule is going to do something in your gut (which has trillions of bacteria) then you'll be disappointed. The one I used had half a trillion per serving. Believe it or not, probiotics actually work pretty fast when you get a decent one! And yeah I'm cured (nothing, except sucralose, gives me IBS anymore).


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