# Gluten intolerance or allergy is NOT IBS-D!



## Colt (May 5, 2011)

Okay, time for a mini rant. I am only posting this to protect the newbies and to make sure people do not end up letting a Gluten allergy hurt them more than it has to:

As of late, there have been many threads with people chiming in and saying "going gluten-free cured my IBS" or "Gluten Free helped my IBS-D".

Well, gluten free did NOT help your IBS. It helped you Gluten Intolerance or your Gluten Allergy.....Which are NOT IBS.

Granted, many IBSers are gluten intolerant, stating that IBS can be cured by going gluten-free is misinformation and potentially harmful.

I am very glad that people feel better going gluten free. I am happy to see any of our members find relief. I strongly suggest that everyone tries going gluten free because that is a relatively "easy" fix. Maybe it will help you.....if it does it is because you have been barking up the wrong tree. You did not have IBS, you had a gluten allergy or intolerance.

Much like Habba, SIBO and Gluten allergies can be confused with IBS. But they are not IBS.

Habba, SIBO and Gluten can be treated quite effectively....IBS is a trial and error marathon of ups and downs.

Best of luck to all of you and someday I hope that this site is no longer around.....because someone found a legitimate cure for IBS.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The other thing is most gluten containing foods are full of FODMAPS (as are some of the replacements for wheat) so reducing gas volume can reduce IBS symptoms.

I don't think we have a Fodmap intolerance that isn't IBS (like many people with longstanding lactose intolerance have zero symptoms of it until they get post infectious IBS).

Gluten is currently the popular evil in the diet, so it is likely to take the blame even if it is the fodmaps in the food, not the gluten, that is causing symptoms of IBS triggered by increased gas.

Yes, a few people with IBS can control it with diet alone, so I don't say that if diet helped then you can't have IBS. Because, like I said if you test a bunch of healthy people usually some of them have the same indigestibles issues IBSers have so something is different between the people who eat all the bread, drink all the milk, and make all the gas and have no symptoms from those that have a lot of symptoms on that same diet even if the intolerance tests are identical in result.

Generally my sense is people on the milder end of IBS are more likely to get good control with diet. People with more severe IBS (or that isn't diet related) may find some diets help some.

Kind of like if IBS is small fire (mild, and even mild can be disruptive to quality of life), you pull a couple of logs apart it may go out and tossing some fuel on the fire will make it a lot bigger. If you have a huge bonfire (severe IBS) pulling a log or two out isn't going to make it any smaller, and you won't really notice if you toss some more fuel into the raging inferno.

And you are right, Celiac disease and whatever this "non celiac gluten intolerance" (assuming it is something other than fodmap issues) turns out to be may not be IBS. but people may have both. Some people with Celiac (like some people with crohn's) do not get full symptom relief even with strict control and may have IBS on top of their other issues. At least the inflammation and damage from an IBD can trigger IBS to start, so I don't rule out that Celiac could lead that way (and certainly wouldn't protect someone from getting IBS).


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## Colt (May 5, 2011)

Excellent post as usual, Kathleen. I am just tired of misleading info and 'false hope'. Of course one should try gluten free, I have no issue with that. I have an issue with the inference that gluten free 'cures' IBS.

I also look at the whole "Gluten Revolution" with a very suspicious eye. Marketing. Marketing. Marketing.

Yes many people do have issues with gluten and it is a difficult thing to keep out of your diet. I have IBS and I can eat a bag of flour right now and get nothing but a really sticky mouth. Which would probably help to shut me up! LOL!!!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

LOL.

Fads come and go with diet, and the processed food manufacturers are quick to jump on any fad coming along.

What got me lately was I saw this big ad for Paleo Bread. (not that even our meat, veggies and fruit are anything our ancestors ate as they have all been modified with selective breeding over the eons). Highly processed food like product, but since they avoided wheat and a few other things they could jump on the Paleo bandwagon.

Now when any of these diets encourage eating more real food I'm for that, but switching out one bunch of highly processed or un-naturally bred food for a different set of highly processed food that might be only slightly more naturally but highly altered by breeding food really isn't a step forward.

I'd rather eat a good whole grain sourdough bread that my great-great grandma would recognize as food than some concoction of nut flours and various assorted gums and chemicals needed to make it into a bread-like substance.


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## Colt (May 5, 2011)

I was at a 'dive bar' a couple of weeks ago. You know the type....the kind that makes you hover over the seat if you have to use the toilet.

Well, they sell cheap booze, cheap beer, bad food....BUT they had an extra sheet of paper stapled on their old, crusty menu entitled "Gluten Free Choices'. Talk about the bandwagon.

The most difficult part of IBS is misinformation and false hope. I have tried literally everything and have has my hope up only to have them fade as something's effects wane and then simply do not work.

But I still maintain that I do not have IBS. I have something else that doctors are missing. I am yet to read about anyone with the same symptoms as me.

Right now I am trying Allegra. My new GP is wonderful and she supports anything that I think may work. I have a lot of mucus and I simply connect mucus to allergy.....right or wrong. I need to find out. So, a $25 pack of 30 Allegra and I will give it my normal 6 week trial to see what happens.

In a way, I am glad I am not gluten sensitive. I was on an 8-week gluten free diet and found it basically impossible to live. On the other hand my niece was legitimately diagnosed with gluten sensitivity and since she went gluten free, she is a new lady. Her hair, skin and mood is all so much better. She has no stomach issues and actually lost a lot of weight and is now at a healthy weight and can exercise regularly - which makes her even healthier!

I wonder what the media will latch onto next? So irresponsible.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

And I do want to add even if it doesn't work for one person, that doesn't mean it can't work for everyone and is misinformation.

I mean the CBT I did as a clinical trial only worked for 70% of the people in the study. So if I'm in the 30% I could say it doesn't work, is misinformation for anyone to say it works, but still it worked for a lot of people (including me).

I do think we do want to be careful with the "this is the cure to rule them all" type of statements even if you are very very excited about how well something worked for you.

Reporting this worked really well for me and I've been doing it X number of days/weeks/months should be enough to let people evaluate if they think they want to try it.

A lot of the things that sometimes get slapped with a "don't work" label do work for some people. Some things that based on science can't work do seem to work for some people (and placebo isn't just it works for two weeks then stops, some people get long lasting relief from things that could only be working by the placebo effect, just like people with nocebo effects - side effects from biologically inert itesm- can have bad effects from something for a long time as well).

I blame the manufacturers more than the media for the fads. Sure the media does post some really bad articles about the latest greatest fad, but the manufacturers realy seem to be the ones that take it too far and take it in directions that are nothing like what the originators of the movement intended.

That being said, knowing some people with Celiac from way back, I'm very glad they have more options, and hope that once the fad passes that those items are still a lot more common than they were a couple of decades ago.


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## Colt (May 5, 2011)

It is important that we try everything. It is equally important that we have a diagnosis. There is no doubt that each person is different. We are also very hopeful. I recall the first time I visited this site and saw Linda's Calcium thread. I was like "wow, that is so easy, no side effects and works for almost everybody". I went that minute to the pharmacy and could not wait to try it. I was sitting in my car and opened the bottle. Swallowed that damn horse pill and did not have water...almost choked to death but I didn't care. I WILL BE CURED!!!!

Well fast forward a few weeks and it did nothing. Nothing at all. I was heartbroken. So I systematically tried everything known to mankind and suffered for years. Doctor's, specialists, quacks, homeopathy you name it. All gave hope. All failed ME. But I tried it all.

Had I gone to a doc and the doc did tests and said "Colt, you are gluten sensitive", I would have adjusted my diet and been able to manage it. Instead I was given this bogus trash-can diagnosis of IBS. Well, that would explain why my gluten free, dairy free and fat free diets all failed. I did not have an allergy, I had IBS.

I hope my point is not missed here. I am not discouraging people from trying anything and everything. I am discouraging people from saying the cured IBS with gluten-free. Not true and not fair to those who are new to this syndrome.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think as long as people are careful to say "this worked FOR ME" rather than this a "cure" they should be OK.

I just don't want to discourage people from sharing sucess stories when they are excited and enthusiastic about what is working for them.

I have my own issues with the word "cure". No, the plant based chemical that sits on the exact same receptor as the pharma-sythesized chemical is not somehow a cure and fixing something more than just sitting on a receptor while the exact same thing from a different shelf in the store is just covering up a symptom with another symptom. (really liptor is lipator even if it comes in the "red yeast rice". it isn't fixing the underlying reason you have high cholestorol because somehow your liver knows it is from the dietary supplement aisle).


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

I'd be surprised if there was anyone here not sensitive to starches. Starches would have to be one of the worse foods for IBS, and this includes all flours, whether gluten or gluten-free. But we keep eating starches that cause gas and constipation because they're filling, and it's hard feeling hungry. Going low FODMAP isn't too hard, you're not really deprived if you can't have brussels sprouts, but going low starch is horrible. This is why IBS is so hard to cure. I've found that giving up flours means the difference between a long, gassy evacuation that last hours or a quick, 10 minute one. Any kind of intolerance can be considered IBS if other people eat the same things without the symptoms we get. If you want to protect the newbies ask people to stop promoting laxatives and operations and silly cures that don't involve discipline. I doubt anyone would ever cure their IBS symptoms without going gluten-free.


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## quarky (Jun 15, 2011)

tummyrumbles said:


> I'd be surprised if there was anyone here not sensitive to starches. Starches would have to be one of the worse foods for IBS, and this includes all flours, whether gluten or gluten-free. But we keep eating starches that cause gas and constipation because they're filling, and it's hard feeling hungry. Going low FODMAP isn't too hard, you're not really deprived if you can't have brussels sprouts, but going low starch is horrible. This is why IBS is so hard to cure. I've found that giving up flours means the difference between a long, gassy evacuation that last hours or a quick, 10 minute one. Any kind of intolerance can be considered IBS if other people eat the same things without the symptoms we get. If you want to protect the newbies ask people to stop promoting laxatives and operations and silly cures that don't involve discipline. I doubt anyone would ever cure their IBS symptoms without going gluten-free.


I'm sensitive to starches in that eating white bread and pasta etc causes a big improvement in my symptoms. I suppose you could say they cause me to tend towards constipation, but for me that means having 1-3 solid BMs a day, rather than 5-6 semi-liquid ones. I have gas regardless of what I eat, but on a high-starch diet it's odorless so it can be passed, rather than having to hold it in due to the smell, which happens when I eat veggies or beans.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Quarky, I'm IBS-C Leaky Gas so constipating foods are the last thing I need, and I understand if they work for you but in the other post "IBS-D and gluten" Jacer, who made 1 post, claimed that going gluten-free helped their diarrhea. They also claimed that gluten-free pizza cured all their symptoms. My experience with gluten-free breads is that they're even more toxic than rice, the worst food for constipation for me. I find these 1 post miracle cures frustrating and generally try to ignore them. A genuine person will keep posting if they find relief for their symptoms. The other annoying aspect from the one hit wonders is they never actually say what their diet is and how long they spend in the loo. These people are phoneys. The OP assumes that people know what they're talking about here but a lot of people say "gluten-free" when they possibly mean "bread-free" or at least "wheat-bread free". Starches can be constipating because of the gas they produce and if someone finds relief from their symptoms from giving up bread then of course they're going to tell everyone. I'd listen if they keep posting for more than 12 months, list their diet in detail, and evacuation times, meds-free.


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