# Any natural remedies that REALLY work?



## ice cream (Dec 30, 2013)

I currently take dulcolax and Linzess and thankfully it works, combined with a low fodmap diet. 
Are there any natural remedies that truly work for intense IBS-C with pvd? I'm afraid of my body becoming immuned. Thx!


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

Sauerkraut works for me.


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## ice cream (Dec 30, 2013)

Sauerkraut doesn't interfere with low FODMAPs? It's cabbage.... Just wondering.
Thanks!


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## Dreamcatcher32 (Nov 12, 2013)

Yep! You can use Magnesium Citrate. But I personally find it has to be liquid and high quality. So I go for Lifetime or Bluebonnet. Aloe Vera Inner Filler is also great, just avoid the whole leaf kind. Some find adding several tbs of coconut oil and olive oil into their diet really helps. Fiber will also help you if you have PFD. So try Metamucil wafers, Fiber One, etc. But if that makes your stool too hard, get some high quality Chelated Magnesium to go along with it. Many also find benefits from probiotics. Just make sure to get the kind that has live cultures and you might have to go through quite a few.

If you have PFD, then biofeedback will work better for you then 'helpers.' But that's based on how much effort you put into it! Some have to do it for months or years to really get the hang of it.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

ice cream said:


> Sauerkraut doesn't interfere with low FODMAPs? It's cabbage.... Just wondering.
> Thanks!


That's the beauty of fermentation. The bacterias eat the FODMAPS while outside your body, not inside your body. The "prebiotics"/FODMAPS are very much reduced by the time you eat it, so you get the vitamins without the pain.

Some ideas for exploring this:

GAPS diet..

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0954852028

Sandor Katz is the "father" of modern fermentation, he has other books too..

http://www.amazon.com/dp/160358286X

A library often has these books or can get them.. I'm not plugging them.


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## ice cream (Dec 30, 2013)

What kind of sauerkraut is good to eat? Any store bought brand?


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## flitwit (Oct 3, 2013)

ice cream said:


> What kind of sauerkraut is good to eat? Any store bought brand?


You want raw fermented sauerkraut... something like this, if you're going to buy, rather than make at home: http://www.rejuvenative.com/traditional-cut-shredded-sea-salted-sauerkraut/.

The kraut you find at a typical grocery store's going to have no probiotics / benefits.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

That's a bit of an oversimplification, nojokeibs. Fermentation pre-digests some, not all, of the cellulose. You're still left with raw cabbage which is high in insoluble fibre. If you have an irritable colon a few teaspoons of sauerkraut might be enough to cause serious symptoms for someone. Fermentation creates lactic acid from some of the sugars but the food is still a FODMAP and there is still a lot of fibre remaining. Sauerkraut isn't a magic wand that's going to cure IBS.

It's possible you don't have a bacterial overgrowth and your underlying IBS is something else entirely. If someone here does have SIBO then the last thing they need is more probiotics creating more bacteria and gas. None of us have any way of knowing what underlying problem other people have. I don't even know what underlying problem I have. There's too many unknowns to just advise people to eat sauerkraut.

The other big test for a miracle food is whether you are cured enough to come off the meds. If not, you have to question exactly how tangible the benefits are.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

I'm trying some magnesium pills a friend sent me for the first time today. Hope they help!


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## wigglesmom (Dec 12, 2002)

Mag citrate works for me. Iberogast has been a life saver. You can find it on amazon.com. Peppermint oil seems to help at time too.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

wigglesmom said:


> Mag citrate works for me. Iberogast has been a life saver. You can find it on amazon.com. Peppermint oil seems to help at time too.


I tried peppermint oil. Didn't do anything but tasted nice after it went down (if you know what I mean - burp!)


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

tummyrumbles said:


> That's a bit of an oversimplification, nojokeibs. Fermentation pre-digests some, not all, of the cellulose. You're still left with raw cabbage which is high in insoluble fibre. If you have an irritable colon a few teaspoons of sauerkraut might be enough to cause serious symptoms for someone. Fermentation creates lactic acid from some of the sugars but the food is still a FODMAP and there is still a lot of fibre remaining. Sauerkraut isn't a magic wand that's going to cure IBS.
> 
> It's possible you don't have a bacterial overgrowth and your underlying IBS is something else entirely. If someone here does have SIBO then the last thing they need is more probiotics creating more bacteria and gas. None of us have any way of knowing what underlying problem other people have. I don't even know what underlying problem I have. There's too many unknowns to just advise people to eat sauerkraut.
> 
> The other big test for a miracle food is whether you are cured enough to come off the meds. If not, you have to question exactly how tangible the benefits are.


I changed it to read "the FODMAPS are *very much reduced* instead of *gone*" in my post. You're right it was an oversimplification. Probiotics eat raffinose and other oligosaccharides in bean pastes if you ferment them, they also eat the mannitol in cauliflauer if you ferment that. But even a chemical reaction never goes 100% in one direction so I corrected my post.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

flitwit said:


> You want raw fermented sauerkraut... something like this, if you're going to buy, rather than make at home: http://www.rejuvenative.com/traditional-cut-shredded-sea-salted-sauerkraut/.
> 
> The kraut you find at a typical grocery store's going to have no probiotics / benefits.


The brands I can find in a store are Farmhouse Culture, and a Raw Vegan one that comes in a jar. They're both good. I also make my own now. There are many foods I will only attempt to eat if they've been fermented first.


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## IndianRopeTrick (Jul 25, 2013)

For me, this helped a lot:

1 - Whole wheat oats with boiled water for breakfast.

2 - Spinach in all meals.

3 - Regular exercise.

4 - No or little bread, both white, brown.

5 - No pasta, no noodles.

It made a significant improvement after 3 months. I did it regularly for 6+ months. I am not cured though.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Thanks for clarifying that nojokeibs. Probiotics is a very confusing topic. I think a lot depends on where your bacterial overgrowth is. The basic theory of probiotics seems to be that adding "good" bacteria will aid in digestion, meaning that we don't have enough good bacteria to digest our carbs. The assumption seems to be that we need to replace the good bacteria in the colon but in normal people most carbs are digested before they reach the colon. It's generally assumed that we don't have large quantities of bacteria in the small intestine, as with SIBO. But if we do, then supplementing probiotics may make you worse off. You might think breath testing will solve this once and for all but testing has a lot of false positives and negatives. If probiotics increase the gas and IBS symptoms with it then that's a sign that it might not be the best remedy for you.

I'm not sure what point you're making about probiotics eating oligosaccarides. Bacteria feed on carbs, which produces gas. The very act of eating gas-forming foods - fibre and starch - will create gas. Complex sugar foods create more gas than simpler sugar foods and this is the basis of the FODMAP as well as the SCD theory. It's possible that gas itself causes IBS. If so, then you're gambling that your bacterial overbalance (if you have one) is in the colon and that adding good bacteria creates less gas in the long run. I think that's what you're saying, I'm not sure. I'm not certain this is true. If your bacterial overgrowth is in the small intestine then fibre and starch is feeding all bacteria at your expense. It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad bacteria. This is my understanding of this very complex topic. If you or anyone else has a lot of pain I would strongly suggest easing up on the complex sugars, FODMAPs, insoluble fibre (which bacteria feed on as well even though a lot of sites say they don't) and starches just for a few days at least to see if pain eases. Meds might confuse the issue so meds-free might offer a clearer outcome.

I'm just not sure of the wisdom of someone who is strongly reliant on meds advising people to increase their FODMAPs and fibre in the belief that fermented foods somehow reduce gas. This may depend entirely on where the overgrowth is located and the severity of the IBS.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

Well, tummyrumbles, I don't know what to tell you. I'm ketogenic so I avoid most of what you said anyway. I eat low amounts of just about everything you're worried about. Ketogenic means that 70-80% of my calories come from fat. There isn't much room left over for wanton carbohydrate eating, especially when I insist on eating 75-100g of protein every day. I've had a great deal of improvement in bowel function from the fermented foods I'm eating, so I'm not sure what we're accomplishing. For quite some time I was low-FODMAP and ketogenic and did not have nearly as good results as I have now (I had low-gas, but I was still constipated and had plenty of pain). I'm certainly not going to reverse it.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

I'm not trying to upset you. Originally you were recommending sauerkraut to people and I was just trying to explain that fermented foods can increase rather than decrease gas levels. People are desperate here and will try anything if someone suggests it. A ketonic diet can be dangerous although I'm sure you know that already. It's hard sometimes to know what direction to take. Longer cooking of vegetables reduces a lot of starch and fibre but what exactly is left afterwards? Just a mushy pulp with barely any nutrients? It's a fine balancing act and very difficult to get right. Then add in the boredom factor of just eating a bland diet of meat & veges when you're craving breads etc. I'm glad you're reducing your pain but your diet is extreme. I don't want to get you offside as we've had some interesting discussions together. I'm probably a bit concerned for you as I'm not sure you're doing the right thing but you seem determined that you are. I hope you don't recommend a ketonic diet to people though. Maybe try things for a year and if results are improved then post your diet but again, meds just confuse the issue. You might attribute an improvement to diet but it could be a temporary effect from your meds, it's hard to say. Don't be upset by my posts. I like to probe things but don't do it to upset people.


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## flitwit (Oct 3, 2013)

Just wanted to note... though I did post the link to the sauerkraut, it doesn't actually agree with me personally, neither has raw apple cider vinegar that a lot of people have suggested. They both give me a lot of problems. So I agree that although so many suggest fermented foods, it's not necessarily the best option.


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