# Reducing symptoms via my diet



## willis88 (Aug 7, 2012)

Hi there, Looking back now I found many of my IBS symptoms are linked with my diet. I thought I would share my background and diet plan which I have had varying success with. Mostly guided by a nutrionalist mixed with my trial and error. I would appreciate if anyone has suggestions of what else to try.BackgroundI was diagnosed with IBS with lactose and sucrose intolerances last year by the specialist after having cameras up/down. I originally went to the doctor with right-side abdominal pain. I have always had a touchy gut since a child so pains and cramps were common. But this was horrible and I was bed-ridden (I never take sick days) and after a few tests and no clearing of symptoms I was referred to a specialist. My diet/lifestyle thenMy diet consisted of large carb/protein meals (supplemented with protein shakes) with snacks being fresh/dried fruits and a lot of nuts. Then negative of my diet was my alcohol intake which was extremely high. I would estimate at 5 bottles of wine in week; this was a consistent intake for up to 2 years. High coffee intake. I had numeorus bowel movements with a horrid smell and stomach noises where constant.My diet now and the things I foundDiary - removing lactose from my diet really aided my IBS. The horrid smelling bowel movements stopped and the gas reduced. I did first try soy milk but found I still got some cramped/gas (someone told me it can difficult to break down). I am now on cow's milk which has been further processed to remove lactose. This is working wonderings. I also have tablets that you give the digestive enzyme to break down diary; this work okay but the costs of using them adds up and they sometimes arent effective. Diary products I still avoid are things like cottage cheese. I do not know why but my system cannot handle cottage cheese. Also found that my protein shakes used milk powder so I stopped. I have yet to find a replacement. Australia does not have a good market for these products. Fibre - I urge IBS sufferers to start calculating your fibre intake and playing around with what best work for you. I thought the higher the fibre the healthier I would be. I was told by my nutrionalist to limit my fibre intake for a short period to trial it if did anything. I stopped eating nuts and fruits, changed to white breads and limited some vegetables/fruits. It really worked and I felt great, it drastically slowed my system down and my bowel movements. (Note: You can't remove all fibre as you do need it) I use this low fibre diet as my control when I trial other foods. Now I am trialling soluble and insoluble fibres.Alcohol - I have stopped drinking all alcohol for six months; currently at 4 months. Not sure what impact this is having my IBS. Known gastric irritants - I was given a list of know irritants, things like tomatoes, spicy foods, etc. You can google it. Avoiding these helps. I have been experimenting with what I can have off the list. Overall - I have experienced success with controlling my IBS symptoms via my diet. It is not a cure as one poorly selected dish will set me off and other times I get symptoms without any noticable trigger. But at least it gives me a degree of power back and "some" predictability. I hope this helps youo identify some food triggers.


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