# Coffee or no Coffee?



## KBDuke

I've read a lot of conflicting opinions about coffee's effect on IBS. I _really like _coffee, but restrict it to 2 cups each morning. Sometimes I feel pain after drinking, and sometimes I don't. I don't know if it's the coffee, or what I ate, or just that random kind of pain. Anybody out there have experience/opinion?


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## 20070

You're preaching to the choir. I too, get the same thing, I hate to say it, but it's most likely the coffee







I limit it to 2 cups, "i've tried stopping altogether, just can't do it though!!


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## overitnow

For me it has always been a cost-benefit (or cost-addiction) issue. It was certainly a contributor to my D, along with any number of other triggers. I used to drink a couple of cappuccinos each morning and paid for it; but I would have still had to deal with several movements, with or without it. Now, even though the D is long gone, it still correlates with frequency and softness. In spite of that, I would rather drink my fill and have an extra poop than have to monitor how much I am consuming.Mark


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## rach0973

I have IBS with constipation and a redundant colon. I LOVE coffee as well and it actually helps me.......??!!


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## mrswoody

I cut coffee out of my diet for a good while but lately I've been having a cup or 2 on the weekends. I figure, I'm already having the frequent BM's anyways so why not! Other times I just drink tea, which doesn't seem to affect me like the coffee.


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## savior

coffee is to you, as redbull is to me...


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## Mary:::)))

It has been almost one year that I have given up coffee............it was a little hard at first but I switched to herbal tea...........and I really like the peach and ginger tea..........the ginger has a natural calming effect on your gut...........I do not miss the coffee........and now I am better and I don't even think I will go back to it.............I like my tea with sugar and lemon ::







))Mary::







))


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## trunkus

A while since the last post here.I gave up coffee per the Perricone recommendation on Oprah. I can't say that all my IBS-C symptoms are gone (pain remains under my right rib cage, right where my gall bladder sits and I still struggle with a slow GI movement and other pains, plus poor appetite). But I can say that my symptoms have improved. It's not clear what the reasons are. I know that I have milk allergies, though despite this I often put milk in my coffee to reduce acidity. Stress is another contributing factor.Anyway, I've lost a few pounds, which according to Perricone is due to removing the "organic acids" found in coffee.One of these days I'm gonna get a doctor to believe me that my gall bladder is the source of my problems and that the gall bladder either has an undiagnosed dysfunction or, as I suspect, gall stones are being missed because they're either too numerous or too small, or both.Going back to my symptoms and diagnosis for a moment: I have 4 of 5 cousins on my mom's side of the family that had virtually identical symptoms to my own, but they were diagnosed with gall stones, had their gall bladder removed and guess what? Their symptoms totally disappeared after surgery. When I told this to my GI specialist he literally chuckled and tried to suggest that their problems (all four cousins?!) were "in their heads" and that removal of the gall bladder frequently results in loose bowels because of the unfettered release of bile into the GI tract which simply provided relief of an otherwise psychological problem. A pretty far-reaching and unmerited at-a-distance diagnosis, if you ask me. And, quite frankly, symptomatic of GI specialists and doctors in general when they come up against pathologies that they don't understand.So he gave me an SSRI and sent me on my way only for me to end up sleeping on my parents' couch for the next 6 months.Good job, doc.


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## SneakerPimp

Just THINKING about coffee makes me sick. I used to drink some Timmy's caps, as well as a fairly large amount of diet cola. I find that caffeine in any form makes me very, very ill. Gives me horrible cramping and gas and I have to make a run for the bathroom. I have IBS-A so sometimes it would help if I was constipated, but most of the time it just made things worse. I haven't had any caffeine in about two months now. It hasn't made all my problems go away, certainly, but it has helped. Caffeine is just not worth it for me.


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## nitha_ni

Does coffee tend to be a big trigger for people with IBS? Or at least something we're more sensitive to? Because not only does coffee set off my colon, but it usually means I don't sleep. And we're not talking I drank it a few hours before bed. I mean I have a cup in the morning (8-9am), and its not hard coffee, it's the fru-fru Starbucks kind. That night, though, I get 4-5 hours sleep at most and then am wide awake and cant fall asleep again. I never understand it. The caffeine has had over 12 hours to work itself out...but I'm still not sleeping?


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## Kathleen M.

Well coffee is something that bothers some IBSers.The half-life of caffeine varies depending on what drugs you take (BCP can make it hang around longer) as well as age and gender.12 hours isn't that unheard of for a half life (so at 12 hours later 1/2 of it is gone) and if you are are sensitive the caffeine in one cup of any kind of coffee (brewed is brewed, it doesn't know if you added a bunch of milk and flavors) can be enough to bother some people.Caffeine also messes with the biological clock a bit and you might be sensitive to having that reset. So you may be a few hours ahead even the next morning so your body thinks it is 7 am even if it is only 4 am.


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## nitha_ni

Thank you for the information Kathleen! I hadn't heard any of that before.


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## xgracex

A cup of coffee and some email checking in the morning used to be my morning routine, and what helped me, I think. When I started back to work, though, it messed me up and I haven't been the same since. Coffee still seems to get my body moving in the morning (more than tea or warm water - have tried). So, I continue to drink it. Sometimes I'll cut back a bit and switch to tea for a few days, but I do love my coffee.


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## TJP

If you love the coffee taste but the caffeine and IBS related problems are an issue for you as they are for me, try the decaf Folgers Simply Smooth ("gentle on your stomach"). I love coffee but any caffeine seems to keep me up for many hours and was making my stomach churn. My other issue was not drinking coffee on the weekends when I was off. The withdrawal from the coffee's caffeine gave me horrific headaches. Switching to the Folgers Simply Smooth decaf was awesome. I still get my coffee to warm me up in the morning, without the side effects I'd been experiencing. I only wish it came in a bigger size.


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## Lookin'foraLife

I find chai latte is a wonderful substitute for coffee, and it comes caffiene free.


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## sirjohn

*that removal of the gall bladder frequently results in loose bowels because of the unfettered release of bile into the GI tract*It sounds like something to try for someone chronicly constipated. Better then a colostomy I'm thinking.Anyone have any more information on this?


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