# IBS Food Question



## BrendaBear (Jan 19, 2009)

I have had IBS with constipation for years. The pain and bloating is sometimes unbearable. Sometimes, even my hands and face swell. I have found that low carb diets make me feel wonderful though. I lose weight, go regularly and almost never have that painful gas and swelling. On a low fat healthy carb diet, I have gas that rolls around my gut like explosives but I can't pass it. I am constipated and miserable. I gain weight and have a puffy face every day. Is this just me? Has anyone else had any luck with low carb eating? I do great with meats, eggs, veggies and so on, but fruits and breads, pastas and rice bother me horrible. Please let me know if anyone out there has gone through this. I know low carb long term isn't healthy, but I'm to the point that I'll take that risk to not feel so miserable and in pain and crying every day.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Some people find these kinds of diets help. Enough that there is at least one study looking at it.If you watch the fat and make sure you eat veggies that most low carb diets tend to recommend (rather than the all bacon all the time version of low carb) it can be healthy and a fair number of IBSers find that limiting starches especially wheat and potatoes does seem to help.If you feel you have to have starch to be healthy stick to rice in small amounts as that starch tends to be easier on the system.For fruits try the lower fructose or sorbitol ones like white grapes and berries rather than the high sorbitol ones like apples and pears.Low carb doesn't mean it has to be high in saturated fat. You can have lean protein like chicken breast and fish instead of bacon and cheese. The South Beach Diet tends to focus on both healthy fats and minimizing starch.


----------



## ksymonds (Jan 16, 2009)

Hi BrendaBear, I am a new member to this site but not at all new to IBS, I have been dealing with it for over 20 years. Doing the low carb diet ten years ago made me feel the best ever in my life but was hard to stick to. Last year I was diagnosed gluten intolerant, so that may be why low carbing helped me so much because it got rid of the gluten. I am not saying you are gluten intolerant however but you may want to see. I believe I suffer from both IBS and gluten intolerance since I can't get 100% well on the gluten free diet alone. As far as low carbing being healthy, it can be if you do it right. The southbeach diet is very low carb in the beginning but is also low in fat. I think most people do it the wrong way by eating tons of fatty foods like red meat and cheeses all the time. For me, I don't eat a lot of grains now but do eat brown rice pastas and corn tortillas in place of bread for roll ups etc. If your body is telling you that it is happier without grains, I would go with it.


----------



## BrendaBear (Jan 19, 2009)

Thank you so much for responding! I will definitely stick to the healthier low-carb eating. This site is such a Godsend. I had no idea so many people suffered with the feelings and issues I have.


----------



## BrendaBear (Jan 19, 2009)

Would I need to see my doctor to find out if I'm gluten intolerant?


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I'd see the doctorThere are some reliable blood tests (rather than some of the various things alt med types use and many of them tell pretty much everyone they are gluten intolerant no matter what testing method they do).Some of the blood tests are best done if you have been eating gluten (I don't know how strict your diet is) but they can test to see if you are genetically likely to have celiac or not.If all starches bother you I think it is less likely it is celiac. Most celiacs are fine with large amounts of rice or other gluten free starches. People that are starch sensitive tend to have problems with even gluten free starches.


----------



## BrendaBear (Jan 19, 2009)

All starches bother me. Bagels, breads, rice, pasta, potatoes, even cereal and granola. I am tired of being sick and having all this pain and swelling. I'm so thankful for your help. I was postitively diagnosed with IBS-C, but it was trial and error with a food diary that I learned I couldn't eat all those things. I'll stick with the healthy low carb choices and hopefully I can be better for life.


----------



## ksymonds (Jan 16, 2009)

BrendaBear said:


> Would I need to see my doctor to find out if I'm gluten intolerant?


Yes, and as Kathleen said you want to use your regular doctor. She is so right that the alt doctors over diagnose gluten intolerance. If you decide to rule out celiac ask for the Celiac panel and make sure they do all five tests. Some doctors only request the tTG and EMA, if you need to go to a GI, the other 3 tests will tell them more specifically whats going on. If you can't handle any starch then I agree its probably not gluten intolerance. I live on brown rice and corn tortillas! My doctor told me he now runs tests on all IBS patients just to rule it out along with lactose intolerance if having problems with dairy. I only showed positive to the AGA IgA which is why I am not celiac. The tTG is the most sensitive for picking up celiac. I was in the inconclusive range though because I already started the diet but the number was weak (lowest on range) so I am not worried about it. I am only telling you this because if you decide to do the celiac panel, you need to be eating gluten for most accurate results. Its sounds like what you are doing is working for you though, which is great!Here is the specific blood tests to ask for:tTG (anti-tissue transglutaminase)-IgAEMA (anti-endomysial antibodies)-IgAAGA (antigliadin antibodies)-IgAAGA (antigliadin antibodies) IgGTotal serum IgA


----------



## 14131 (Apr 17, 2005)

Hi I wonder if you leave out the starches - where do you get fiber and then don't you get more constipated???


----------

