# Is it IBS?



## Cookie12 (Jun 21, 2015)

I have been diagnosed with IBS. My main symptom is frequent and urgent bowel movements and a feeling of incomplete relief after a movement. When symptoms hit I experience severe abdominal pain. Unfortunately these symptoms can occur at any time especially after physical activity, like a long walk, mowing the lawn etc. My doctor has me on Dicyclomine 10mg 3 times day. It does not seem to be helping I long to go a day or more without having frequent bowel movements. Anybody have any suggestions? 
I'm a 67 year old male my symptoms have been going on for about 4 months.


----------



## nicholesea (Jun 29, 2015)

The low fodmap diet has relieved me of all of my symptoms from IBS. I am currently in the reintroduction phase. It helped me as well as many others, and may provide you with relief as well. There are plenty of online resources to help you with the diet, but it can be overwhelming. You may want to talk to your doctor about it so they can help you and perhaps set you up with a nutritionist or dietitian to help you with the diet. The app created by the people who developed the diet has helped me a lot as well; it is definitely worth the money, in my opinion.

My personal hope is that by being on this diet, my IBS can slowly go away as my gut/digestive system heals itself. (I am doing other things beyond this diet to help heal my gut.) However, the diet is clear in saying that is reduces symptoms; it does not cure IBS.

Overall, it has brought my life back to normal, though it is very restrictive which is unfortunate. Luckily you are meant to reintroduce the different food groups that are taken away to identify your triggers and hopefully are able to keep some of them permanently. Furthermore as your stomach heals, your tolerance may go up with different food groups.

Anyways, to get more details on the diet, simply look online and/or talk to your doctor. There are tons of resources out there. Just be sure to make sure they are reliable.

I hope this helps you like it helped me  The diet is restrictive which can be very hard; I have had my fair share of mental meltdowns, but in the end the relief is worth it to me.


----------



## Cookie12 (Jun 21, 2015)

Thank you for the advice, I have been considering adjusting my diet. Some days I eat very little and drink A LOT of water which seems to help.

Thanks again for the advice I'll check out the low fodmap diet.


----------

