# IBS / Migraine / Sleeplessness / Heat sensitivity



## KeepItGoing (Oct 13, 2011)

I'm a 45-year-old woman, and I've had IBS symptoms for as long as I can remember. In the last few years I've managed to overcome my IBS symptoms almost completely through diet. Even better, this diet has cured me of a number of symptoms that I had no idea were related to my IBS. I'm curious if there are others who have similar symptoms who are helped by this diet (I know that no one diet or treatment plan fits everyone, but surely I'm not the only one?).*Irritable bowel*. In recent years it was mostly IBS-D, and it was becoming more and more explosive. I was beginning to carry a change of clothes with me to avoid too much embarrassment. At its worst, the pain was excruciating. I've given birth twice without anesthesia, and that is more tolerable than a full-blown IBS attack.*Headaches*. I had a headache of some magnitude almost every day. Occasionally it was incapacitating.*Sleeplessness*. I slept very poorly. I had trouble getting to sleep, and trouble staying asleep. If something woke me up after about 4:00 in the morning, I would be lie awake until about 6:30 (which isn't a great time to be falling asleep again). If I managed to fall asleep quickly and my husband woke me up with a kiss, I would lie awake for an hour unable to sleep. *Heat sensitivity*. I was absolutely miserable in hot weather (and I live in a hot climate). My reactions were significantly more severe than average.A few years ago my headaches were getting truly out of control. I tried the migraine diet recommended by David Buchholz in his book, "Heal Your Headache." Within two weeks my migraines were gone - as well as all my other symptoms. I've modified the diet as time has gone on, but in general, here are the results:*Irritable bowel*. I discovered, after starting this diet, something that I hadn't realized: The process of digestion is not inherently painful! I had accepted low-level discomfort as the price of eating. For the first time, I was totally unaware of my abdomen. Since starting this diet, I have not experienced a single bit of pain except when I go substantially off the diet. I no longer have to take a long, hot bath every night to ease my pain. Now, I use the appearance of my stool as an early-warning system; if I ignore "off" stools and keep cheating on my diet, I soon end up with headaches and sleeplessness.*Headaches*. I have a monthly headache, most but not all months. Other than that, I have absolutely no headaches unless I stray from my diet.*Sleeplessness*. I go to bed and fall asleep. In the morning I wake up, alert and happy.*Heat sensitivity.* I can tolerate heat better than almost anyone I know.Here are the foods I avoid on this diet. Some of these are well-known as IBS triggers for some people, but some I haven't seen discussed anywhere. I think the main thing I haven't seen discussion about is the methods of food preparation.MSG (natural flavors, hydrolyzed proteins, and so forth), textured vegetable protein (TVP) and any other modified protein, caffeine, chocolate, lentils, split peas, seaweed, citrus, soy, barley, nuts, cheese, sour cream, yogurt (I'm not 100% positive about that one), alcohol, freshly-raised breads (second day seems fine), sour dough breads, broth (even fresh home-cooked), gelatin, vinegar other than white (and not too much white), cured meats. (I should avoid avocados and maybe peanuts, but I like them too much; I'm usually okay with them if I don't cheat anywhere else.)*Methods of preparation* that I avoid: Marination. Slow-cooking of meats. Double-cooking of meats (like browning meat and then cooking it in a casserole). Leftover meats.So I can eat mayonnaise that I make, but not mayonnaise that I buy that's had a chance to marinate (or my own mayonnaise the next day). I can eat a salad if the dressing is freshly made, but I can't eat the leftovers tomorrow, and I haven't found a single commercial dressing that I can eat (and I've tried a lot!). I can eat a hamburger today, but I can't eat the leftover patty tomorrow.I think the connection between the MSG / TVP / marination and so forth is the modification of protein. Protein is okay - but when it's modified it often causes trouble. Slow cooking - marination - hydrolysis and so forth all seem to cause problems. (Cooking also modifies proteins, but fortunately I don't have a problem with cooked meats unless I cook them too long.) Most of the things I avoid, I notice, are preparation methods rather than ingredients. The only real foods that I have to avoid are things with caffeine, lentils, alcohol, split peas, seaweed, citrus, soy, barley, and nuts. Other than that, it's all methods of preparation.The hardest part of this is that it means that most processed foods are off limits. I've learned how to feed myself when I'm in a hurry, and I've found a few types of restaurants where I can eat, but it does mean a lot of fresh foods, and therefore a lot of food preparation. My diet is probably healthier now that I eat this way - because if I don't seek out a variety of good vegetables, my diet gets pretty boring.I've been on this diet for about five years. It's challenging, but worth it. It's funny to me that my IBS has changed from a defining feature of my life to something that I use as the canary in the mine. ("Uh oh - my stool isn't looking good - I'd better be careful with my diet for the next few days or I'll start having trouble sleeping.")


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## The Flatulator (Jul 5, 2012)

Thank you Keep-It!! That was a wonderful post to read!I'm in the beginning phases of the diet having just realized how bad it really is getting and have just bought the book Breaking The Vicious Cycle. Are you doing the Specific Carb Diet? It sounds similar to what you've described but this one says no complex carbs and to rely on lentils instead. The lentil sensitivity you've described, is that something that you just found is a reality for you, or were you warned of it in some diet plan?Interestingly, I've just had chili for dinner, which has been modified to remove spice and beans, and my gas has just kicked into high gear. I had the same chili last night with no effect, and would probably not have made the connection unless reading your post about next day meats. Thank you for that!!I'm new to this site and I have so much more hope seeing how many people have been helped through diet alone. You know, I never even realized how much I had just resigned myself to intestinal discomfort. I seem to have somehow managed to fool myself into ignoring the discomfort until it becomes very severe, and just reading your post made me do a sigh of relief. I can't wait to be free of this discomfort!!Thanks for sharing.


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## mummytummy (Oct 1, 2012)

Thank you KeepItGoing! I am new to this site and new to an IBS diagnosis (though I've been suffering for about 2 years now) and I'm absorbing all the food advice I can from this site. I never even considered marinated, slow-cooked, second-day meats and will have to monitor those in my food journal. The process of keeping a food journal to discover triggers is time-consuming in that it seems to take forever to make some connections between some food and symptoms, so your information is really helpful ~ methods of cooking wasn't something I had considered. What do you think it is about the sour dough bread that you cannot tolerate when you can tolerate other breads (second-day you mentioned)? Maybe the process of the fermentation? Thanks again







I'm going to continue tinkering with my diet and will remain aware of the connections that you noticed in case any remain true to my case as well.


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