# IBS cured after five years. Please read my story because maybe it will help you.



## AmyAllen

To begin with I'm 70 years old but if you met me you would think I'm in my 50s. That's what people say. I've looked like I did in high school - 5'8" 120lbs. 23 inch waist for decades. I've watched my diet strictly since my 40s incorporating every healthy food I read about and omitting all unhealthy foods as I learned about them. I have an integrative physician who trained under Dr. Andrew Weil so she avoids pharmaceutical drugs unless absolutely necessary preferring to carefully diagnose the condition and prescribe supplements. She started me and my husband on high quality fish oil and Vitamin D3 before the news media ever reported on it.

I have no allergies or health issues. I'm rarely sick with anything - no colds, flu, headaches etc. My only issue has been enduring constipation for 55 years which began in high school. My mother started me on Milk of Magnesia, had me checked out at 17 at a well known clinic where doctors wrote off my situation saying "I postponed going to the bathroom when the urge came and was causing my own problem." All those years ago I had to be in class early in the morning and I ran at top speed all day. I had the same schedule in my career and as a mom. I've used every laxative and technique known to man to manage constipation.



*You can imagine my amazement when five years ago I began having diarrhea.*

Not only diarrhea but often such an urgency to get to the bathroom that I had a mess to clean up. My doctor did a comprehensive stool analysis and felt I wasn't get the proper probiotics. That didn't fix the problem which has been escalating ever since.

I also had bloating which got worse throughout the day. I'd be fine when I woke up and started my day but by 5PM I had a 26" waist I was so bloated. Then there was the gas which was embarrassing to say the least. My friend suggested ovarian cancer until I reminded her I had no uterus or ovaries due to a hysterectomy in 1978.

Next came changes to my diet. I went gluten free for a year which seemed to help somewhat. Sometimes I was better and sometimes worse and I never knew why. It was as if some foreign invader had taken over my body but we already knew it wasn't something like salmonella or ecoli. I tried digestive enzymes, peppermint oil, various teas and anything I thought might help but my diarrhea was now occurring many times a day and I was losing weight.

The first breakthrough came when my doctor recommended the book *It Starts with Food*. I began the diet April 2, 2013 and went 60 days no cheating, total adherence to the basic diet. Then I started omitting items that IBS suffers have trouble with. What was so puzzling is that I've had a healthy diet for years . . . no soda, no sweets, no cravings so the whole food diet wasn't too hard to follow. But no matter how much coconut oil, avocados and meat I ate I was rapidly dropping weight. I weighed 109 lbs. nine days ago and my arms are like toothpicks.

*BUT I'M WELL NOW!* It's a miracle to me and here's what happened. It's so quirky that I have to tell you exactly how it happened. Trader Joe's grocery store has just come to Texas. I found the store while traveling in Arizona and have been a big fan since. So I'm driving the 40 minutes to the nearest Trader Joe's and praying because I'm so thin I'm afraid I'm going to be hospitalized if something doesn't change. I was in front of the prepared salads in Trader Joe's when this young woman whips out her *It Starts with Food *book and begins enthusiastically describing the diet to an older woman near my age. Of course I had to chime in that I just did the diet for 60+ days and was trying to carefully reintegrate certain foods to see if they bothered me but that I was still suffering severe diarrhea etc. We three chatted until we had to stop because so many people were trying to get around us.

I was meandering down another crowded aisle when the older woman found me and said, "I have to tell you what will stop your diarrhea in 24 hours!" She said, "Go across the street to Whole Foods (a grocery store that dwarfs Trader Joe's) and get their brand digestive enzymes." When I told her I'd tried a quality digestive enzymes brand she said, "All bottles of digestive enzymes are not the same. Just try Whole Foods brand because they turned my 50 years of constipation around in 24 hours!" I was so desperate I did just as she said. I took 2 tablets (325mg) of Wholezyme Ultra by Whole Foods just before dinner that evening and have been fine since . . . no bloating, no gas or issues whatsoever. My doctor is surprised but happy they work for me. I've gained four pounds because I'm getting the nutrients from my food as I should.

FYI For older people it's important to know that digestive enzymes diminish with age so if foods aren't being tolerated that were once commonplace in the diet it could be lack of proper enzymes. I like these tablets because I take two just before eating the meal. Others require taking 30 minutes before a meal and that is not very workable with current lifestyles.

My husband and I recently celebrated an anniversary by going to San Antonio and enjoying lots of our favorite Mexican food. Living in Texas makes you a Mexican food addict. Some nights I threw in an extra enzyme tablet on top of my last bite just to be sure all got digested. I'm so happy and grateful at this amazing turnaround. I feel like I got my life back!


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## Bet Sobon

Wow, great story. You are so right, It All Starts with Food. I am 55 and have had IBS-A for 40 years and just found out that limiting FODMAPS, grains and nightshades are the key. I am also taking HCL and enzymes and probiotics.

My early story was similar to yours. Back then (the dark ages) IBS was thought to be a mental disorder, I was too anxious, you waited too long to go. It was all OUR FAULT. We weren't sick, we were crazy. Isn't that awful? But in a way, I am glad we didn't have all these crazy drugs available. I don't think they really help that much and probably make some things worse. It all starts and it all ends with food....


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## Tiger337

It took me many years to find a solution that works for me. I had to experiment with many things. I watch the food I eat. I am on a low-carb diet. I use probiotics and enzymes that I buy online from Kirkman Labs. Their products are very good quality. I use the Super Pro-Bio Hypoallergenic Probiotics and EnZym-Complete/DPP-IV™ II with Isogest Enzymes.

Cheers!


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