# Irrational Thought #4



## BBolen Ph.D (Nov 9, 2000)

If I am having symptoms, it must be something that I ate. I should avoid this food in the future.------------------This input is provided solely for educational purposes and is not to be seen as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult a qualified professional about your personal medical needs and any questions you may have regarding this information. www.irritablebowel.net [This message has been edited by BBolen Ph.D (edited 07-12-2001).]


----------



## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Ok Doc, looking back at what I ate is usually where I "go" first. But here I think first is the operative word. Because I don't stop there, then I look at my stress management over the last few days, have I been walking thru the days with that inner engine running on high rev or with my shoulders around my ears, where I'm sure my Creator never meant them to be? Have I exercised? Made time for myself? Have I "practiced" (hypno that is). I still think my tendency is to look at me, not my CNS or neurotransmitters/receptors. I used to just look at the food I had eaten & say it was my own fault for eating that & then avoid that food. Which obviously led to more & more food avoidance, which led to a real restrictive diet, which led to under-eating which led me to feeling like ****, which eventually made me desperate enough to visit this Forum







. The rest is history.I try hard not to "blame" myself anymore, but old thought habits die hard. But I'm trying. Thanks for asking this even tho it made me feel uncomfortable to even think about it. Obviously I got work to do. BQ[This message has been edited by BQ (edited 07-12-2001).]


----------



## AZmom1 (Dec 6, 1999)

"I have a digestive tract disorder caused by a problem with gut motility. All food and drink will start the digestive process, and can lead to symptoms. It's important that I eat a healthy, well rounded diet, and approach my IBS symptoms from many sides, including medications, diet, exercise, and stress management/relaxation techniques."I agree with BQ, that our symptoms could lead us to stop eating properly. There are times when we're having a flareup that any food will cause symptoms. Obviously some foods are worse than others and should be avoided during a flare-up.AZ


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

IBS waxes and wanes and food is not the only thing that sets IBS off.I may be just having a bad IBS day and any food would set things off.I should test this food again when my IBS is settled down to see if it really is a trigger food, or I just happened to eat it on a day that anything would trigger symptoms.Eating a healthy, well balanced diet is important for my overall health. Eating poorly is not likely to make the IBS go away and could cause other problems. Eating so my health is good overall may help me cope with my IBS better. A healthy person can tolerate more things than a sickly person can.K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html


----------



## ewink (May 17, 2001)

I am glad you posted this one Dr. Bolen, as I had some questions/thoughts reading this in your book.While I absolutely completely do agree that food is not the only symptom trigger, and certainly not ALWAYS the cause for symptoms, for me I think that fats are causing problems right now (except for fatty fish). During all the years I have suffered from IBS, I have tested and retested this, and it never misses. Also dietary fiber, e.g. from veggies, fruits and whole wheat. When I am mostly C, I do well on those, but when I am D-type, I have to be very careful, or stay away from them when it gets too bad. I have never done any medical tests to confirm this. I do realize that this makes my diet pretty restricted, and that that's not really good. The way I've been going about it is, in the beginning, when the D was really bad, I got rid of those triggers in my diet, and as I am slowly getting better (with supplements), I am slowly reintroducing little bits of those foods. Is this not the right way to go? I have been improving, slowly but steadily over the last 3 months or so (when the D flare started), and have been gaining some of the lost weight back as well.Thanks,Edith


----------



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

I second what has been said and want to add eating properly supports optimum health and nutrition.------------------Moderator of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Anxiety and Hypnotherapy forumI work with Mike and the IBS Audio Program. www.ibshealth.com www.ibsaudioprogram.com


----------



## SteveE (Jan 7, 1999)

Yeah, this is one we all struggle with. I'd like to use K's replacement thoughts as an example, necause I really like the one she said about testing this food again when my IBS is settled down, but I have a hard time swallowing that this thing almost randomly waxes and wanes. I mean SOMETHING must be responsible for the waxing and waning. I guess I'm perfectly willing to admit that food doesn't need to be the cause, but there has to be a cause, right? Examples of other causes might be: poor sleep or too much activity right after a meal thus interfering with smooth operation of digestion.On the other hand, we don't want to ignore the possibility that food is involved, do we? I am 100% certain that a certain symptom that I used to experience has been almost 100% cleared-up by avoiding products containing corn sweeteners. If I hadn't kept track of that, I might still be suffering with that one today. Of course one could argue that corn sweeteners are in no way part of a healthy diet I guess.But aren't there numerous other people on the board who have discovered that they are actually celiac or have problems with sorbitol or lactose?An observation here too--I think when dealing with family/friends/coworkers who sometimes understand IBS to an even lesser extent than ourselves often use this "something you ate" line of reasoning to satisfy themselves. When enough people do that to you, it is hard to ignore, but we must remember that it is based on a lack of understanding.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There are definitely times when a particular food or food additive is the suspect, which is why sometimes it takes a bit of testing to see if that was the problem or just random IBS fluxuations, or other triggers. The it did me in today so I'll never eat that again can get you in trouble (that's the quick and dirty "magical thinking" that works much of the time, but not all of the time, and if you are a human being you use "magical thinking", it works pretty well, but it isn't good to rely on it 100%) but tracking that food asking: Did it bother me when my IBS was doing pretty good, or while I was already in the middle of a flareup? Does it bother me each time I eat it, or only sometimes? Does the amount of it I eat make a difference? Does eliminating it for a couple of weeks make any difference in my symptoms? These are the sorts of things that help distinguish food triggers from coincidences.It's a delicate balancing act and you can error either way, being too caviler about food and not bothering to avoid problems (although some people with some foods feel that the enjoyment of the food is worth the problems it causes--thus the eat a chili cheese dog at the ballpark and pray there are no red lights on the way home jokes) and the other side is becoming too fearful of food so that one eats very little and doesn't get enough calories or nutrients to sustain health. For some people some of the symptoms they are having (particularly weakness, fatigue, weight loss etc) may be signs of malnourishment or misnourishment rather than the IBS.After all the Survivor series has shown that eating nothing but a bit of rice most days makes you tired, weak, lose weight, and have diarrhea when you eat normal food. And in all likely hood they didn't cast all IBSers. K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html [This message has been edited by kmottus (edited 07-17-2001).]


----------



## lilymaid (Jan 3, 1999)

I even get freaked out thinking that I might get food poisoning from particular foods. Or even a stomach virus. When my digestive system acts up, I think, "Ugh... what did I eat? How do I know it's not a virus? How can I tell it's not just IBS? What if it's appendicitis?"On the food poisoning tip, I'm pretty much suspicious of anything I eat (except for rice, rice cakes, bananas, etc.)... and I avoid things that will really set me off IBS-wise. If I know that stewed tomatoes are going to keep me up all night, I'm not going to eat them. No amount of yoga and positive thinking is going to help that. Just trying to stay calm through the ordeal might... but avoiding the ordeal is a much bigger time-saver for me.I can't think of a more positive way to think of this. If my stomach acts up, it's because I'm nervous, I'm hungry, I ate too much, I drank juice, I ate something non-IBS friendly, I have a stomach virus, I'm pregnant. Those could be the reasons... that's it!!As for avoiding... I know that there are so many confounding factors. I could have some grapes and be okay one day, but not on another day. If I really like the food, I'm going to eat it and take a chance.Regards, Lilymaid[This message has been edited by lilymaid (edited 07-17-2001).]


----------

