# Bowel Rest



## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

I find my digestive system is MUCH more sensitive right now than it was a few months ago. So I am thinking of eating to give my bowel a rest for say a month and see how I do. then I think if that makes me feel better I can start introducing other healthy foods. I need some suggestions as to what I can eat to give my bowel a rest. I am avoiding dairy too. I can drink soy milk. I will be taking dicetel (a drug made for IBS to relax the smooth muscles of the intestinal tract) 100mg TID and then I came off the nexium (didn't take it yesterday) so this is day 1 off of it. I was on that for 3 weeks only. I am thinking the nexium has irritated my digestive system however it helped the heartburn I was having. I can live with heartburn and just take tums but can't live with this digestive upset. Sooo if you have some ideas as to how I can rest my bowel over the next month, it would very much be appreciated !!!! I want to make sure that I am getting the right nutrients. I am going to also start caltrate plus per recommendation of my doctor.thanks


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## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

I was reading eating for chrones and inflammatory bowel disease and it says to eat a low fibre, low residue diet from an internet site. Then I clicked eating for IBS and it says to eat a high fibre, yes I know the soluble fibre is important. So if I am giving my bowel a rest what kind of fibre intake should I have?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

High fiber is not universally good for IBS.If you want to give the colon a rest you want little to no fiber. You can't both give it a rest and eat a high fiber diet at the same time.


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## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

Well I know I can't give it 100% rest so I think I will just stick to bland, low residue, low fat foods with some fibre intake. Basically just looking to eat the foods that usually don't cause trouble, you know like the BRAT diet when you have diarrhea.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If you want some fiber with the generally low residue diet stick to the soluble fiber.Oat bran/oat meal or a less likely to ferment soluble fiber supplement like citrucel (rather than psyllium that can make some people gassy).


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