# New- Advice Please? Quit smoking 5 months ago and got IBS!



## Janei (Jul 31, 2009)

Hi everyone,What an amazing site! I've been reading all the posts for a few weeks and have now plucked up the courage to join in!!I am in a real state at the moment....I quit smoking 5 months ago which has, for some reason, sent my digestive system crazy!! At first it went on strike, which you are told to expect as Nicotine is a stimulant and taking it away has this effect.However, mine has never recovered - and in fact has now developed into total IBS like symptoms - alternating D and C, bloating, gas, mucous etc etc!!I have recently seen a GI Consultant and am having a Colonoscopy in a couple of weeks, which I am terrified of. At first, I just kept thinking that it was stopping smoking that was causing such havoc...also the withdrawal from cigarettes is pretty bad - anxiety, panic attacks etc etc, so I expected my guts to be like this. Now I just spend most of my time worrying myself sick that I have Colon C. I can't sleep and am anxious all the time.*Has anyone else had any experiences like this after stopping smoking*???? And can anyone please give me some tips on a very bland diet to try and get things under control??Thanks so much for listening and for your courage.Jane xx


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You might try the information on .. as that fits with bland diet that helps some with IBS.Bland isn't always the best diet for IBS, some people do better on a low carb approach rather than the approach that Heather has. Heather's site does have a lot of good ideas for a diet that might be called bland that does seem to help some people control their IBS. Just depends on which way foods happen to interact with your IBS and for some people diet is not the trigger.


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## IanRamsay (Nov 23, 2008)

HiAbout 3 years ago i quit smoking. i just threw my tobacco in teh bin and stopped. all hell broke loose. i started to eat everything i could get my hands on. i just piled it in. my IBS went nuts (no surprise there!) i knew it would go crazy because i was eating almost every waking moment. i put on 3 stone in 6 months (which wasnt a bad thing as i am 6 foot 2 and weigh only 9 stone). i was in some sort of IBS nightmare.I managed to keep it up for almost 9 months and then i had to start smoking again just to get some relief. it took months to get things back to my normal state of IBS. This sounds like a horrible thing to say, but when you stop smoking you start eating, and your digestive system recieves a big shock because of teh change in diet and sheer amount of food it has to deal with. the best thing i ever did was start smoking again. which is a shame because i *HATE* smoking, it is extremely unhealthy and makes me stink. but it is teh lesser of two evils. i now have my IBS under complete control thanks to probiotics, and i WILL stop smoking again soon, im just terrified to rock the boat because i dont have a wet suite, if you get what i mean.cheersIan


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The worrying yourself sick actually can be part of what is making you sick. That kind of stress tends to increase symptoms of anything that is a bit out of kilter.FWIW colon cancer is a silent killer because it normally doesn't cause a big hoopla of obnoxious symptoms. IBS on the other hand does cause a great deal of symptoms. Colon cancer is very rare in anyone under 50. There are a few families with a polyp disorder but you would probably know if you were at risk for that as there would be a lot of colon cancer in the 30's and 40's in your family.One concern when someone starts having bowel problems when they quit smoking is Ulcerative Colitis. While smoking is generally bad for the health it actually does help reduce symptoms of a few disorders. One of those is UC (even though smoking can make other GI illnesses worse it tends to suppress UC while you are smoking).That you don't mention blood and with the alternating back and forth it sounds more IBSy than anything else are good signs, but it is a good thing you are getting this checked out.Hopefully once you have the tests that will help calm you down, but you may need treatment for the anxiety if you can't. Smoking does actually calm down things like that so a lot of people are self-medicating with the nicotine and you may need something to replace that.It is worth looking at what you replace smoking with. If you are eating more, or you are chewing a lot of sugarless gum those are things that can set the gut off. The "-itols" in gum can cause diarrhea and gas and for some people a pack a day habit of gum chewing can be enough to upset the system.


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