# IBS-C and Fiber (How Much is Enough)



## mtippit (Nov 21, 2014)

I just joined today and am looking for support after a recent diagnosis of ... nothing. Upper and lower scope as well as all kinds of blood work and biopsies returned nothing but IBS-C as a result of a "long torturous colon".

I`ve been given a months worth of Amatiza (produced no BM`s at the 8 or 24 mcg dose) and a month`s worth of Linzess (produced diarrhea only if taken at night ... produced nothing otherwise).

So its back to the tried and (sometimes) true in an effort to stave off constipation: High Fiber diet with magnesium supplement and active lifestyle. Here`s my day:

1. 25 to 27 g of fiber

2. 350 mg of magnesium around noon

3. 350 mg of magnesium at bedtime (between 9 and 10)

4. 50oz to 64 oz of water throughout the day (this doesn`t include the three cups of green tea i have throughout the morning)

5. As a rule I don`t eat: Gluten, red meat, pork, fried food, soda,

Questions (the goal is to lessen the constipation I deal with):

Is there anything I`m not doing that I should try?

Is this enough or too much or too little fiber?

Should I take the magnesium all at once or is twice a day the norm?


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## RUTHIEUK (Nov 29, 2014)

pip - my regime is very similar to yours - I keep to low to med fibre ie 12 - 20gms but it's horses for courses - we each react differently don't we?

RDA is now 35gms I can't tolerate cow milk scratchy food or onion or cabbage - mainly starchy which I know may feed bad bacteria but i'm stuck as weigh only 80lbs and am always hungry!

Dairy and protein are constipating.

Constella not helped - gastroman wants me try Prucalopride again....Resolor - have you tried it?

Take care


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

i keep my fiber intake on the low side, too. too much of it just backs me up all the more.

Ruthie--we don't have resolor here in the usa. i sure do wish we did--i'd love to try it. all we have are meds like linzess (constella in the uk) and amitiza which add fluid to the stool. i need something to help push it out--lol--and resolor, being a prokinetic, is supposed to do that. i've read a lot of success stories from people in the uk and elsewhere who are on it.

good luck to you. wishing you all the best...


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## lasdoe (Jan 28, 2015)

It sounds like that may not be enough water. Water is what keeps your bowels moving and your stools softer. You should be drinking at least half your body weight in oz of water everyday. I am 140 pounds so I shod drink at least 70 oz but I am for 100 oz as I feel that's what keeps me moving best. Also for an average adult woman 35 grams of fiber per day is recommended. I eat mostly fruits. Lots of apples as they're a good source of fiber. Also kiwi and any berry is high in fiber. Those really help me. I also have oatmeal every morning. One more thing you can try is taking a short walk every day. I walk or jog about a mile every day and I find as soon as I get home I need to go to the restroom. The movement really helps.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

here's what the Mayo Clinic, WebMD etc recommend for daily fiber intake. of course, YMMV. as mine certainly does lol... listen to your body...

Age 50 or younger: Men--38 grams

Women --25 grams

Age 51 or older: Men--30 grams

Women: 21 grams

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fiber/art-20043983


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## kals (Dec 8, 2014)

I don't think its good to deprive yourself of pop, once in a while, half of a pop, I just don't think its good on the mind not to have something once in a while


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## Gooby (May 11, 2013)

The most effective forms of fiber I have found are inulin (sometimes called chicory root, and often available in gummies at your local grocery store such as "Fiber Good Gummies" and their main competitor "Fiber Advantage Gummies"), and acacia (often mixed with other fibers, and the cheapest form I have found is the generic Walmart Equate brand called "sugar free fiber supplement"), and the one that dissolves in water and becomes clear called "benefiber."

My biggest problem with all of them is that they work too well for me and tend to be unpredictable, gassy, and give me humiliating runs at the worst possible times.

Take too little of them, and it seems like they aren't doing anything. Then I take more of them, and poof! Here comes the gas and the runs! I have yet to find out exactly what dose will CONSISENTLY work for me on a regular basis.

I need to do more experimentation to find out what works consistently.

Overall, inulin seems to be the most powerful one in terms of reducing constipation.

As for the magnesium, I've had some humiliating situations with runs from it at times. My theory thus far is to take some magnesium with each meal, to keep that meal from becoming too hard and thus constipating, because the magnesium draws water into the colon. Pills are convenient and easy to tell exactly how much you are getting with each dose, but I found the bottles of liquid magnesium citrate (just a tiny amount of that liquid stirred into a glass of water and drank with a meal) to be the most effective form of it. In my experience, as for the pills, magnesium citrate was more effective than magnesium oxide pills, but is far more difficult to find at the store.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

For those of us who truly have IBS-C, I would first recommend trying more fiber in your diet. But if that makes things worse, don't be surprised. Most of us think more fiber makes us more constipated. In some cases, it gets way worse.

If adding more fiber in your diet makes it easier to go, consider yourself lucky.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

..i second that emotion...


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## Corydalis Aurea (Dec 14, 2014)

For sure, what Flossy said! Proceed with caution in the fiber department! I think finding the right fiber for you is really a personal journey. Lots of berries have fiber, but I am afraid that I may also have a histamine reaction to many of them, boo, I am not positive on this, hope I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that I am having a histamine reaction to avocados, and hazelnut.

Bran fiber just about kills me, I might as well have an alien inside of me for how that makes me feel!

Some are having good luck with blended flax seeds, I imagine due to the natural mucilage that they form, other seeds may be good for this too such as amaranth.

http://www.botanical-online.com/english/mucilage.htm


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## Gooby (May 11, 2013)

Ah yes, flax seeds are good, too. I buy a bag of them at the grocery store (they're usually in the baking aisle), and then store them in the freezer to keep them fresh. Each day I take out a few tablespoons of the flax seeds and grind them up into a fine powder in my coffee grinder, and then add them to a meal. They stir in readily to things like mashed potatoes. I think they are quite helpful.


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## Esplanade (Feb 10, 2015)

Pardon my ignorance, why can too much fibre be a problem?


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

to explain---in my case too much fiber is a problem because I have colonic inertia and adhesions and other bowel problems also --not IBS.

my colon does not work due to colonic inertia (dx'd by sitz marker test) and abdominal adhesions are gumming things up even more. . when you have slow colonic transit--let alone adhesions-- adding more fiber doesn't help because the colon cannot move it along in a timely fashion so the fiber just sits there, becoming harder (despite drinking lots of water, osmotic laxatives etc) and becomes even more difficult to move.

my gastro and surgeons have told me fiber is not my friend.

so yes, the amount of fiber depends on just what one's bowel problems are...it can be helpful for some people.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

Esplanade said:


> Pardon my ignorance, why can too much fiber be a problem?


For some people more fiber is the answer to their constipation. But for about - I'm guessing - 70% of us here, more fiber makes our constipation worse. It just slows down everything.

We don't need more fiber, we need our gut flora/bacteria 'adjusted' in our intestines.


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## Corydalis Aurea (Dec 14, 2014)

Great answer from annie7 and pretty well summed by flossy, it can just slow an already slow process down even more, leading to excess gas, bloating, pain, discomfort all the way around. The stool itself is just digested edibles, fiber is suppose to add bulk to the stool and sort of stimulate the bowl with it's texture, but for some of us who are so slow to process what ever we eat, it doesn't really help to bulk up the stool, it just makes us feel more stuffed. When that big ol' fiberized stool finally makes it's move, we may even have more pain and spasms as it lumbers on out, stretching and pulling and making us dread the future.

Fibers vary in the kind of texture that they are, softer fibers are safer and easier and more agreeable for us.

Good question Esplanade, because fiber is still what many first time IBS people are directed too, and it can just make matter so much worse for some.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

We need fibre but we need gentle fibre that doesn't irritate. It's hard to work out what exactly is causing IBS. It could be a mixture of motility dysfunction and bacterial overbalance. Maybe a genetic predisposition to motility dysfunction causes constipation which in turn leads to bacterial growth in the colon. IBS can't just be bacterial overbalance because so many of us have problems with complete evacuation. If we were speedy evacuators like normal people even if we had gas it would be quickly expelled every morning. Harsh fibre can be abrasive in the colon and rush through, and all undigested food feeds bacteria. Most of us know about FODMAPs and how they feed bacteria but starch for me is just as bad if not worse. The trouble is all the comfort foods that we love are also the foods that bacteria love. The trick with veges is to choose low FODMAP and boil and mash them thoroughly if you have gas problems as this reduces the starch content. Somehow gas itself seems to prolong evacuation and it could simply be that the colon can't grip onto gassy stool. A lot of emphasis is on diet here on the boards but incomplete evacuation is the other side of the story. Everything we do is a work-around, including having to be careful with diet. But most of us can shorten evacuation time once we work out what our optimum diet is and this can take some time.


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