# IBS diet doesn't seem to work



## ag5t (May 17, 2002)

I have been on an IBS diet for about 2 weeks now and I am not sure it is working. Last night I had an IBS attack and it could only have come from something I ate. Are there situations where people cannot even eat those IBS recipe type foods? If I am eating foods that are supposed to be IBS safe (I'm talking about rice, salmon, bread, bananas, etc.) and still getting sick, then what can I do? The recent GI and bowel lab series was normal. -- I do have one possible thought - I take wellbutrin and lithium for depression and chemical imbalances - could those medications destroy my colon despite any food I eat? It's pretty bad if I will be to the point where there are only like four or five foods I can eat. A lunch of one banana and a supper of one piece of French bread is pretty boring, but if I can eat those without an attack, I guess I will just have to live that way. I was hoping I could try some new recipes that should be ok for IBS, but I'm now having doubts that I can eat any of them. -- One other question I have is why should someone with IBS take fiber pills or Metamucil every day? Aren't those laxatives? Wouldn't that do the opposite of what you are trying to do? -- To be honest, I'm afraid of anything I eat now or drink, believing that most everything is going to make me sick. I may be losing weight but my IBS problems are hurting my family life, personal life (planning freeway and street routes with known bathrooms) and work as well (I don't go out to lunch anymore). -- I am looking for any direction on this. I'd like to have normal digestion or even semi-normal digestion and no more cramps or horrible attacks. Thank you in advance if anyone can help.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You can have IBS attacks that are not in ANY way related to food.The drugs do NOT destroy your colon, but they could be altering the nerves (after all the nerves in your gut use the same neurotransmitters as the ones in your head). It takes millions of nerves for you to get food through the GI tract properly. IBS is considered to be a mis-functioning of the nerves, NOT that the colon is in any way destroyed. Colon ALWAYS looks perfectly normal in IBS patients even when they have symptoms after every single meal and/or throughout the day regardless of meals.MANY things effect IBS including over-reacting to your own physiology. AND IBS waxes and wanes. Just because diet A reduces the frequency of attacks doesn't mean that it can or will make all your IBS go away 100% 100% of the time.But if the diet reduces the frequency of attacks it may be worth staying on it. However if you find that you can only eat one or two foods and even then you still have attacks frequently, you may want to consider that food isn't the issue (I got symptoms from EVERY food because I over-respond to physiological signals that happen everytime a person eats).Fiber + water makes for properly formed easy to pass stools. It is not a laxative in the sense that Ex-lax is a laxative. Soluble fibers absorb water and can for some people make watery stools more normal. Now fiber isn't good for EVERY IBSer, but it can help many of them.K.


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Before I discovered the LEAP program, the book that best helped me was "Gastrointestinal Health: A Self-Help Nutritional Program" by Steven R. Peikin, MD. It was literally the first thing I got my hands on that made me realize someone out there understood what I was going through. He gives descriptions of symptoms and treatment options for all the digestive disorders including IBS, and includes a 2-week Plan that got me back to feeling like I could eat more than a dry piece of toast with a glass of gatorade, which literally took me all day to get down. He includes all the recipes and everything. I got the revised copy at www.amazon.com for about $12. I still felt not quite healthy even following his method, and when I did the LEAP testing I found out that a few of the things I was cooking regulary were reacting badly with my insides, so although I lived a semi-normal life I still needed to know where all the bathrooms were, "just in case". As far as adding fiber to your diet, if you are predominantly D-type it will bulk up your stools so the transit time slows down, helping the D ease up a bit. If you are mostly C-type the fiber will regulate the transit time/absorption rate, helping you go. There are soluble and insoluble fibers, which play different roles. One good thing about Dr. Peikin's book is that he explains all that. I have to take a low dose of Elavil every night, and it tends to make me C if I don't either drink a lot of water or take extra fiber. Since the LEAP thing I haven't had to take any fiber, and go just about every day, and mostly normal, at that. If you do decide to take fiber, I would avoid anything sweetened, if you have D attacks, they always made me gassy and I got crampy when I did finally go (oh, by the way, I'm a C/D swinger). I used the plain psyllium seed husk powder that I bought at the Health Food store. Gives you the fiber without all the extra stuff to try to make it taste good. It kinda tastes like water with dirt in it, but it wasn't gross. I've been where you are, and it isn't fun. I lost just about every one of my friends because I could never go out, and when I tried I had to go home almost right away because of D attacks or Nausea and pain attacks, etc. I do feel for you. Dr. Peikin got me halfway there, I got myself a little further, and LEAP did the rest. I wish you luck!


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

ag5t, its important to know foods don't cause IBS, they are just triggers to an underlying problem. There are a variety of triggers to IBS.


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## ohnometo (Sep 20, 2001)

Eric you are right food does not cause IBS..It can be a trigger in some people..It was a huge trigger for me...I stayed away from milk and other foods so long to see if my IBS would get better and it never did...I also stayed away from alot of the foods they suggest when you have IBS and didnt find alot of relief....What worked for me and my IBS-D was finally working with Leap and learning about what foods could be triggering my IBS...i have since then stayed away from them and have found alot of relief...It has been 7 months since I have been sick...There is times I still get gas pains or belching but compared to where I come from I feel like a different person...Learn all you can about IBS...I couldnt take fiber because it seemed to make me worse..


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

AGGIE5T:get these books and read them and it will make more sense why each person has a different profile of foods and chemicals that are tolerated or not tolerated."FOOD ALLERGIES AND FOOD INTOLERANCE: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THEIR IDENTIFICTION AND TREATMENT", Professor Jonathan Brostoff , M.D.. Allergy, Immunology and Environmental Medicine, Kings' College, London http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089...6487508-3420903 IBS: A DOCTORS PLAN FOR CHRONIC DIGESTIVE TROUBLESBy Gerard Guillory, M.D.; Vanessa Ameen, M.D.; Paul Donovan, M.D.; Jack Martin, Ph.D. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...9085785-1742301 These threads can allow you to engage first hand with people who have shared that experience as well, and various views and experiences on the matter http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000285 http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000287 http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...ic;f=4;t=000286 Eat well. Think Wll. be well.MNL


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