# Almost Full-Remission; What worked for me



## ibsCsucks (Oct 7, 2012)

I'd like to start this post by saying thank you to the IBS group community for always being there to support me, I went through some rough times dealing with IBS mentally. If you would like to read some sciency stuff about your condition, continue reading but if not skip to where I talk about what worked for me. I'd like to speak a little about IBS and what I think is going on (I have read probably over 200 studies on IBS, and some of it is mixed with my opinion). Sometime during the history of IBS, the name of the disorder was changed from spastic colon to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). I think this was a step in the wrong direction because spastic colon is what truly describes the disorder. When you feel constipated, bloated, and shitty (no pun intended) it is because your large intestine is "scrunching" closed sporadically at different areas (think like a hair tie). When your large intestine narrows and "scrunches" it blocks the passage of stool, inevitably ending up in you being constipated. Now on to what actually causes the spasticity of the colon; it is primarily a neural problem. Your nervous system is giving erroneous messages to your intestine which causes it to bunch up. For us IBS-C sufferers, we have overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system; the sympathetic nervous system is involved the "fight-or-flight" response. Essentially the sympathetic nervous system decreases peristalsis (wave like contractions that push stool through the large intestines), and contracts sphincters in the digestive system. Now for some bad news: the sympathetic nervous system is a subset of the autonomic nervous system, meaning that it is controlled automatically by your body. Some people are naturally inclined to have a more active sympathetic nervous system, this is beyond your control although drugs and relaxation exercises can help you. (You probably already knew a great deal of this)Now on to what helped me and my regimen:Metamucil Fiber - approximately 8 grams, twice a day- this is two heaping teaspoons, twice a day. I recommend the smooth texture orange sugar-free. the pink lemonade sugar-free flavor has too much citric acid and I noticed that my teeth felt weird after drinking it at such high doses. DO NOT get the CVS brand smooth texture, it's very rough (those bastards lied!)- for all you people mumbling about how fiber doesn't work, it does but you have to have other things in your regimen as well. Most people with IBS have severely disrupted microflora; this is important because your stool consists of a high amount of dead bacteria. You must replace the lost stool bulk with fiber in order for things to keep moving along.Amitiza - 8 mcg/twice a day- I'm not sure how much this drug actually helps; I take 8mcg twice a day and I have no side effects. I initially had problems obtaining this drug; the GI I went to wanted me to do a battery of tests before she could prescribe it. I refused to do the tests, went to a boutique GI in a rich area and BOOM he gives me the drug I wanted after a 5 minute consultation. If you have problems obtaining this drug, simply go to a different GI.Buspar (Buspirone HCl) - 30 mg/twice a day- this is a very weak anxiolytic drug; It will not affect your semantic or episodic memory in anyway which is very important to me as a student. Most people say it doesn't work, maybe it does, maybe its just placebo but it seems to work for me.Culturelle - once a day- this is IMO the best probiotic. It has been studied extensively and I'd compare it to being almost a super lactobacillus acidophilus strain. I don't trust Align, it doesn't have the same amount of research as lactobacillus GG. Peppermint tea - once-twice a day- This is the most important part of the regimen; peppermint has antispasmodic properties and analgesic properties. It will "loosen up" your intestines and make it so the stool moves along. You could try the peppermint capsules but those were too strong for me and gave me terrible heartburn. I also find that it has calming properties. Doing some basic calculations I found that ingesting the tea gets you about 5-15 mg peppermint oil (depending on the size of the teabag), as compared to the 50mg that the capsules have. If you find the taste too bland feel free to pop in some splenda or sugar.These are the bare-bone essentials, I also take a multivitamin and fish oil. Multivitamin makes up for any gaps in your diet, the fish oil is anti inflammatory and also had beneficial effects on your blood triglycerides.If you have any questions feel free to post them here or PM me


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## oceannir (Mar 6, 2012)

Hey mate, very good list. I agree with what you're suggesting here. May I ask how long have you dealt with this? Most people build this knowledge up over a decade.


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## ibsCsucks (Oct 7, 2012)

oceannir said:


> Hey mate, very good list. I agree with what you're suggesting here. May I ask how long have you dealt with this? Most people build this knowledge up over a decade.


About five years


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## wigglesmom (Dec 12, 2002)

Thanks for the post. I am going to give the BuSpar a shot. I'll let you all know how it goes. Any idea of how long it took to become effective?


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## ibsCsucks (Oct 7, 2012)

Nicole Graziano said:


> Thanks for the post. I am going to give the BuSpar a shot. I'll let you all know how it goes. Any idea of how long it took to become effective?


 for me it took about two weeks to work


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## muddy (Oct 13, 2012)

Thanks a lot for sharing this! If you don't mind me asking, what's your diet like? That's a huge question I know but if you could summarize?


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## pukka (Nov 28, 2004)

ibsCsucks said:


> I'd like to start this post by saying thank you to the IBS group community for always being there to support me, I went through some rough times dealing with IBS mentally. If you would like to read some sciency stuff about your condition, continue reading but if not skip to where I talk about what worked for me. I'd like to speak a little about IBS and what I think is going on (I have read probably over 200 studies on IBS, and some of it is mixed with my opinion). Sometime during the history of IBS, the name of the disorder was changed from spastic colon to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). I think this was a step in the wrong direction because spastic colon is what truly describes the disorder. When you feel constipated, bloated, and shitty (no pun intended) it is because your large intestine is "scrunching" closed sporadically at different areas (think like a hair tie). When your large intestine narrows and "scrunches" it blocks the passage of stool, inevitably ending up in you being constipated. Now on to what actually causes the spasticity of the colon; it is primarily a neural problem. Your nervous system is giving erroneous messages to your intestine which causes it to bunch up. For us IBS-C sufferers, we have overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system; the sympathetic nervous system is involved the "fight-or-flight" response. Essentially the sympathetic nervous system decreases peristalsis (wave like contractions that push stool through the large intestines), and contracts sphincters in the digestive system. Now for some bad news: the sympathetic nervous system is a subset of the autonomic nervous system, meaning that it is controlled automatically by your body. Some people are naturally inclined to have a more active sympathetic nervous system, this is beyond your control although drugs and relaxation exercises can help you. (You probably already knew a great deal of this)Now on to what helped me and my regimen:Metamucil Fiber - approximately 8 grams, twice a day- this is two heaping teaspoons, twice a day. I recommend the smooth texture orange sugar-free. the pink lemonade sugar-free flavor has too much citric acid and I noticed that my teeth felt weird after drinking it at such high doses. DO NOT get the CVS brand smooth texture, it's very rough (those bastards lied!)- for all you people mumbling about how fiber doesn't work, it does but you have to have other things in your regimen as well. Most people with IBS have severely disrupted microflora; this is important because your stool consists of a high amount of dead bacteria. You must replace the lost stool bulk with fiber in order for things to keep moving along.Amitiza - 8 mcg/twice a day- I'm not sure how much this drug actually helps; I take 8mcg twice a day and I have no side effects. I initially had problems obtaining this drug; the GI I went to wanted me to do a battery of tests before she could prescribe it. I refused to do the tests, went to a boutique GI in a rich area and BOOM he gives me the drug I wanted after a 5 minute consultation. If you have problems obtaining this drug, simply go to a different GI.Buspar (Buspirone HCl) - 30 mg/twice a day- this is a very weak anxiolytic drug; It will not affect your semantic or episodic memory in anyway which is very important to me as a student. Most people say it doesn't work, maybe it does, maybe its just placebo but it seems to work for me.Culturelle - once a day- this is IMO the best probiotic. It has been studied extensively and I'd compare it to being almost a super lactobacillus acidophilus strain. I don't trust Align, it doesn't have the same amount of research as lactobacillus GG.Peppermint tea - once-twice a day- This is the most important part of the regimen; peppermint has antispasmodic properties and analgesic properties. It will "loosen up" your intestines and make it so the stool moves along. You could try the peppermint capsules but those were too strong for me and gave me terrible heartburn. I also find that it has calming properties. Doing some basic calculations I found that ingesting the tea gets you about 5-15 mg peppermint oil (depending on the size of the teabag), as compared to the 50mg that the capsules have. If you find the taste too bland feel free to pop in some splenda or sugar.These are the bare-bone essentials, I also take a multivitamin and fish oil. Multivitamin makes up for any gaps in your diet, the fish oil is anti inflammatory and also had beneficial effects on your blood triglycerides.If you have any questions feel free to post them here or PM me


For the past two years I had great sucess with my nightly mix of probiotic yogurt/benefiber/prunes. In the moring I would have coffee and all would be well. NO problems until recently, I have been having problems lately and was thinking of taking amitiza. Do you recommend it? I hate taking medication. I already take trazadone for sleep, so I am not able to take Buspar (they are in the same family). I use to drink peppermint tea and it activated my GERDS, but I can tolerate the peppermint capsules. I have not tried the Culturelle, but will try that once I complete the ultimate flora (do you think Culturelle is better). Look forward to your reply.


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## pukka (Nov 28, 2004)

ibsCsucks said:


> I'd like to start this post by saying thank you to the IBS group community for always being there to support me, I went through some rough times dealing with IBS mentally. If you would like to read some sciency stuff about your condition, continue reading but if not skip to where I talk about what worked for me. I'd like to speak a little about IBS and what I think is going on (I have read probably over 200 studies on IBS, and some of it is mixed with my opinion). Sometime during the history of IBS, the name of the disorder was changed from spastic colon to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). I think this was a step in the wrong direction because spastic colon is what truly describes the disorder. When you feel constipated, bloated, and shitty (no pun intended) it is because your large intestine is "scrunching" closed sporadically at different areas (think like a hair tie). When your large intestine narrows and "scrunches" it blocks the passage of stool, inevitably ending up in you being constipated. Now on to what actually causes the spasticity of the colon; it is primarily a neural problem. Your nervous system is giving erroneous messages to your intestine which causes it to bunch up. For us IBS-C sufferers, we have overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system; the sympathetic nervous system is involved the "fight-or-flight" response. Essentially the sympathetic nervous system decreases peristalsis (wave like contractions that push stool through the large intestines), and contracts sphincters in the digestive system. Now for some bad news: the sympathetic nervous system is a subset of the autonomic nervous system, meaning that it is controlled automatically by your body. Some people are naturally inclined to have a more active sympathetic nervous system, this is beyond your control although drugs and relaxation exercises can help you. (You probably already knew a great deal of this)Now on to what helped me and my regimen:Metamucil Fiber - approximately 8 grams, twice a day- this is two heaping teaspoons, twice a day. I recommend the smooth texture orange sugar-free. the pink lemonade sugar-free flavor has too much citric acid and I noticed that my teeth felt weird after drinking it at such high doses. DO NOT get the CVS brand smooth texture, it's very rough (those bastards lied!)- for all you people mumbling about how fiber doesn't work, it does but you have to have other things in your regimen as well. Most people with IBS have severely disrupted microflora; this is important because your stool consists of a high amount of dead bacteria. You must replace the lost stool bulk with fiber in order for things to keep moving along.Amitiza - 8 mcg/twice a day- I'm not sure how much this drug actually helps; I take 8mcg twice a day and I have no side effects. I initially had problems obtaining this drug; the GI I went to wanted me to do a battery of tests before she could prescribe it. I refused to do the tests, went to a boutique GI in a rich area and BOOM he gives me the drug I wanted after a 5 minute consultation. If you have problems obtaining this drug, simply go to a different GI.Buspar (Buspirone HCl) - 30 mg/twice a day- this is a very weak anxiolytic drug; It will not affect your semantic or episodic memory in anyway which is very important to me as a student. Most people say it doesn't work, maybe it does, maybe its just placebo but it seems to work for me.Culturelle - once a day- this is IMO the best probiotic. It has been studied extensively and I'd compare it to being almost a super lactobacillus acidophilus strain. I don't trust Align, it doesn't have the same amount of research as lactobacillus GG. Peppermint tea - once-twice a day- This is the most important part of the regimen; peppermint has antispasmodic properties and analgesic properties. It will "loosen up" your intestines and make it so the stool moves along. You could try the peppermint capsules but those were too strong for me and gave me terrible heartburn. I also find that it has calming properties. Doing some basic calculations I found that ingesting the tea gets you about 5-15 mg peppermint oil (depending on the size of the teabag), as compared to the 50mg that the capsules have. If you find the taste too bland feel free to pop in some splenda or sugar.These are the bare-bone essentials, I also take a multivitamin and fish oil. Multivitamin makes up for any gaps in your diet, the fish oil is anti inflammatory and also had beneficial effects on your blood triglycerides.If you have any questions feel free to post them here or PM me


I love peppermint tea. Unfortunately, I believe it caused my GERD to act up, so I stopped taking it. My GI also would not prescribe Amitiza. He put me on Creon (digestive enzyme), align, robinol and zegrid ( I was already taking robinol and zegrid when needed). I have a morning BM (after one cup of coffee) but later at night I feel like I have stuff that is still in there (incomplete evaculation). I think the creon in to blame. I just had a CT and next I have to complete a small bowel series to see what is happening. Meanwhile he asked me to take a tablespoon of mineral oil every morning.


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