# After 50 Years My IBS-D is GONE!



## Penody (Jul 11, 2011)

For all of you with IBS-D, let me share with you my recent and stunning "success" story. I have had IBS-D for most of my 58 years. I can remember having terrible stomach pains and running to the bathroom from the time I was young. As an adult, I lived at the gastroenterologist and have had every test in the book, some several times. But I continued to be ruled by my stomach and lived on Immodium and feared any events where I had to be out of the house in the morning. Although I had been tested for food allergies, including celiac disease, all of which were negative, in advance of my most recent test --- a 72-hour fecal fat test (my lastest MD thought perhaps my problem was an inability to digest fats) -- I decided that if I had to eat alot of fat for 5 days I would forgo eating any bread or other carbohydrates so that I wouldn't gain weight. In effect, I went on the Atkins Diet. Although I thought that eating alot of fat (and for this test you need to ingest 100 grams a day so I was eating fatty meats and fish, mayonnaise, cream, etc.) in fact, I felt immediately better and miraculously MY IBS-D stopped dead, after nearly 50 years. A friend who is a physician told me that tests for allergies and celiac are notoriously imprecise and that the only way to see what you are sensitive to is to eliminate it from your diet. I am have now gone over a month eating no bread, crackers, cookies -- anything with wheat -- and generally have avoided carbohydrates focusing on eating meat, fish, vegetables, salads, nuts, and berries. I NEVER thought I would say this but I have also have had a month of normal bowel movements, and NO DIARRHEA. I don't know when, in years and years and years, I have gone even a few days without having to down half a bottle of Immodium. So, I had to join this forum and share my story. If your gastroenterologist has said that "foods you eat don't really make a difference" don't accept that. I am here to tell you that a simple diet change has changed my life for the better. It nearly makes me laugh it is so simple. But it also makes me angry that no one suggested it before. I thought I would miss my morning toast but I don't. Breakfast now is blueberries or raspberries with a dollop of whole milk yogurt to top, some slices of meat and/or cheese, and coffee with half and half. I have always been slim but this seeming "higher fat" diet has meant I have lost a few pounds. More importantly, I just feel so much better, my skin is clearer. Not everyone's sensitivity will be wheat like mine apparently is. But I urge those who have given up hope (I certainly had!!!) to try a different diet.OK! That's it.


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