# fiber for diarrhea?



## hating ibs (Jan 28, 2009)

Has anyone had luck with taking a fiber supplement (like citrical, or benefiber) to help control diarrhea. I know it is used for constipation.. but i use to take it to regulate me and it worked great. Ill try anything these days, but ive gone back to taking a little fiber to see if it will work things out. Lately my IBS-D has been awful.. so im up for any suggestions


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

It isn't a laxative like something that makes the muscle walls push the stool out.Fiber is more of a stool normalizer. It adds some bulk and absorbs water. For constipation that can keep the stool from drying out and being hard to pass. For diarrhea that can make it so the water is bound in the stool and you aren't as loose.It tends to move both to the middle.I saw a post on gas so I'd recommend citrucel that isn't fermentable rather than something like metamucil that is.There is no knowing if it will help you or not.Anyway start really low (like 1/4 of a single dose) for a few days then increase up a bit for a few more days and see if there is a level that helps, some people find too much is bothersome so starting low lets see if there is some level that helps. If you can keep your fiber amount from diet fairly consistent, so if you eat cereal, eat what you usually eat, don't add a high fiber cereal at the same time.


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## 23470 (Apr 18, 2005)

I posted recently on this, too. I was having bile acid D so I was taking Caltrate and decided to give low dose Konsyl fiber a try. It did wonders for about a week, then my body go used to it. I don't know what it was, but it started to get harder...would be considered normal for most folks but a little painful for me because of a small recurrent fissure. I also got gassy and my bowels started acting really weird; however, I was also upping the dosage during this time to keep it the same consistency. Well, I guess I over did it because yesterday I had a massive blowout. I used to take fiber when I was IBS-C when I was in my late teens/early 20s.....It did the same thing then, too. I would be great for a week then my body would get used to it. I have always ached more when on it, though.I know all of that may sound helter skelter....because it is. I've never had consistent results out of fiber, even when it helps.


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## Auntlo (Jan 28, 2009)

I've had alot of luck with increasing my fiber for D. I'd rather get my fiber from diet, so I drink All Bran drink sticks (as I call them). I like the pink lemonade flavor. Each stick has 10 grams of fiber. You just dump one stick in a bottle of water. I also like Fiber One cereals. If you can tolerate milk, it's great with yogert. I still have bouts of D but now it's once a week instead of several times a day. Big improvement! Gas is a side effect from increasing fiber, so I find GasX to be helpful if it gets bad.


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

I have never been able to get any change with dietary fibre. (We are all different.) I am able to remove a certain amount of stickiness with a fiber powder, usually within a couple of days of starting it, which is a pretty good indication of it's effectiveness. I do take a flavonoid supplement that has stopped my D fo 10 years. One of the things Patman75 turned up about it is, that the grape seed and skinn, in conjunction with the probiotics, ought to be more effective than probiotics, alone. There is another occasional poster, amanda8, who has been using it in conjunction with Primadophilus Bifidus, 5 billion CU, and it seems to be working for her for the last couple of months. It might be worthwhile changing your probiotics to that higher dosage and adding it to the flavonoids. (They will work together with the Caltrate, as well, so you wouldn't have to give that up until you found the whole cocktail too constipating.)Mark


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