# IBS-C for 10 years 27 year old girl, cannot carry on...



## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

Hello,

I would be so grateful if you could take time to read my story and offer me any advice. I feel that I cannot take this anymore.

Everyday is a lottery, not knowing whether my day will be involved around the ultimate discomfort I have in my gut. I have a huge problem going to the bathroom naturally and can never go in the morning before work which results in brain fog, unable to talk to colleagues, unable to work, calling in sick and quitting a successful career path.

I have always had a slow bowel but since 17/18 years old my periods stopped and in turn my digestive troubles started to appear. I became depressed and developed an eating disorder, limiting calories and laxative abuse. In time, this went away but the constipation has always remained. Over the years I have gone on various diets and have tried the following to help my menstrual cycle and my constipation:

Candida elimination, hydrocolonic therapy, homeopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy, exercise, gluten free diet, dairy free diet, mindfulness and meditation and an expensive probiotic brand called Symprove.

Unfortunately nothing has proven to work and I am on the end of my tether with how much longer I can cope.

At least 4 out of 7 days a week I will feel the following:


tummy rumbling in the morning and bloated as soon as I wake up
Feeling of needing to go to the toilet but unable to pass a stool
Dizziness and irritability, grinding my teeth
Moody and unable to converse with anyone, hold a conversation, do everyday activities
Confined to lying in bed with mint tea / green tea / coffee
Having to smoke a cigarette to stimulate my bowels
Feeling like I may pass out as I have something so heavy and hard pulling in my stomach

I have proven negative with the coeliac test and I have recently had an ultrasound of my liver and stomach which all looked fine to the doctor. I have spent £1,000s on trying to get better as it is ruining my life but nothing has proven to help at all.

I exercise in my gym with swimming and running three times a week. I walk and cycle everywhere but exercise has not proved beneficial. If I have caffeine or smoke I can sometimes go to the toilet but after this I become more bloated, like someone is inflating a lead balloon inside me.

I am sitting here crying at my desk as I cannot get anything done, it is even hard to type with the brain fog I feel and utter discomfort.

Please get in touch. I feel so alone in this and it is making me so depressed that if it carries on I will not want to live anymore.

Thank you for reading this

Alex

x


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

Hi Alex -

I would suggest taking something every day for your constipation, as it certainly seems it's not going to go away on its own. I've tried everything under the sun and have been taking herbal meds for over a year now. They definitely help! Click on below link to read:

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/239065-finally-a-product-i-can-recommend/


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## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

Thank you flossy for your great help. However, I have been warned that senna can be dangerous to take in the long term as your body relies on it and it can weaken the muscles in your bowel?

Alex


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

Abartlea said:


> Thank you flossy for your great help. However, I have been warned that senna can be dangerous to take in the long term as your body relies on it and it can weaken the muscles in your bowel?
> 
> Alex


I have heard that about laxatives in general, but am not certain if it's true or not. I'm not worried about it at all, because I really don't have a choice. I tried doing nothing for a long time and it was a trainwreck. I've already had to get two hemorrhodectomy's because it's too hard to go without taking something. I learned my lesson.

These are not pharmaceutical meds, they're just herbs and have been used for centuries for constipation. "A gift from God," one might even say!

I wouldn't worry about it. To me? Taking nothing is crazy. IMHO


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## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

flossy said:


> I have heard that about laxatives in general, but am not certain if it's true or not. I'm not worried about it at all, because I really don't have a choice. I tried doing nothing for a long time and it was a trainwreck. I've already had to get two hemorrhodectomy's because it's too hard to go without taking something. I learned my lesson.
> 
> These are not pharmaceutical meds, they're just herbs and have been used for centuries for constipation. "A gift from God," one might even say!
> 
> I wouldn't worry about it. To me? Taking nothing is crazy. IMHO


Thanks flossy for this. I will look into this herbs and the book is great! x


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

hi alex

so sorry you are suffering with chronic constipation. it can be truly miserable to live with.

i do hope that you have a good gastroenterologist to help you with this. there are medications available to help with constipation--amitiza, linzess and resolor.

it sounds like you could possibly have slow transit constipation (colonic inertia). the stiz marker test (colonic transit study--sometimes called a shapes study) will diagnose this. it's a very good diagnostic test to have.

if you get feeling that you have to go but are unable to pass stool, you could have pelvic floor dysfunction. with pfd, the pelvic floor muscles do not relax and coordinate properly to allow a complete bowel movement. the defecogram test will dx this condition . biofeedback and physical therapy can help treat it.

many people find it helpful to elevate their feet on something like a footstool, shoe box, overturned waste bin or squatty potty while sitting on the toilet. elevating the feet helps straighten out the anorectal angle and allows a more complete evacuation. it might take some experimentation to find the right height.

i've had constipation problems since childhood. for years the docs told me it was ibs but after researching online i began to think i had more going on than ibs-c. so i found a good gastroenterologist and asked for the sitz marker test which dx'd colonic inertia. the placement of the markers made my gastro doc suspect that i had outlet problems as well so next he ordered a defecogram (defecatory proctogram) that showed that i had pelvic floor dysfunction and a rectocele. an anal mamonetry dx'd further problems. i was glad i had all these tests because then the docs started to take me more seriously.

like Flossy said, when you have chronic constipation, it helps to take something daily to help you go. that's what my gastro docs told me to do. every night, i took both a stimulant laxative as well as an osmotic laxative. taking laxatives to keep things moving is far better than letting yourself get all backed up and risk developing an impaction. that's what my docs told me.

all the laxatives that had been thought to be dangerous to take have been removed from the market. i remember when this happened.

here are a couple of articles about taking laxatives and laxative safety. the second one, about senna, is quite long--you can just scroll down to the end (the paragraph that starts: "as a summary") --to get the gist of it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15654804

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2809429/

we have a lot of good information and tips about dealing with chronic constipation here on the board so you might want to look around and do some reading.

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/152106-the-great-list-of-remedies/

good luck with everything,. hope you can find some relief. take good care. x


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## Lilli* (Sep 13, 2016)

Hello Alex,

first i want to say, i stumbled upon your post while randomly researching on google and i made this account just because i felt i had to respond, so i'm sorry
if the information i provide has already been posted elsewhere and if it's a bit chaotic, i try to keep it simple and short but it is a very complex topic.

I can completly understand how you must feel, when i came down with ibs it was so life shattering, i could have never accepted to live with this. In the beginning i couldn't
go to the toilet for 2 weeks, had constant acid reflux so bad that i had to carry water with baking soda with me wherever i went just to get rid of the cough attacks that make you feel
like you're suffocating, couldn't eat anything for a whole month and almost starved to death. It was like my digestive tract just stopped working out of the blue.

I've went to numerous doctors and specialists, just to be prescribed pharmaceutics who made it only worse(antibiotics, ppi, ect.), and no testing revealed much, most didn't even take me serious or
had no clue what to do. So i've decided if i want to live i have to try my best and fix this myself. Having been at home for years enabled me to do alot of research and today i can say while not 100% cured yet,
my symptoms are pretty much under control and flare ups become rare, they mostly happen when i screw up and eat junk.

So here is what i've found:

IBS and many other inflammatory bowel diseases are in many cases most likely caused by a bacteria that spreads from the meat and dairy industry to humans (MAP Mycobacterium Avium subspecies Paratuberculosis), it is also almost impossible
to eradicate with conventional means as it is very hardy, but there is a vaccine in the works that is promising. Not everyone with this infection has symptoms, there are many factors involved like genetics, diet,
gut biome, drugs ect.

So in the meanwhile the best we can do is try and support our body to deal with this. the first step in this is optimal diet for the human anatomy, and here is what i've found about proper human diet from a scientific standpoint:

No matter what mainstream and the companies would like us to believe, it is a anatomical scientific fact that humans are frugivores, meaning the normal diet most ppls follow today is very detrimental to our health and the functioning of our
body and it is a miracle how much abuse the human body can take till it starts to fail. Fruit provides every nutrient in the right quantities and in a easy to absorb form without alot of harmful waste created. It also provides alot of fiber,
and fiber is probably one of the most important part in our diet, it is needed for proper stool mass, to stimulate the movement of the gut and to keep the gut bacteria healthy that in return help keep us healthy.

Almost all of the other things we can eat, with the help of electricity nowadays, are hard for us to break down, full of harmful byproducts, detrimental for our gut health and not optimal in their nutrient ratio. They are also full
of chemicals that hinder their digestion, plants dont want to be eaten, nor do they want their seeds to be eaten, nor are we built to live on meat.

That's the harsh reality, no matter how good that steak, cheese, pasta or whatever is tastes, we are not designed for it. So what i do now is i eat mostly fruit with additional white rice for a more harmless starch as i need that additional energy and fruit can
be expensive in europe.

So my diet plan now looks like this:

morning - big smoothie with dates and some pineapple ( dates are almost perfect nutrient packages only lacking a bit in vitamin c which is provided by the pineapple, also pineapple enzymes are digestive supporting and anti inflammatory)

lunch - white rice, nowadays i usualy just have some onigiri

late afternoon - usualy some melon

evening - rice again

now only fruit would probably be ideal, but if you can't stay away from cooked foods then it would be good if you can try to limit it strongly to more harmless foods, that leaves almost only white rice with mabye some vegs if you can tolerate and like, i dont have them often because they usualy give me bloating.

the next most important thing is your gut flora, aside from a proper diet you can try help it out with some probiotics, sadly most of the really important species are too hard to cultivate to market them, the only few really benefical and important species that are avaliable are mostly bifidobacteria, they are true inhabitants and stay important all our life. I use a product called
kijimea, which has the strain B. bifidum MIMBb75, which is highly beneficial in ibs, i cultivate it in soymilk to make yogurt and have one everyday, the capsule form is way too low of a dose and expensive in my eyes.

what you can also supplement with for a while is glutamine, that is a aminoacid that the bowel cells use as their fuel and it can help speed up repair and maintaine a good barrier.

if you don't get enough sun it might be a good idea to supplement with vitamin D, that is important to keep inflammations down and for your immune system.

oh and i also take 4.000iu b12 as methylcobalmin, just to make sure i get enough, as many factors can inhibit absorbtions and our steralie food doesnt provide enough.

I hope this information can be of some help to you and everyone else for that matter, and good luck ^^.

Also be assured that you're not alone in this, many more suffer everyday from this, there has to be something done about it, and try to keep your spirit up, im sure with enough determination you can turn this thing around and still enjoy your life. If you have questions or want to talk feel free to msg me ^^

Lilli


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## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

annie7 said:


> hi alex
> 
> so sorry you are suffering with chronic constipation. it can be truly miserable to live with.
> 
> ...





annie7 said:


> hi alex
> 
> so sorry you are suffering with chronic constipation. it can be truly miserable to live with.
> 
> ...


Thank you annie7 for getting in touch with me and your helpful advice.

What you suggest about the gastroenterologist sounds like a good option but in the UK it is not easy to come by one on the NHS and I am not sure that they carry out the same tests here as they do in the USA.

Regarding a foot stool. I use one whenever I am on the toilet and have read numerous books on the gut, positioning on the toilet and breathing techniques. I must say that have an elevated stool does help when I can go (after a cigarette or caffeine) but otherwise I simply cannot go. I will have to look into the pfd that you mention as this could be a cause. I have been taking lactulose to help me go yesterday but I was then on the toilet last night and all today I am having spasms from the sides of my pelvis, going down my legs (like an unpleasant tickling sensation). I worry so much about my health that I am scared it could be ovarian cancer.

I really need to find out what is causing me such discomfort before I worry myself scarce. The only thing is a lot of the GPs I have seen are so unsympathetic and offer no help at all.

I will have to look into the


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

Hi Alex

yes those tests are available in the UK. i have friends who live there who have had them. biofeedback for pfd is also available in the uk.

despite the difficulty, i do hope that you will persevere and find a good gastroenterologist who can help you. that is very important. gastro docs are more knowledgeable and proactive about treating chronic constipation than GPs. and gastro docs who work at university hospitals or motility clinics are the generally the best to consult since they are more up-to-date and are the most proactive of all.

here is one good link on pfd:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_pelvic_floor_dysfunction

maybe you've already seen this utube video on how to have a bowel movement without straining. the tips given by physical therapist in the video are a lot like the tips that my own biofeedback PT gave me:


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## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

Dear Lilli,

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate the time you have taken to provide me with some advice. I am also sorry that you have been suffering for such a long time too. I can relate to doctors not paying much attention. I have told them how it is ruining my life, causing me to have to smoke and lying on the toilet floor at work but they have told me to simply live with it and get on with it. If you have never suffered from this then I don't think anyone can understand as we do how detrimental it is.

Your advice on limiting foods sounds encouraging and I also believe that the past few centuries have destroyed the natural nutrients that we need to live organically.

I came off meat from a very young age - 3 years old and I was brought up a pescatarian so I do eat a lot of fish but am aware of the chemicals which these carry. The only thing I don't think would work for me is the fact that fruit makes me bloat a lot, more so than vegetables so I am not sure the diet would work for me?

I have tried kefir and make my own yoghurt to get the nutrients but I have been using milk, and in fact recently I have been eating a lot of dairy. I find it interesting what you say about the harmful bacteria in dairy and so I will try a vegan alternative.

I am a bit of a sun worshipper so have sufficient vitamin D. I was also taking Omega 3 fish oil (organically produced), vitamin B mix and vitamin C but nothing has worked.

Can you tell me how I can take glutamine?

Thank you


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## Lilli* (Sep 13, 2016)

Abartlea said:


> Dear Lilli,
> 
> Thank you for your help. I really appreciate the time you have taken to provide me with some advice. I am also sorry that you have been suffering for such a long time too. I can relate to doctors not paying much attention. I have told them how it is ruining my life, causing me to have to smoke and lying on the toilet floor at work but they have told me to simply live with it and get on with it. If you have never suffered from this then I don't think anyone can understand as we do how detrimental it is.
> 
> ...


You're most welcome, if i can help even a little to ease this suffering then it's worth all my time, this really is the
most horrible disease i can imagine, i would not wish it even on the worst person, and yeah i don't think anyone can understand
who hasn't experienced it. I can totally relate to the smoking, i've kept smoking all this time because in the beginning
it was the only thing that kept things moving so i could atleast eat, but now my body is used to it and i'm having a hard time trying
to get off it because the body would have to adjust and that would mean maybe i get constipated again for a week or so, which i can't have at all, it almost immedietly makes my reflux flare up when i get
constipated, it's really stupid ^^.

Now fish might be better but it's far from ideal for us, it is still high protein high fat, both are not our natural fuel, we are designed to run on sugar and only use fat and protein as fuel in starving situations, mainly our stores of fat and muscle.

Dairy has another bad effect, the protein casein acts like a weak opoid, which makes us foggy, sedated and slows digestion down too, so cutting that will already make a big difference i think.

Kefir and most yogurt are mainly high in lactobacteria, which are not that important for us, it needs very specific strain for specific effects in the flora, so a bifido bacteria supplement or yogurt would have a much bigger effect, i've probably tried all probiotics under the sun and only a few made a real difference.

No omega 3 or vitamins aren't really the problem, even though most of us probably suffer from some form of malnutritioning and it is a good idea to make sure to get enough of everything, it should better be from a natural source and in the right proportions, like fruits. i don't think there are many supllements really that useful or needed when one has a proper diet, with some exceptions. In an ideal world we shouldn't need to supplement anything, because nature provides the right food for every animal, we just need to eat it ^^.

The bloating and fruit i can understand, when your body is used to process junk it need a little time to adjust to a big diet change and the flora changes aswell, so it is pretty normal to have bloating from it when you are not used to it and the digestion is still sluggish, the body suddenly has to work much more than usual, in the beginning i would eat 1 banana and be bloated like a balloon, but i noticed the more i stuck to it and the more fruit and less high fat high protein stuff i ate the more the bloating subsided. Also i was suprised how many bowel movements are normal, some mornings i can go 4 times, all perfect formed and easy. It took maybe a week or 2 for the bloating to subside and till i had no issues with fruit anymore, some days i would eat only fruit, that made me used to it much faster and helped recover very quickly. It also depends on the kind of fruit, you can try if some are easier for you to tollerate, so i think you should def. not write fruit off completly yet and give it a try at some point or atleast incorperate as much of it as you can. I've had periodes where it saved my life because it was the only thing my damaged body would still tolerate, because normaly it is the easiest to digest for us, it comes predigested and we are designed to process it. also always make sure its really ripe, unripe fruit causes indigestion easily.

in any case a switch to vegan is a good step already. I would also cut out gluten again because even if you're not having an immune response to it, it is by design harmful to the gut walls and causes them to become "leaky". It also acts like casein like a weak opoid.

Glutamine you can buy as powder or capsules as L-Glutamine, i would take about 2-5g a day, you can mix it into pretty much anything but should be taken with food for better absorbtion.

Let me know how it goes ^^.


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## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

Lilli* said:


> You're most welcome, if i can help even a little to ease this suffering then it's worth all my time, this really is the
> most horrible disease i can imagine, i would not wish it even on the worst person, and yeah i don't think anyone can understand
> who hasn't experienced it. I can totally relate to the smoking, i've kept smoking all this time because in the beginning
> it was the only thing that kept things moving so i could atleast eat, but now my body is used to it and i'm having a hard time trying
> ...


Thank you Lilli!

For getting back to me so quickly. I have been to the doctor today and have arranged a colonoscopy in one month's time but my doctor also prescribed me fibregel and assured me that it would work. I don't think that they understand.

I have not been able to eat today. Resisted smoking and caffeine but it has been so bad that I had a coffee and had a bowel movement but the gas is unbearable so had a cigarette and nothing happened. Feel considerably worse and am getting spasms in my front and back.

I have drank so much water. I don't know what I can do. Thank you for the support and recommendations.

Alex


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## Lilli* (Sep 13, 2016)

Abartlea said:


> Thank you Lilli!
> 
> For getting back to me so quickly. I have been to the doctor today and have arranged a colonoscopy in one month's time but my doctor also prescribed me fibregel and assured me that it would work. I don't think that they understand.
> 
> ...


Hello you're welcome, yeah you're right they don't understand and they probably don't know what they are doing, while it's good to have colonoscopy to rule out bigger
issues, they might aswell find nothing, ibs is often charaterized by tiny microinflammations that make the nervous system act crazy, it has only recently
been shown, most normal tests probably won't show this. I could go on and on how frustrating it is how many doctor's have become nothing but drug dealers that almost
never try to treat the underlying cause, but most of us have probably experienced this by now.

Sounds like you're having a really bad flare. I wouldn't try to give up stimulants if they help keep you going, even if they are bad in the long run, you probably
want to get through this first before your're stable to have withdrawl.

First thing i would do in your situation is get a high strenght probiotic or make one into yogurt, from all the things ive tried they were often what
got me over a flare up, they can make a vast difference.

Also i would try to get that inflammation down, i don't know how legal it is where you live but cannabis can help a great deal with spasms and inflammation, if its not legal
then you can try cannabidiol drops, that's a legal cannabinoid, its not psychoactive but is antisposmadic and anti inflammatory. pineapple and papaya can be soothing and are anti
inflammatory because of their enzymes. you can also try drinking some lavender tea, it's also a good anti sposmadic and anti inflammatory.

Hang in there and best of luck.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

I've been an active member of this board for a few years now. I'm just reading through some of the posts here and wanted to add my two cents:

If you are chronically constipated and eating more fiber doesn't help? Then don't eat any extra fiber anymore. I'd say about 70 to 80% of the people on this board say that any extra fiber makes matter worse. Way worse. It certainly does for me! Anytime a doctor tells me to do so I always laugh and tell them about people here, including myself. It should work and is supposed to work, but it definitely does the opposite.

I tried drinking extra water for a few days several times. It's laugable. I was like one of those nude Greek water fountains, I couldn't stop peeing. Doesn't do a thing.

I've tried different probiotics on two or three different occasions now and they just make me more constipated. I've read the same thing here every time but twice now. I believe probiotics are best suited for people with IBS-D, not IBS-C.

If you're gonna eat rice, try to make it brown rice. From the Internet (copied and pasted - and it's not copywritten, Annie7







): "Known for its binding abilities, rice does contain fiber depending on the outer layer of the grain, but it leads to constipation because these are indigestible fibers. Foods rich in indigestible fibers will obstruct the bowel movement causing constipation. You will be better off eating brown rice instead of white rice."

Note: I don't think white rice is horribly constipating, but brown rice is better.

Milk makes me more constipated. Try soy milk instead. And it tastes really good.

What else? I believe a lot of us here have an imbalance in our gut flora that is extremely hard to ever correct and because of that we are chronically constipated. I also think genetics plays a huge roll in IBS.

As I said before you should definitely try taking something every day to help you go - or - you can do nothing and suffer.







lol! I know I did for a loooooooooooooooooong time. For most of us here? Doing nothing does nothing for this condition. It's up to you.


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## Lilli* (Sep 13, 2016)

flossy said:


> I've been an active member of this board for a few years now. I'm just reading through some of the posts here and wanted to add my two cents:
> 
> If you are chronically constipated and eating more fiber doesn't help? Then don't eat any extra fiber anymore. I'd say about 70 to 80% of the people on this board say that any extra fiber makes matter worse. Way worse. It certainly does for me! Anytime a doctor tells me to do so I always laugh and tell them about people here, including myself. It should work and is supposed to work, but it definitely does the opposite.
> 
> ...


Not wanting to get into an argument but give just some thoughts on what you wrote.

First fiber is not fiber, there are many different forms, second it's just a fact that we are designed to have big amounts of fiber, we need it to stimulate movements in the intestine. Of course
it causes problems when a sluggish intestine that isn't used to it and is slow suddenly has to deal with it. Mixing fiber with cooked hard to digest food(and almost everything is hard to digest compared to fruit) that
slows down our transit can only cause problems, then you have the fiber fermenting way earlier then it should because the other food keeps it from moving as fast as it should. I have experienced it myself. you have to kickstart your motor and then keep feeding it the right food, the body needs to get a chance to correct and heal itself, otherwise you might never archive a change. We can't keep doing things the way we are used to because it's comfortable, if we don't make a big change and drop some bombshells and bear through it sometimes, how can we expect things to change, there is no magic pill that allows us to keep abusing our bodies and get away with it.

Probiotics are very different in their effects, what works for some doesn't always work for someone else because our biomes differ from person to person, non the less, both ibs-c aswell as ibs-d benefit from getting the flora into a healthy state, there are some strains that are very good for ibs-c, for example bifidobacteria animalis lactis has normalized transit time in ibs-c patients, it corrected their transit time by 40%! From my experience the right strain can make a night and day difference, from constipation to healthy looking bowel movements. But none of it has a lasting effect without supporting the digestive process and the flora with the correct food.

There is a reason why brown rice is not eaten much in asian countries, the outer hull contains substances that protect the seeds, phytate binds to minerals and make them unabsorbable, on top the fiber is very hard to break down. Rice is mostly starch, its mostly fuel but its not a nutrient dense food nor is it the best for proper digestion, like any other grain. i guess some can be tolerable if one gets enough healthy food but one shouldn't expect a grain to be a whole food for us, and not removing their shells doesn't make them any better, that's a marketing scam. we are not granivores, granivores mainly birds have a special chamber to sprout the seeds before they get digested, to remove the harmful chemicals. There is a reason most animals limit themself to certain foods that they are designed for, we think we can get away with eating everything and not have any negative effects, but that is not how it works. We can never expect anything not meant for our body to be completly fine to eat for us. Keeping the most problematic part on a grain is really not a good idea. If one wants more fiber or minerals one should get them from the correct source.

Also diet is only one piece of the puzzle, if the underlying cause isn't treated aswell then there will be problems with any kind of food, not because of the food but because of the malfunctioning motor function of the intestine, but non the less some food will help towards health and some will make the disease worse in the long run, don't be blinded by a short time experiences of certain foods. Fixing the biome and bringing down inflammation at the same time is also important.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

I agree with Lilli above. It's isn't a case of fibre is bad. Certain fibre is bad. Brown rice and wholemeal wheat will stick inside me like nothing else, possibly due to the opiates and other antinutrients such as lectins, as Lilli mentioned. Grains are a no-go for me, and there's plenty of science on why the paleo diet works for so many people. One question I'm not too sure on is whether the gas feeds the IBS or whether the IBS feeds the gas. I've always had an underlying constipation due to a very shy bowel even in my own home. My IBS just gradually got worse over the years because of this. I can have reasonably quick evacuations with no gas but this involves eating nothing but vegetables and animal protein in fairly small doses. It's hard to fill up on vegetables which is why IBS is so hard to beat. Grains are high in starch and grains are grass seeds. Bad bacteria loves starch and so do we, it's filling. The paleo theory says that nature didn't design our guts to digest grass seeds and the founder of the paleo theory Loren Cordain has published a lot of papers on the role of grain phytates and lectins and how they inhibit digestion. So we eat grain starches which don't move through at all well for some of us and they travel through the small intestine and colon, feeding bacteria, because food solids aren't meant to travel through intact - they're meant to be digested by the small intestine. You can understand how continually eating a food that just doesn't digest all that well can lead to a bacterial overgrowth. The paleo diet is over-compensating for the fact that most of us here seem to have underlying constipation due to mind-gut dysfunction. We more than most people need more vegetables; not less, but they have to be gradually introduced and the non-fermenting kind. We do absorb some calories from vegetables, in the colon, so they're not 100% fibre. The vegetables, especially insoluble fibre, push against the colon wall helping peristalsis. It's important that the body can do this on its own without meds.

This would be a very confusing thread for the OP. I'd say read up on all the theories and just see what works - , specific carbohydrate and low starch, low FODMAP, paleo etc - these all have good science behind them. The biggest problem for me is will-power. Sticking to a diet of animal protein and vegetables is really hard to do but it's the only thing that works for me.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

I've tried all different kinds of fiber (and doctor recommended fiber) and it all did the same thing to me, made me more constipated. It was like trying to pass tree branches out my rectum.







No good!

I got my IBS-C from eating raw, uncooked fruits and vegetables for about 3 months straight and little meat (and most importantly bad genetics!), so perhaps my intestinal problems are not the same as those that posted above.


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## JF79 (Aug 4, 2016)

Hi Alex, you have my empathy. Some of the things that work for me, don't seem to work for you, but here are some of things that help me that I don't recall reading in your post. I drink a lot of water, which was something that I wasn't doing. I prefer alkaline water, which is way better for you. I also use DoTerra essential oils, which is the 1 of the only companies that makes ingestible essential oils. Aroma Therapy might be helpful to, but a drop of Peppermint or Spearmint oil in 1 of their veggie capsules or a glass of water helps me manage. They have a blend called Digest Zen that might help to & those come in capsules. Since IBS is anxiety, & stress related, I sometimes use their Lavender oil, which has a natural relaxing effect. Tangerine oil from the website Golden Aroma Therapy also helps with anxiety, & constipation. Their Tangerine oil is 1 of the only ingestible oils. One 120 ML bottle of Tangerine oil is fairly cheap, & it lasts a long time. Taking essential oils increases water intake, because you have to drink water w/ them. Now I've been a vegetarian for 2 months, & it does seem to help. When I was eating meat, I'd stick to white meat (chicken or turkey). No fast food, if possible. If you eat pork, or bottom feeders like catfish, I highly recommend that you don't. I also prefer natural sources of fiber, so I drink strawberry/blueberry smoothies w/ a tablespoon of Chia seeds. Berries, & Chia are good natural sources of fiber. Turmeric is a spice that's a natural anti-inflammatory, so if your intestines are inflamed, adding some to whatever you eat can help. The website "Heather's Tummy Care," has a lot of potentially helpful products. They also have a document that you can download for free, which tells you what foods to avoid & what foods are ok. I've been using their Acacia powder, which is another natural source of fiber. You just mix a spoonful in a glass of water. I might add 1 drop of Tangerine essential oil in it to. They also have yoga stretches that are supposed to help with IBS, which you can download for free. I haven't tried them yet, but I plan to. Heather's Tummy Care also sells a bottle of 90 capsules of Peppermint, Fennel, & Ginger oil for $12. They work fairly well for me, but they do leave an odd taste in my mouth. Btw, I found this support group through Heather's Tummy Care. You should definitely checkout their website. I know, I sound like salesmen, but as people w/ IBS, we have to experiment to see what works best for us. Also, I know that smoking helps sometimes, but I quit in 2010, & my overall health's much better. Nicotine addiction causes anxiety, & when you have a cigarette it might produce a bowel movement, but the negative effects aren't worth it. When I was younger, I didn't treat my body to well. I'm facing the consequences for it, so now I'm trying my best to live healthy. I'm also an energy healer, which sounds ironic, but I have techniques that help me a lot. By healing, we mean speeding up the healing process. It's called Pranic Healing, & most centers have a free healing clinic once a week, which involves sitting down, closing your eyes, & relaxing. They also have free guided group meditations 1-2x a week. You may want to try their meditations out. There are different types of meditations, so even though meditation didn't help in the past, Pranic Healing meditations might be different. Go to Pranic Healing dot com to find the nearest center, if you're open to trying it. Becoming more spiritual has helped me a lot. I also do anything to distract my mind from the discomfort. I find that if I think or focus on my IBS, it just feels worst. When I'm completely enveloped in an activity, I feel normal. If you have any artistic or musical abilities, use them. It might be difficult to get motivated, but if you can muster up the effort, it's worth it. Anyhow, I hope some of this info helps.


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## Lilli* (Sep 13, 2016)

I'm taking back that lactobacteria are not that useful, i have found this today:

"inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth by bacteriocins produced by L. plantarum ST202Ch (38.3%) and ST216Ch (48.6%)"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24463204

I'm guessing it would also be active against MAP, it shows good results in studies with pain bloating and irregularity, maybe you want to give it a try alex or anyone else, i will give it a try and mix it into my bifido yogurt.


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## Abartlea (Sep 12, 2016)

Thank you Lilli, Flossy and JF79









I would just like to update you all on what happened to me last night.

My pain and discomfort got terribly bad and I knew I could not go to the A&E as it is IBS but I looked on the NHS website and my symptoms pointed to ovarian cancer. I was terrified and called 111 (non-emergency UK number), and they told me to go to the out-of-hours doctor. I sat in agony for a while and once I was seen. She asked me my problem I told her my worry, how this bloating is destroying my life, that I am worried about the possibility of ovarian cancer. She shouted at me "You do not have cancer, you have IBS, what do you want me to do about it?" I was so upset and started crying. She got frustrated and told me that if I did not calm down then she would not see me!! Shocked and exasperated I listened to her telling me to take fibregel, senna, lactulose and go home and wait". I am given this treatment almost every time I go and I told her so, that I need long-term help and my career, social and all round well being is being destroyed. She laughed and had nothing to say. I asked her to examine me, she begrudgingly touched my stomach - that was all and let me walk out in an utter state.

I am telling you this story in a way of thanks. Thank you to all of you for listening to me when I do not get it on my national health care. I value the NHS and think it is amazing, but in regards to what we are all suffering. They do not have a clue (I was even offered anti-depressants might I add!).

What you have all suggested I have tried. Aromatherapy, probiotics, natural laxatives, regularity tablets called Co-ton. I think my problem is a gut-brain balance. My hormones are also out of kilter - my secondary amenhorrea may have contributed to sluggishness in my lower abdomen.

I think what I do is give up on each treatment - the pain gets so bad that I think oh, this can't be working and stop (plus the fact that a lot of it is expensive). I think now I need to persevere with something and see it through. I am trying to stop the smoking. I do not enjoy it, it is only to help me go to the toilet, which I had to sue this week because of the pain. I want to start a fresh and all of you have really helped me and sharing your stories helps us all to know we are not alone.

Every body is unique and different, our gut flora has experienced a myriad of individual unique things which affects how everyone copes with different treatments for IBS-C. It's about finding our unique cure. I hope in good time we all will!

xxx


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

Alex-- i am so sorry that doctor treated you so horribly--that's terrible! shame on her! she should have her license revoked. that's certainly no way for a health care professional to treat a patient!

so sorry for all your continued pain. yes, you're right--it's good to persevere with something and see it through. i do hope that you can somehow manage to find some relief.. take good care x


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