# Eating habits and unpredictable IBS-D?



## Christina1993 (Mar 25, 2012)

Hi, I suffer from IBS-D and have tried SO MANY THINGS, I am 19 years old female and being young I feel makes this so much harder to live with, as if t he anxieties of life aren't enough now I get anxieties from this. Sometimes so bad I just want to lock myself away from the world. Well I was curious about eating habits. I have tried SO MANY THINGS. Once day i'll think too much insoluble fiber causes my painful D attacks because of eating a salad followed by a painful attack a few hours later that consists of undigested lettuce (gross, sorry for the TMI). So I stop eating anything leafy and green and rough. So then my diet consists of things like potatoes, pasta and lean meat like chicken. I have had nutritionists tell me that it seems I should stay away from gluten, but I get TWO blood tests for Celiac and they say I'm fine, so I continue eating gluten, I am fine many times aside from just having my typical non-painful 2 or 3 loose stools in the first few hours of the day, then BAM one day I have a bowl of pasta and an hour later I'm doubled over in cramps! WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN! Does this happen to anyone else? Foods that are normally safe causing horrible attacks and cramps? This to me is TERRIFYING! I feel like NOTHING is safe anymore and it almost makes me not want to eat. At this point I pretty much live off of bananas, plain baked potatoes and plain fat free turkey burgers with NO seasoning or bread. But sometimes I have no choice but to get a bagel with turkey or something when I'm on the road so that I don't starve and feel like I'm going to pass out. And then go figure, sometimes i'll be completely fine! It doesn't make ANY SENSE. Sometimes i'll have horrible attacks with foods I think are safe but other times when I slip up and eat unsafe foods i'll be perfectly fine! I just don't know what's safe and what's not! A few days ago I was with family at a diner and I ordered chicken with mushrooms and swiss cheese and mashed potatoes that obviously had high fat dairy in them and I was FINE! I am lactose intolerant and I just ordered this because I was fed up and didn't care but I was FINE! But there are times that eating something like that would have me doubled over for hours in pain. I can eat that but then a salad causes me horrible attacks? What the heck, it just doesn't seem logical! Safe foods hurt me one day, bad foods do nothing, and then if I try to do that again the bad foods will hurt me and then the safe foods will be fine. NOTHING seems consistent and that just makes this all the more difficult. does anyone else have this problem? How on earth do you deal with it?


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## neild7744 (Feb 5, 2011)

Yeah exactly the same thing happens to meet. I get gut ache and diahrrea randomly. I tried gluten free, meat free...etc and have not been able to work out what is affecting me. The only thing I can say 100% that affects me badly is beer. I looked into ingredients etc and started to look into avoiding foods such as yeast. I had an attack last week and my tummy has got a lot better. I've minimised yeast intake and taking acidophilus probiotic.I think this is what you need to do. I know exactly how you feel. Last year I had such a limited boring diet as my ibs was unpredictable. Now I'm starting to slowly manage it and am constantly narrowing down it's causes.Try vitamins etc, probiotics...etc. I've had ibs for over 2 years and have only just started making progress. Oh yeah try peppermint oil. I bought these capsules 2 weeks ago and when I was really really bad I took peppermint and it made a massive difference! What I've learned is to not take all this immodium...etc to stop it, but look closely at diet and symptoms. You have to use your body as a test with ibs and refine...and so on.Good luck


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## Christina1993 (Mar 25, 2012)

The only think that I know 100% will absolutely trigger an attack in me is ice cream or a glass of milk. Everything else is so vague. But I am absolutely interested in trying probiotics. I just don't know which to try and which will be right for me, there are SO many different kinds. And I also worry that they will make the problems worse. The last thing I want is to be extremely gassy and have even more unpredictable BM's. But I will definitely be buying peppermint oil capsules, I just can't stand the taste of the tea anymore, yuck! But how often should I take them? Everyday as prevention of only when spasms occur? And I agree about not taking immodium and all that, of course it's a life saver when a horrible attack does happen but having to rely on it is terrible. I will NEVER take immodium as prevention, only when I actually have an attack. I'm not a fan of taking things that only act as a band-aid. I want to FIX the problem, not cover it up. Which is why I'm not all that thrilled about the Citrucel that I take... it really is just a band aid, doesn't actually help... just hides it a bit.


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## Queensgirl52 (Mar 15, 2012)

You may want to think about pacing yourself differently when you eat. That is, don't eat any big meals and allow plenty of time between meals/snacks. The only foods I know for a fact I can't tolerate are raw spinach and artificial sweeteners. If I avoid those and take meals and snacks at a slower pace, I can get by with two Imodium a day and relatively little trouble. I also find that avoiding food later in the evening helps. Good luck!


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## Christina1993 (Mar 25, 2012)

I have also found that not eating anything 3-4 hours before bed is a big help. Unfortunately I do already eat very small meals usually very far spaced apart. I actually may not eat enough. Due to my elimination of many foods and fear of eating too closely when I have somewhere important to be.


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## alwaysfeltdifferent (Sep 6, 2010)

One thing I have definitely learned over the years is never say never. When I stopped being able to manage my symptoms and everything that I ate ended up going right through me, that is when Imodium became my best friend. There are factors that, in my opinion, one should consider when it gets to the point where one can't trust any food they ingest. Often anxiety can play mean tricks on us as the brain/gut reaction can be split second. If you have a lot of stress in your life, for those of us with IBS, that can mean more bowel issues than usual. At times like that, I'm very careful with my diet and eat a fair amount of rice and cooked vegetables. If you are a meat eater, then I would try and limit the quantity of meat to just a condiment and let the rice and cooked veggies become the important part of my meal. Additionally, I make sure that I take calcium carbonate at meal times. I'm not a milk drinker and actually dairy products can be a problem for me especially when I'm really stressed out. The calcium carbonate tablets are a great substitute and for some reason help with IBS D symptoms. I guess what I'm trying to say is, take all the precautions you can so that you are able get out without worry that something will happen. Calcium carbonate really does work and if you need a little help besides that then it is better to take the odd Imodium than not leave your house for fear of having an attack....Just my opinion.


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## jmc09 (Oct 5, 2009)

neild7744 said:


> Yeah exactly the same thing happens to meet. I get gut ache and diahrrea randomly. I tried gluten free, meat free...etc and have not been able to work out what is affecting me. The only thing I can say 100% that affects me badly is beer. I looked into ingredients etc and started to look into avoiding foods such as yeast. I had an attack last week and my tummy has got a lot better. I've minimised yeast intake and taking acidophilus probiotic.I think this is what you need to do. I know exactly how you feel. Last year I had such a limited boring diet as my ibs was unpredictable. Now I'm starting to slowly manage it and am constantly narrowing down it's causes.Try vitamins etc, probiotics...etc. I've had ibs for over 2 years and have only just started making progress. Oh yeah try peppermint oil. I bought these capsules 2 weeks ago and when I was really really bad I took peppermint and it made a massive difference! What I've learned is to not take all this immodium...etc to stop it, but look closely at diet and symptoms. You have to use your body as a test with ibs and refine...and so on.Good luck


There is nothing wrong with taking imodium as some of us have ibs no matter what we eat or dont eat.Of course trying elimination is a good idea but imodium is an excellent go to medication if dietary changes dont help.


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## neild7744 (Feb 5, 2011)

Put it this way...your body gives you diahrrea because it wants rid of whatever it doesn't like. Trying to prevent that by taking immodium can't be good can it?All I can say is anaylse what affects you badly and try to apply some logic.For those people who have trouble with bad guts on a morning etc, I'd seriously recommend trying probiotics. This is what happened to me...every morning without fault I'd have to run to the toilet and have diahrrea. No matter what I eat, I'd always have bad diahrrea and really smelly farts. God it depressed me. Was sleeping rubbish and tummy was constantly aching. So...I bought acidophilus probiotic. I take 2 capsules a day. 1 before bed is a must. After 4 days my bowel movements significantly improved. 3 weeks on and despite having 1 bad episode I'm happy to say I've cured my 'morning rush'. I've just bought some more probiotics recommended from over the pond in your area USA for a try! I only take peppermint when I'm bad. My tummy feels bad then I take 1 capsule and things improve.I've just read and watched some more information on ibs curing and things to try and have formulated a way to try and solve my stomach issues. It may or may not work.I understand how you all feel. This has really had a massive impact on my life, but it's time to sort it out. I read an article online regarding ibs and said 'ibs is persistency and learning of the body'...I think this is very true!


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## neild7744 (Feb 5, 2011)

Christina...You have to try these things to see if they make you better or worse, otherwise you will struggle to find a cure.Because there are so many options and 'pathways' you can try, my advice is to keep it simple. Try and pinpoint what could be causing you irritation.After 2 years of feeling like #### with my ibs I'm fairly sure I know what's causing it...yeast...and to prove this (as I know beer absolutely ruins me with ibs) I'm going to do a test. Instead of drinking beer I'm going to eat foods high in yeast and lots of it in a short space of time. I'm also goingto try eating copious amounts of sugar cubes on a second test. This way I want to see if my body reacts to yeast and how I react to sugar. This will prove my theory (hopefully) and can then look into treating it.


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## Trudyg (Aug 16, 2002)

I disagree with Neil's statement about diarrhea getting rid of something. This is true for normal D, but ours is different. IBS-D has as one cause inflammation of your gut, another cause is stress. As you address each issue, you will see symptoms ease. Sure, you can take immodium but to correct & heal your gut should be one goal. Eat carefully to avoid a flare, eat carefully so your body gets what it needs to fix itself, eat carefully so that you can have a life. As for Christina and probiotics, do some research on kefir. It has so very many organisms in it, you can make it yourself which is economical, the milk type doesn't seem to bother those with lactose intolerance, very nutritious and healthy drink. The store bought kind has all kinds of sugars, etc, in it that you may not want and it's pricey. I make about a quart a day and drink about a pint or so over the course of a day. I mix mine with a small amount of juice concentrate or whiz in some berries or other fruit. Plain it's sour.


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## silky (Apr 29, 2012)

HI my name is RhysI have had IBS for 15years or more it started after a course of antibiotics the symptoms are constipation,diarrhea,bloating,no energy,heartburn.last November i went on a trip with work for 3 weeks and had no IBS!!!! but i ate out every day? when i came home my wife realized that i hadn't eaten any Bananas!!I did eat 8 to 10 a week!. When i looked it up on Google it said that Bananas can take up to 18 hours to digest so eating 10 a week not a good idea. Never eaten one since and have NO IBS!!!!!!!!!!!! so please try this.I have 2 friends with IBS and it has worked for them as well.


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