# Low-FODMAP diet isn't helping - what can I do?



## MrsStewart (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi everyone,
I am new to this site and so happy to have found it. 
My doctor diagnosed me with IBS. I'm sure sure whether the diagnosis is correct. I am 28 years old and had NO stomach problems until about March this year when I had sudden onset of symptoms that have worsened and not improved at all.
My symptoms are the same every day. I wake up with a calm tummy and have a bowel movement after breakfast. I often have a feeling of incomplete evacuation, but I have no diarhea or constipation. I eat morning tea at about 11am, then lunch at about 1pm. From 2:30pm - midnight every day, I experience strong pains all through the bowels, from high up in the stomach to low down in the intestines - all through the system. They feel like gas pains, however, sometimes not much gas ever comes out. My stomach becomes visibly bloated and uncomfortable, and makes strange noises that sound like trapped gas. Usually from about 10pm I can pass some gas. Sometimes the stomach pains are so strong that they wake me up in the night.
I don't know what has caused the symptoms. In March I was taking a multivitamin with lots of iron, so my doctor suggested that could be the cause. I stopped taking the vitamins in April, but no improvement. In July I had a laparoscopy to remove endometriosis and had to take 2 courses of antibiotics, which probably upset my stomach, but the symptoms began back in March, well before the surgery.
I have been to the doctor 4 times and she has not given a clear diagnosis - she says they are 'IBS symptoms' but hasn't actually said it is IBS. I went to a dietitian, and have strictly followed the low FODMAP diet for the past 3 months.
It is not helping me at all! I have had no improvement in symptoms. The dietitian then asked me to cut out amines as well, which I did, but this didn't help much either and the diet has nearly zero nutrition - the only fruit I could eat was rhubarb! I am eating amines again as I'm worried about nutrition.
The only 'good' day I have had in all this time was a day that I just ate plain white rice. Obviously this is not sustainable.
Does anyone have any kind of advice to offer? If the low FODMAP diet isn't working, what should I do? I've already gone back to the doctor who sent me to a gastroenterologist, but he is just sending me for breath testing - and that tests for FODMAP intolerance, so it's nothing different.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
My 'gut' feeling is that it's not specific foods that cause the problem, it's just the act of digestion itself. But I can't understand why this would just start all of a sudden. I am finding the doctors very unhelpful and feeling very upset and desperate about this. I am currently pregnant and am very worried about how this health issue, and a restricted diet, is affecting my unborn child. I really want to get this resolved but I don't know what to do next!


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## Korga (Sep 8, 2011)

I would think that 3 months on the diet would be enough to tell if it is working or not. I'm concerned about your nutrition while pregnant as well!


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## watercolor1 (Apr 30, 2015)

Hi MrsStewart,

I just found your post and was wondering if you found any relief yet. I have the exact same symptoms as you and the low FODMAP diet has not been working for me. Please let me know!


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