Irritable bowel syndrome

Most of the sites say it starts at a younger age.  Thanks for replying

Like everything else with IBS, the age it develops varies enormously.

I know Tommy,

Best thing you can do it start with the basics. I know its hard but for the sake of your health you need to get on a sugar and possibly gluten free diet. Then if things don't improve you go through the possibilities. It took me years to get to this point and if I had stayed on that type of diet when I first started it would have been a bit easier despite the hiatus hernia. Do some common sense research on food then take it from there. You will get there. Maggie x

Dont try to invent a diet for ibs!!!!

Monash university spent a million of my tax dollars doing that so people like you can be helped.

You dont need a gluten free diet because you are probably not allergic to gluten.    Your body is probably intolerent of one or all of some carbohydrates which are commonly called sugars because some of them are long names and too hard to remember.

Go and speak to the doctor who has diagnosed you as IBS

Ask him what he suggests you do about it.

Tell him that you wnat his help to see an ibs specialist who can help you with a FODMAP diet.   If a specialist is too expensive then see if there is a community funded dietician and ask them if they know what a FODMAP is.    Some will never have heard of it.

You have to be pushy because your doctor doesn't really care so long as he gets paid.   Just read about all the assistance doctors have failed to be to 80% of the people contributing to this forum!

The diet doesnt cure everyone but no other treatment cures everyone.    In the initial study the FODMAP diet worked for 75% which is a phenomanal hit rate when you compare it to medicines.

The good things other than a high success rate.   Its practically free.   It costs little more than eating any other food.      Its quick   If it doesnt work in 12 weeks you are probably not getting it right or its not going to work.      Once you use the diet to discover whats the cause of your problem then you just avoid that food OR some lucky people can just limit the amount of the bad foods to a small amount.  

Dont let people talk to you about a healthy diet.   Healthy things like onion, garlic apples  milk might be poison to you.   I can eat chips from the golden arches but I know they are not healthy!!!

Let me know if you need help with this.   Doctors can be daunting when they want to hide that they don't know how to help.   Especially when the patient has an idea they didn't learn about in school.

 

Hi Graham,

I am pretty sure I am coeliac a I have two sisters who are and further research on it told me that it is an inherited disease but not always. I also found that all the tests that the doctors were giving me were irrelevant. I had to ask colleagues at the hospital the nitty-gritty of endoscopy and one colleague had 3 endoscopies before she got a diagnosis. My doctor could not even diagnose glandular fever. Maggie x

I absolutely agree about the Low Fodmap diet, Graham. I was fortunate - my GP knew about and recommended it. It isn't complicated, I still eat a relatively healthy diet - but what is considered to be healthy for some people , such as increasing the fibre in your diet, is not necessarily "healthy" for people with IBS!!

Jan

Glad to hear a good news story.

It gives everyone hope and tommyteen defintaley needs lots of that.

Go for the diet tommyteen and keep in touch so we know how you are going.

Bully your doctor ()politely) into giving you what you need and I hope you are one of th 75% who get excellant results.

Cheers

Graham

I think I'm definitely going to go back to my doctor and ask him to refere me to some kind of specialist and I have heard of low FODMAP so I'm going to talk to my doctor about that as well. I will look online for a low FODMAP diet and I will try it out!

Thanks for all of the help!

Good luck. There's loads of stuff online about Low Fodmap. 

Jan

Good luck Tommy........It will be a challenge starting on a new eating regime but you can do it. I have pudding made from low sugar fruits like strawberry and rhubarb and I have perfected the gluten free sponge on top. Don't go too crazy with the roughage. You don't want to upset your tummy any more. It takes time. Good luck 🍀 Maggie x

There are a couple of things worth mentioning.    I didn't understand this when I first went on the FODMAP diet .   I tend to do things without reading the fine print.

The fairly restrictive FODMAP diet is just meant to be a short term thing.   This diet excludes all the foods that are likely to be causing you a bad reaction.   Tou go on this diet and stick to it until your symptoms have gone away.   This takes from 6 to 12 weeks with most people.   Some people feel better the next day but its not usually so quick.   At the end of the exclusion period you then start to reintroduce foods.   Now there are five carbohydrate types that you have excluded.  So you start by re-introducing foods with only one type of carbohydrate.  You start with a small amount and try it for a period of time.    Perhaps a couple of days and then increase the amount.   By doing this you should find either that you can eat as much as you like of this or that you can comfortably eat 50 grams but not 100 grams.   You have now extended your diet by that FODMAP and you cna start on the next one.   If you are really lucky you might prove that only one FODMAP will hurt you and your diet becomes much easier.    This is where you probabaly need the help of a dietician to work out the best foods to start on and the amount to eat.  

  I seem to be sensitive to all of them but this might be because I am not doing the reintroduction of foods properly.   I have made an appointment with a dietician who claims to be very in touch with the FODMAP diet so we will see.

Even if I can't eat a single FODMAP I am so much better off than I was on a normal "Healthy" diet that it's worth it.

Inciently my understanding is that you dont have to be gluten free because gluten is probably not a part of your problem.   You are sensitive to FODMAPS but gluten and FODMAPS occur in many common places so it confuses you.

Ask if your local council or hospital offers free or low cost dietary services.

Good Luck with your exclusion diet!

Oh wow I'm sorry sweetie I'm 35 I couldn't imagine having this pain at 15 I hope you find something that works and makes you feel better