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I'm desperate for a way to suppress my IBS symptoms - please help!

Posted , 9 users are following.

evies
evies

For the last few months I've been showing symptoms of IBS such as constipation, feeling bloated, stomach cramps, and so on, and all of these things seem to be strongly linked to stress levels. But now, even though my stress is pretty much gone, I still get very foul wind, and this makes being around people excrutiatingly embarrassing and depressing (it also stresses me out more, so you can see how the cycle continues).

I've seen the GP several times, and they can't recommend anything to help besides "being less stressed", but this doesn't seem to eradicate the problem either.

I've tried charcoal pills, omitting certain foods from my diet, taking fybogel to increase my fibre levels...absolutely nothing has worked and I'm desperate for some means of suppressing this symptom because I can't go back to school like this.

If anyone has had any luck with a certain brand of probiotics, or a lifestyle change, etc, please let me know so I can kick this before it gets any worse.

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • edith-
    edith- evies

    Posted

    Hi Evies, 

    I'm sorry to hear that you are suffering like this. It can be hard to know what to do without an actual diagnosis. I suffered all the way through my undergraduate degree with conflicting diagnoses and backwards and forwards appointments with many different specialists before they worked out what was going on. At one point when I was in halls in my first year, I was having to sleep in a disabled access toilet because my symptoms were so bad and there were only two toilets on my floor for twenty women. 

    In the first instance, I would think that you do need to go back to your doctor to let them know that the symptoms you are experiecing are impacting greatly upon your life. Perhaps if you kept a food and symptom diary, you might have a bit more "evidence" that you can show to your doctor to help with investigation. 

    IBS has such a spectrum of symptoms and of course we are all different in our bodies but also different in how we experience those symptoms, so I'm afraid I can't tell you that taking aloe vera gel, probiotics or slippery elm (ingredients that come up often on IBS google search pages) will help. When I first got ill, I spent so much money on trying all of these things and didn't find any relief, however, it is a case of trial and error. For me personally, what has helped is omitting dairy out of my vegetarian diet and also avoiding caffiene and alcohol which also excerbate my symptoms (predominantly IBS-D). I cook absolutely everything from scratch and am incredibly particular about what I eat. Most importantly, I am under the care of a gastroenterologist and I feel that I am listened to, which is so important as at the start I had many doctors be very dismissive of me (try yoga was one line). 

    I do hope things start to improve for you. 

    Edith

    • evies
      evies edith-

      Posted

      Thanks for your reply - it's really reassuring to know that other people have had similar experiences, and what you've suggested makes a lot of sense to me. Seeing as diet's most likely the problem, I've been trying the low-FODMAP diet for a couple of weeks with small improvements, but I think dairy will have to go next (I've tried going dairy-free before but never as well as cutting out other food). Thanks very much for the advice and sympathy, I hugely appreciate it. 

  • mark6651
    mark6651 evies

    Posted

    Deffo lifestyle changes and also what you eat it big factor to..
  • leeniepie
    leeniepie evies

    Posted

    When I was first diagnosed my main symptom was unrelenting foul smelling gas. I would pass gas constantly and it really was awful. I also had constipation which didn't help. The low fodmap diet changed my life. It's hard to do and you should really do it under supervision of a dietician but it was well worth the money and 3 months of food restrictions

    • evies
      evies leeniepie

      Posted

      That's exactly my situation. I've got to thank you for recommending the low-FODMAP diet to me, I've been on it a couple of weeks and it seems to be showing improvement.

  • thi20955
    thi20955 evies

    Posted

    Eat less fibre for fibre hard to digest which causes bloating, gas, wind etc... Ask dr for Colofac. Chew slowly. Eat small meal. Avoid cafeine, alcohol, fatty foods and buy enzyme table and pickle to eat during the meal. Hope it helps. 
  • thi20955
    thi20955 evies

    Posted

    Eat less fibre for fibre is hard to digest causing wind, but drink more water. Take colofac. Drink vera juice. Have yogurt mix with probiotic. Buy enzyme tablet and exercise. Eat small meal and chew slow. You also can eat pickle during the meal that will help your digestion. When you stress, food becomes hard to digest then it causes bloating, wind, gas,etc..

    Watch out your diet eat less fat, no caefein, no alcohol, etc...

  • astrozombie
    astrozombie evies

    Posted

    By lifestyle change would introducing exercise fall into this category as worked for me. I am not cured but better. 
    • astrozombie
      astrozombie JenInCali

      Posted

      I did not do much before illness started so do not feel bad. I started exercising as an answer to illness and then I found it helped. I did not exercise before as always travelling back and forth to see my partner but then with repeated illness we parted, can not blame her, and I had more time on my hands so what would happen is that I would be ill Saturday morning, without fail, annoyed that I was ill and I would stomp off in a strop and walk 8 to 10 miles and over time I started going out for enjoyment rather than being angry with myself. One of the 2 factors which had the biggest effect on my health. I am wary if I have not been to the loo before I go out now. A few weeks ago I went 5 mins down the road and had to come back but luckily I still made it on time as I was leading a walk that day for a group so life can still be a little stressful at times but I am definitely better than I was 5 years ago.
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