Irritable bowel syndrome support

[katie bridgewater]

It's really hard keeping up a special diet when you're poor and sharing with someone who doesn't need to. But we've found lots of ways to compromise over the last 2 years. Some things we have separate versions of, to save money, and some we both have the special version, to save time and space.

Have you got somewhere you could grow salad crops? Outside in the summer, or in containers by a window all year round? It's much cheaper once you've got all the stuff you need together and big-time fresh too. Any home-grown veg is good - even if it is just a supplement to your shopping!

Have you tried making your own bread? I often make my own GF bread and it works out much cheaper, + doesn't have all the crap the 'freefrom' breads have to make them like normal bread. I bake it, then slice and freeze so I can use it at my pace. Corwen eats normal bread, so I sometimes make normal loaves for him too. It's cheaper for him to eat normally where possible, but with things like pasta and porridge, we both eat GF.

Re milk, Waitrose now sell a freshly pressed coconut milk for £1.39. It's still a luxury, but makes it easier to follow a lactose free diet without changing the overall structure of what you eat because it behaves much more like milk than all the cereal based milk subs (like rice and oat), doesn't make you grow man breasts(like soya) and costs much less than almond or hemp milk which are both really nice too. Of all milk substitutes, coconut differs from dairy milk the least in flavour. Good on cereals esp.

Have you looked in Asian supermarkets? - they have a lot of products very cheaply made from non-wheat based ingredients and dairy-free dairy not being a mainstay in Asia, like here. We munch on papadams, rice noodles, rice pancakes, quinoa, buckwheat, Idli and more but nowhere near as pricey as the 'world food' section of Tesco. Asian flours are much more varied than the wheat-wheat-wheat fixation in the West.

[NovaStar]

There are many alternatives to pasta sauces other than tomato which I discovered in my recent trip to Italy, for example pesto which is made with nuts, basil and olive oil. Olive oil and parmigiano (very small quantities of parmigiano so a little goes a long way), Olive oil and mushrooms, olive oil and seafood etc. Anything with olive oil realy

Odd you mention that; my wife and I have an amazing selection of olive oil for some reason and she never seems to use it while I find any excuse to add it to my food. For some reason, most of it is extra-virgin for what it's worth. I think she ordered some online and found out that she was buying a case rather than a bottle...

Pesto can be a little expensive, but making it at home seems even more expensive, which can only make you wonder and maybe worry slightly. Left to my own devices, I do like to add olive oil to things and I love a good panino with pesto, mozzarella and chicken (I don't eat a lot of meat, but I do like it) if I can get it. Sadly, salad is ridiculously expensive (even in-season) compared to less healthy options like tinned ham or spaghetti hoops or I would probably eat more of it.

Salad is one of those things that is so much cheaper to grow yourself if you can
The mark up on supermarket prices is insane, AND you know your own isnt covered in chemicals

[Kima]

Salad is one of those things that is so much cheaper to grow yourself if you can
The mark up on supermarket prices is insane, AND you know your own isnt covered in chemicals

I've been thinking that I'll try growing some salad on the balcony when spring comes. The type that grows back when you cut it. I only eat very small portions so not only is it expensive to buy in supermarkets but I often end up throwing some of it away... A few years ago I tried my hand at homegrowing but when caterpillars appeared instead of doing something I let them live. How can it work if I'm such a hippy?

[andromeda]

Hi Duellist

Pesto can be done with any kind of nuts, they do not need to be pine nuts which are very expensive. Basil and coriander are easy to grow in containers and very useful herbs for many dishes. I have seen pesto being made by Italians and when there is no basil they used radichio, very few pine nuts too. It was delicious all the same. Basically they are not formal at all about the combination of ingredients with a base of olive oil and garlic anything else tastes good

[Kima]

How do you stop drinking coffee, strong black tea, milk, and start eating more soluble fibers without developing constipation?

[katie bridgewater]

Prunes...

[Kima]

Prunes...

Not very seasonal... do dry prunes work?

Also, there is a risk of precipitating the other end of the spectrum, if I may say so

I'll find something. I know it can take time to balance a new diet.

[NovaStar]

Psyllium Husks or Flax seeds - but constipation has never been a problem for me

[Kima]

Having decided to change my diet, what I find the hardest is not, suprisingly, to do without certain foods. It's the confusion from all the different trigger foods that different sources will list. While it is clear for all that different IBS differ widely in their intolerances, potentially harmful foods are always listed, and these lists tend to contradict one another. Even if they were entirely right, they may still ignore other items that could be triggers for me. You can go on an exclusion diet and find out that the foods you've excluded aren't problematic while some of the things you eat as part of the diet cause you to suffer (such as onions and garlic on a dairy free diet for example).

It's been about ten days for me and I haven't noticed much difference... I feel a little better due to eating less food which is not too rich and generally healthier, but apart from that, the only thing I've noticed is that turnip soup was a terrible idea

I'm tempted to follow my intuition, which is that whole grains are good once I get used to the amount of fiber, that a little dairy is ok, and that big fat meals, coffee, and especially raw fruits and vegetables (as well as gassy veg and beans) are the main culprits. If I have a major relapse I will reconsider. I'm carefuly tracking things down in my food diary - possibly at the risk of developing orthorexia.

[truthseeker]

Personally I find that even though I have my diet figured out that added stress and not enough exercise are just the triggers that will continue to set me off. It'll always be a balancing act. Quiet walks in the forest and along the beaver ponds with my dog are just what the doctor ordered.

Has anyone tried ginger for their IBS?

[Zylah]

Funny though that we all seem to react differently to a variety of potential triggers. While a cup of coffee with warm milk will inevitably be too acidic and make me feel a little bloated, I have more immediate and painful reactions to a big bowl of salad!

I've come across explanations that state that insoluble fibers can have a big impact on IBS and should always be taken in moderation either after or with a portion of soluble fibers. Has anyone focused on that? It looks like this may be a big thing for me since I noticed years ago that greens and many vegetables are harder for me to digest than fatty foods or alcohol. It's easier if they are well cooked, which is why I like soup and stew so much.

Advice can be so contradictory and difficult to sort out

I guess the food diary is the way to go. I'll reduce gluten drastically and remove milk to see if it makes a difference.

Hi Kima -

I have found that I need to personalize my diet entirely; IBS can be a very individual thing. One thing that helps both me and my daughter (who suffers from Crohn's Disease) is ginger-lemon tea with probiotics. Which probiotics is a whole other complex topic....

But by way of encouragement, my daughter was actually put on a 'junk food diet' for a time, to get her Crohn's under control. Eating raw veggies and fruit exacerbated her symptoms terribly, and broccoli was extremely irritating as well. It seems so counterintuitive, and at this point she is able to eat in a far more healthy way with less symptomology; but for a time, eating an 'unhealthy' diet was the best thing for her intestinal tract. Definitely keep that diary and try not to get discouraged with experimentation; keep in mind that no one has all the correct answers when it comes to GI diseases like this. Diet really does have to be tailored to each individual, which can be a lot of work and involve a lot of setbacks. It can be discouraging, but in the end it's worthwhile!

Hope you're doing well and making progress!

[Kima]

Thank you all so much for your ongoing support!

Zylah, I find your comment very encouraging. It may also explain why I didn't have a major flare up over the holidays, in spite of the crazy things I ate (Belgian fries, beer, marrow bones). I certainly wasn't at my best but the symptoms weren't disabling... except for the time when I had brussel sprouts for lunch! I can see that sorting things out will take some time and the food diary helps tremendously (thank you for the suggestion Duellist). It's good to be reminded that triggers are personal and there is no recipe for them.

One thing that helps both me and my daughter (who suffers from Crohn's Disease) is ginger-lemon tea with probiotics.

I will keep this in mind but at the moment I have issues with heartburn. I learned that vinegar is a home remedy for that so I made some carrot & parsnip slaw with apple cider vinegar and amazingly it does seem to help. Carrot and parsnip are two winter veg that I apparently tolerate, and anyway with slaw I only take small quantities.

[Duellist]

I've been finding recently that stomach bugs not only make it worse, but they also seem to add new symptoms. I got ill in mid-October and ended up both lactose-intolerant, something I was told should clear up in time, and unable to drink much coffee. By late December, neither one had got better and then I picked up a new illness which seems to have left me sensitive to just about everything. I just have no idea what I am supposed to be able to eat safely, which is very annoying.

My doctors are polite and sympathetic, but not actually very useful. They confirmed that I did not have any major food poisoning microbes back in October, but little else. It was a surgeon (thanks to a case of suspected appendicitis, my IBS was playing up so bad) who got me an ultrasound scan and my GPs all agree that my symptoms are not bad enough to warrant a colonoscopy (which they assure me is not fun) that would probably not find anything useful. Just about the only symptom I have under control is the heartburn (thanks to Gaviscon) and so they use that as evidence that I am not in need of anything drastic like a camera up my backside. Surely there is something they could do, but they have point-blank refused to let me see a dietician on the NHS (I can't afford to go private) and revert back to cameras as the next step, which they refuse to do because my symptoms are not bad enough in their opinions.

I got by for years on buscopan and peppermint tea, but these last two bouts of illness have really killed my gut. I can't even drink the probiotic yoghurts any more because they make me feel ill, possibly the lactose intolerance not going away like it should, and the prescription-only anti-spasmodic drugs do little more than take the edge off my symptoms. The reactions I used to get only from known triggers (like tomatoes) now crop up without any pattern that my food-diary shows and a basic low level of nausea and cramps is what I consider a good day even with the drugs.

I'm sorry if this looks like a 'woe is me' post, but I think I just get pretty miserable when I have a bad reaction.

[Kima]

Well, Duellist, it sounds really hard. Perhaps it would help to know what the specific diseases you have suffered from entail. In the year before I was diagnosed with IBS, I had no less than three gastroenteritis episodes. I had to eat white rice, white bread, bananas, and natural yogurt for weeks before it got better. Perhaps white rice would be a good start - are there any foods with which you seem to be doing ok?

The NHS is great in that it ensures minimal health services to the whole population, the downside being that their services are just that, minimal, in many cases. IBS tends not to be taken seriously enough, to make matters worse. Alternative treatements would be a great option but I don't know how you could gain access to them. Can you try another GP, and then another, until you find someone who's willing, or will your NHS medical record ensure that this isn't an option?

[Duellist]

Well, Duellist, it sounds really hard. Perhaps it would help to know what the specific diseases you have suffered from entail. In the year before I was diagnosed with IBS, I had no less than three gastroenteritis episodes.

In the last three months, I have had two bad cases that the doctor said was 'probably just a bug' and both times, I ended up with worse IBS than before. I originally got diagnosed after a rather bad bout years ago which lasted three weeks, leaving me worse than I had ever been before, but I had been using antispasmodics for years by that point. The considered medical opinions was along the lines of 'yeah, that happens' for all the good that did me.

I had to eat white rice, white bread, bananas, and natural yogurt for weeks before it got better.

I might have to give the bananas a miss, as they are one of my triggers, but how do you mean 'got better' in this case? Was that as an exclusion diet, or to fix yourself so you could get back to eating fairly normally? I am seriously considering an exclusion diet (when I have the money to try it), but I have nbo idea how to start and I worry about getting a balanced diet when excluding so many things.

Perhaps white rice would be a good start - are there any foods with which you seem to be doing ok?

I seem to be okay with rice, rice-noodles, plain chicken, etc. Tomatoes and bananas are the only definite things I ever worked out, but my wife keeps reintroducing tomato in hopes that I will have 'got better' and I have got away with it at times. Milk is a recent (October last year) issue, so I am just hoping that this will go away if I ever get well again. That is my fear actually; becoming lactose intolerant makes me worry that I may suddenly gain another intolerance which makes a mockery of my attempt to write a food diary.

The NHS is great in that it ensures minimal health services to the whole population, the downside being that their services are just that, minimal, in many cases. IBS tends not to be taken seriously enough, to make matters worse. Alternative treatements would be a great option but I don't know how you could gain access to them. Can you try another GP, and then another, until you find someone who's willing, or will your NHS medical record ensure that this isn't an option?

I am on my third surgery since this started (due to moving house) and this is the best one so far. I have tried a few of the GPs and there's definitely more sympathy and advice than tests or referrals.

[Kima]

I might have to give the bananas a miss, as they are one of my triggers, but how do you mean 'got better' in this case? Was that as an exclusion diet, or to fix yourself so you could get back to eating fairly normally? I am seriously considering an exclusion diet (when I have the money to try it), but I have nbo idea how to start and I worry about getting a balanced diet when excluding so many things.

Eating white rice was simply a short-term diet before going back to "normal". What I am doing now is the closest thing to an exclusion diet I've tried, and I am not strict enough for it to qualify since I shift the rules as I go along and discover new triggers. For instance I've tried to avoid cow milk and made the mistake of trying a coconut milk replacement yesterday, and I'm not ok. Actually, compared with uncooked coconut, I now realize that cow milk is not that bad. I know ewe milk is pretty much fine with me but of course there's the price to consider. I eat simpler, better quality food than before but it's definitely more expensive than it used to be and I feel lucky to be able to afford that even though it complicates things.

So as you see, I am no expert on the exclusion diet, but from what I understand if you're on a proper exclusion diet, you will not get the nutrients you need. That is why it's best to monitored by a medical practitioner during that time. It lasts four weeks, after which you reintroduce certain foods as a test. So in all, I assume it would take two months or so.

I'm in the same situation as you here since I can't afford alternative treatments at the moment. I will go back to my GP and see if there's anything we can do, but I doubt that dieticians (or hypnotists) will be reimbursed by my health insurance. There are even private clinics that offer "food intolerance tests" for hundreds of pounds. These tests are very controversial, but if I was rich enough I'd give them a try!

I only lived in the UK briefly so my experience with the NHS is limited. It's a very useful service but as you say they tend to give you "sympathy and advice" - I can only assume it's got worse now that they are forced to heavily cut down expenses.

[Zylah]

Hi Duellist - just a very quick thought or two:

First, as fellow sufferers we are never going to think that a post like yours is 'woe is me' in any melodramatic or unwarranted sense. We all live with the discomfort, pain etc. to one degree or another, and would not minimize yours. I am really sorry for the ongoing complications you're encountering, and very much hope you will soon experience a reversal in your favor.

Also, just a thought: there are times when intestinal flora become hypersensitive due to overstimulation, and need a rest and/or a cleanse. I know it may seem harsh or unfair when you've already been so restricted in your diet, but perhaps you could try a liquids-only diet for three days, or see if one of your physicians can recommend something similar to try. I totally understand your concern over a balanced diet, but sometimes before you can get to the place of really trying to implement that, you have to reset entirely.

Again, just a thought. And my best wishes for your improvement!

[NovaStar]

I have just started getting over my worst IBS bout ever, this weekend: its the first time I have ever passed blood and I am hoping to see the doctors today. There was no specific cause and i hadnt eaten anything i dont usually.

My experience with the NHS so far is that IBS is a 'catch all' diagnosis for any number of unidentified gastrointestinal diseases (my symptoms do not match many other IBS sufferers). My bloods came back normal but noone has suggested further tests. This time i am asking for a referral to UCLH to confirm there is nothing more serious going on.

Duellist, as Zylah says, none of us think you are seeking pity and in some ways it is good to know we are not alone.
It is largely a case of figuring out what works specifically for you and running with it. Most of the time it will be fine and sometimes it wont, but until more research is done in this field, we just have to do the best for ourselves.

On saturday, all i could face was apples and porridge with extra oat bran for dinner, and that was mainy to get some fibre into my system.

[Kima]

Also, just a thought: there are times when intestinal flora become hypersensitive due to overstimulation, and need a rest and/or a cleanse. I know it may seem harsh or unfair when you've already been so restricted in your diet, but perhaps you could try a liquids-only diet for three days, or see if one of your physicians can recommend something similar to try. I totally understand your concern over a balanced diet, but sometimes before you can get to the place of really trying to implement that, you have to reset entirely.

I often do the same thing, although liquid diets wouldn't be an option for me (no fruit juice, no milk...). My staple is white rice, and I know I can rely on that if all else fails. Due to the coconut milk accident, I doubt I will eat much else today and tomorrow, and in fact I am trying to base much of my diet on rice (and, increasingly, whole bread). Then, when I'm stable, add other foods in limited quantities (soup and sheep yogurt, mainly).

It helps that I cook my own food. I eat with my boyfriend several times a week and that is much harder to negociate. You may have to talk to your wife and cook certain things separately for yourself. Maybe that would help?

[Kima]

Duellist, you might want to make an appointment with your GP again and show them the NHS guidelines that recommend referral to a dietician for IBS sufferers:

1.2.1.8 If diet continues to be considered a major factor in a person's symptoms and they are following general lifestyle/dietary advice, they should be referred to a dietitian for advice and treatment, including single food avoidance and exclusion diets. Such advice should only be given by a dietitian.

http://publications.nice.org.uk/irritab ... 1/guidance
They are meant for General Practitioners.

I found useful info on this website: http://www.ibstales.com/blog/nice-guidelines-for-ibs/