Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

I'm sorry you're so miserable. These are the foods I found most soothing the last time my gut was out of control:

white bread, French or Italian, but you have to read the labels - they sneak dairy and HFCS into the strangest places; I just eat it plain - no margarine, no jam, no toasting

applesauce - I use Mott's Natural; this is what starts my day every day, regardless of what shape my tummy is in: 1/2 cup applesauce with 1 teaspoon of Acacia and a mug of hot tea (decaf or herbal)

pasta - again, read the labels to make sure there are no trigger foods in there; I've never found it, but rumor is some pastas have egg yolks in them; I eat it plain until I can't stand it any more, then I start putting garlic salt on it

Expanding out from there, I add mashed white potatoes, made with FF chicken broth. From there I move on to the Honey Glazed Snack Mix from EFI (I reduce the oil) and the Brown Sugar Banana Bread from EFI. Then my variation of Kree's Greek Chicken Soup - incredibly soothing. Last, I graduate up to Kree's Chicken Stew - I reduce the onions when my tummy's touchy.

As for meds, if your Levsin is from years ago, it may have expired. I think you're going to have to see a doctor to get a new prescription. I take Donnatol as my big gun - it does seem to help with spasms, but be careful because it does contain phenobarbitol and therefore carries the risk of habituation. (I know, I don't care either when I'm truly miserable.) The one prescription drug I've found that absolutely shuts down D and cramping is Tylenol plus codeine. It does swing me a little C, but it works - I took it for a terrible intestinal virus I had over a year ago and it was like a miracle.

Heat might help the cramping, too. ThermaCare makes wearable heating pads - I discovered them a month ago for my back. They're wonderful.

One last note. If you switched from Citrucel to Acacia, check to be sure you switched at the same SF level, not the same dosage level - if I remember correctly, Acacia has far more SF per teaspoon than Citrucel. As far as I'm concerned, the more SF from SFS the better, but increase the amount too fast and your gut will probably have a fit.

I hope some of this helps. Let us know how it goes with the doctor.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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