Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: I need help for my IBS badly please

Hi Angel - I'm so sorry you're having such severe problems. I don't know if you can change doctors, but if you can I definitely would. And I'd complain about the doctor you have being rude and cruel - that is completely unacceptable and you do not have to take that.

Your Altoid level isn't really that high - I'd try drinking peppermint tea as well. Ginger tea is also wonderful, as is fennel or chamomile

I would stick to safe foods until you stabilize. You should go several days without any problems whatsoever before you gradually start expanding your diet (but still stick to the guidelines). There's "breaking the cycle" info at web page

Also, start taking a soluble fiber supplement - that can really help, and you can take them forever with no health risks. There's info at web page

I've never heard that it takes an average of 5 years for someone with IBS to get it under control. If you have the information and resources you need, you could well get things under control within a few days or weeks. Even the hypnotherapy tapes for IBS only take months to work, not years, and they're the slowest treatment approach I'm aware of. Don't feel like you're doomed for the next few years - you are not!

Until you stabilize, I'd go completely fat free for a few days, maybe even up to a week (the breaking the cycle link has info about this). After that, if you're still not really solid, definitely keep the fat intake to 20%. You can actually stay at that level and be healthy overall as long as you make those fats count - monounsaturated, essential fatty acids are important, so choose olive oil, canola oil, avocados, finely ground nuts, fatty fish, etc.

I think you calculated the fat calories properly, if the .6 is the number of fat grams. Usually, the labels actually say what percentage of calories is from fat. If not, then take the amount in grams times 9 (because there are nine calories in a gram of fat). That will give the number of fat calories. Then you can figure the ratio of fat to total calories, and you want this at 20% or less.

As a general rule, I wouldn't want more than 100 fat calories per meal (and that's if I'm stable). That's about 1 tablespoon of oil, and that's pretty much the maximum amount I'd want at once, even with a high soluble fiber basis. I'd actually use a lot less than that if I was cooking at home.

Please let us know how thing go - and dump that awful doctor! He sounds like someone who should have been gardener instead - then he'd only be hurting plants and not people.

Best,
Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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