Question about IBS diet and gas
#130392 - 12/14/04 09:12 AM
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Janie
Reged: 12/14/04
Posts: 2
Loc: Chico, CA
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Okay, I am new to the IBS diet, and I am finding wonderful relief from the cramping and D attacks, but am having horrible gas every night! I have read that soluble fiber can cause excess gas, but is this just a normal side effect, and is there anything I can do to manage this??? It is almost as bad as the attacks because it makes me so uncomfortable in the evenings. Help!!
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First of all, welcome, Janie! Glad you found us, and even MORE glad to hear that the diet is giving you some much-needed relief. 
Gas can be managed in a variety of ways... the most common and effective seem to be fennel tea, products like Gas-X, and yoga. Board searches will turn up more information on all of these.
I do remember having some increased gassiness when I first started the diet, but I don't have it anymore - as my body adjusted, it went away. Here's hoping yours does too.
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Adding more fiber of any kind to your diet can produce a little extra gas at first but your body should adjust in time. In the meantime, try gas-x. You really need to take the maxium dose for a couple of days to get the full benefit. It will help break up the gas and let you pass it more easily and less painfully!
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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Thanks for the reply!! I am trying to figure out how to drink the fennel tea in spite of the taste. (I am having a hard time with that). I have quit taking the Acacia because I am afraid of the gas side-effect, but I will give it a try again after the holidays when I have a couple of weeks to just "stay home" and let my body adjust. This seems to be a day-to-day thing trying to figure out how to balance my body!!
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I have stopped taking the acacia also. One of my worst symptoms before going on this diet and buying the acacia and fennel was severe trapped gas and bloating. Even though on this diet the D-movements are much better, the gas and bloating is no better and the acacia did not help that at all. So I have stopped that. I am about to stop this whole thing. I have been eating the basics since Nov 29th like rice, bread, noodles, dry cereal etc. I have the worst trapped gas ever. I tried the fennel tea but I have a hard time getting it down. I do love peppermint and I drink that every day. I think I must surrender from all of this. What am I to do when it takes me 2 hours every day to expel trapped gas out of my intestines everyday. I thought for sure after finding this web site that I had finally found something and I ordered all these items. The starch diet has relieved some of the explosive D movements, but if I was so gassy before I started and am still so gassy from just eating bread and water, there is no hope. I have had this horrid gas problem for 20 years. I think I am intolerant to everything, even bread. How can you get such gas from bread. If you could hear what is inside my lower abdomen when I push down on it with my hand. It is like a monster in there. This gas regenerates itself every day too. It is always worse the week before my period, like clockwork. One may want to blame the food you are eating during your cycle, but the thing is even just eating this starch only diet, the gas is still coming on full force. I am defeated.
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I feel your pain! (literally). I too do not know what I am doing wrong. I am doing what every else has done with my diet. I take an SFS. I even started zelnorm and colace. I don't understand why I am doing the same things as everyone else but not getting any results at all. In fact, I am more constipated, more gassy, more hopeless, and very scared that I will never find relief. If this diet plan has helped so many, what is the matter with me. Why is it that everything I try does no help or actually hurts.
Big question, does Heather's diet just not work for some people? I have so much respect for Heather and for everyone on this site who continues to try and help me and support me. But does it just not help some people? 
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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hello,
i am a bit new to the site, but i have read it all. I have finally been given a "diagnosis" of IBS and have gotten some relief from adding fiber supplements and in my diet (better B-movenments and much less lower ab pains). I was doing good for a week and then i took this high dose acidophilus for two days and now i have the terrible upper pain (just under my ribs) and gas again, lots of painful burping and i feel even worse after trying to eat. I really have ahard time drinking the fennel tea. has anyone heard of the acidophilus causing more gas. I know that from a biological stand poin the bacteria in the colon can partially digest some of the fiber and that produces gas. but i thought that the bacteria were supposed to be good!...please help...any suggestions?!
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I believe the theory behind the diet is great and it has helped somewhat, but I am sure it is not 100% the answer for everyone, otherwise everyone with Ibs would be cured. I also don't know if the benefits of giving up all that food is worth it when in the end your still sitting on the bowl in pain. If I am going to spend two hours in the bathroom, I would rather enjoy the road it took me to get there. The other day I finished eating a small bowl of regular noodles with a spritz of soy fake butter and 10 minutes later the cramps set in and I was on the toilet. If I had eaten pizza and that happened I could have blamed that, but it is even more depressing after eating cardboard and having the same thing happen. I am torn now about what to do. I feel guilty if I give up, I just really don't know what to go next.
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For many people, carbohydrates are hard to digest and can cause gas. This diet is high on carbs, so that may be the problem.
You also want to eat slowly so you don't swallow air, and start with a low dose of a fiber supplement and gradually increase it so your body can adjust.
Good luck!
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I do eat slowly and I think you are right about the carbohydrates. I bought the acacia and tried it but I am sorry, it does increase the gassyness and cramps for me. I did start with the smallest of doses too. I can't go through that every morning when I am trying to get to work on time.
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We are so much in the same mind frame. I keep thinking, what if I gave up and this truly would have worked, even if it would have taken a year. I don't know what to do either. No SFS has worked, made me worse I think. I just don't understand why this diet that has worked so well for so many, giving them back their lives, won't even give me a little relief! If I got just a little relief, it might help to keep me going.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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There are so many people on this board whose bodies have taken longer to adjust than others. You may have to try several different SFS to find the one that works best for you.
Are you taking an anti-spasmodic? I take Levsin/Hysoscysamine, its the best thing that ever happened to me. I take it daily with no bother of cramping and little gas (I only have gas when I stray from the diet).
We are all here to help you and answer your questions, and are happy to help you get healthy.
Please don't give up, I want you to feel better and not be a prisoner to IBS. 
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Re: whoopiecushion
#131465 - 12/18/04 06:29 AM
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KimGun
Reged: 10/15/04
Posts: 80
Loc: St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Caribbean
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I too have felt discouraged many times. I used to be so constipated that I only was able to have a bowel movement with a laxative.....and I had terribel spasms. I was upand down a bit as I tried to adjust. However, after 2 months, am managing a bit better. I can sometimes have a bowel movement on my own, but most of all, I am not suffering the terrible colon spasms and tummy pain that I used to feel. Yes....I am definitely more gassy, but I hope I will eventually overcome that also. However, I am very strict with my diet, and if I suspect something in particular is bothering me right now, I remove it temporarily before trying it again at a later date. For example, I found that brown rice seemed to make me very uncomfortable, with increased bloating. I intend to try it again later, as I still tend to be very 'C'. I wouldn't give up, as I remember being far worse when I wasn on the diet. Keep trying!! 
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Thanks for your encouraging words. Yes, I am so wanting to give up. This is just too hard! And everything I seem to try backfires. Right now I am taking zelnorm, triphala (herb for C), probiotic (either jarro or PB8 is a new one), SFS (was citricel, now trying FiberChoice but don't think this one is gonna last), colace, digestive enzymes, lexapro AD, and klonopin and gas x. I am still C and still hurting so much, and so gassy, and of cours the mucous (yuck).
Since you are a C, have you found a certain probiotic that has helped you. What SFS have you chosen? It seems like I cannot get help from anything. What helps???????? What does your diet look like? Are you getting relief?
I am so tired. I even pray sometimes that I just don't wake up. This is no life. It is just a painful existence. 
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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KimGun
#131478 - 12/18/04 08:46 AM
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Augie
Reged: 10/27/04
Posts: 5807
Loc: Illinois
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How's the Benefiber working for you? Are you sticking with it? How much total do you take in a day? I am thinking of this one next, if I have the energy to even try one more thing. As I wrote in a post under Gigi's I'm finding myself often praying for a peaceful trip to Heaven over all this. Sound extreme, but I'm actually at that point.
Hope the Benefiber is bringing you some help. Doesn't it cause cramps, gas, or bloat? How much did you start at?
Thanks for caring, sweetie. I need you guys right now. 
What else have you found to help the C? What does your diet look like?
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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