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You and I have the same mind set about IBS. Bluntly, I don't believe there is such a thing as IBS..I think it's just a name they've given to a few chronic symptoms. I try to keep it in my heart that I can think my way out of this , or that I've somehow thought my way into it..maybe stress, depression...or...what I really believe is that there is something physically wrong that I just can't pin point yet. It's a frustrating thing that is happening to us, but I don't believe for one second that I'll be this way for the rest of my life. You know in the bible it talks about D and how if you suffer from it you are unclean at the time with some sort of bacteria or...blah blah...I forget now but I read it at one point. There is a way here and it's not what we are eating unless we have some proven food allergies. I believe there is a way to calm the colon....and I will find it.
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Isn't that what men do in locker rooms? Stand around half naked looking great?
I should say right off that I'm not A, I'm D, so feel free to stop reading. But I consider myself stable. I guess I'm contrasting that first awful month or so where I couldn't eat ANYTHING, not even a bite of potato, minus the skin, without running to the bathroom. I was diagnosed four years ago and the more time that goes by, the better it gets. I still have D every morning, but it's not the double-over in pain, crying, cold sweat kinds. I still have reactions to food, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was four years ago. And I'm happy with that.
Wondering about the psychological/obsession end of things... I don't think not feeling perfect means you are "sick." I mean, this is something we have to live with. It's not going to get better overnight, but gradually better (maybe this is the D, not the A speaking here as I don't really have major swings or setbacks as it sounds A-ers do). It's a condition (so is pregnancy), a syndrome, not an illness that can be instantly cured. Celebrate the good days. Call the bad days bad days and move on.
And I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but sometimes it seems like people on the boards are obsessing over every tiny little thing, which I imagine is very emotionally taxing and can lead to more stress. (Now I realize that people who aren't stable need to obsess to figure out what it is that is bothering them) But if you find out there is HFCS in the ice tea, you never knew it before and it doesn't seem to bother you - why stop drinking it now? That doesn't mean you eat french fries all day long and suffer the consequences, but that you do the best you can dietwise, maybe have a few bites of your date's cheesecake if you can. Does that make sense? Hope I didn't offend anyone who is suffering. Again, this is coming from a stable, D perspective.
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I have been following Heatherīs diet for a short while, and feel I am becoming more "stable".
I spend less time feeling sick with D, and bounce back quicker from an "attack" and now I know that I can feel better. Consequently I have an increased confidence about handling IBS and a more positive outlook and best of all expanding my diet with yummy food  (couldnīt handle quite a few of Heatherīs recipes at the beginning)
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Re: LOL< alyson,
#202258 - 08/03/05 08:05 PM
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Alyson McG
Reged: 05/20/05
Posts: 317
Loc: Vancouver Washington (IBS-A, but D prominant)
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Hmmm....I hope not...If I'm not mistaken, you have kids...and I'm NOT ready to be a GMA, at least not to humans(my 21yr old has my "grand puppy")...:)
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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Stable for me is no pain, not much bloat/gas and no D or C. When I'm regular and eating healthily I have 2-4 BMs a day....and nice solid, not hard logs too. 
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i agree to a point. i also feel like "ibs" is a name given to a collection of symptoms - i think that's actually the definition of a syndrome, as opposed to a disease - but it seems like it's just a clinically hypersensitive stomach. just like some people get headaches more easily that others, or are more sensitive to pain, we have *very* sensitive and reactive digestive systems. coffee upsets 'healthy' stomachs, too - ours, just moreso. this doesn't mean the pain isn't sometimes very severe, and it doesn't mean that it's all in our heads. it's a fact of our bodies that we have to live with. even before ibs, i always held nervousness in my stomach. i have a friend whose anxiety manifests as asthma.
i think it's important to remember that this isn't just in our heads, something we're imagining - of course, our emotions and thoughts impact our bodies. it's all part of the same thing. but that doesn't mean that our minds are weak, or wrong, or bad, or that we can think our ways out of this any more than we could use our minds to mend a broken leg. this is just how we work, and we have to do our best to make it better.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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my roommate (& best friend) has been bearing the brunt of my 'obsession.' there's definitely a part of my neurotic brain that likes having something to micromanage so intently. (i've also always had control issues with food - see: vegetarianism - so the unhealthy part of me is getting to work towards a healthy goal. i suppose that's good?) but i definitely talk to my roommate a *lot* about this, about the diet, and now the message board, all of it. i don't think it's a bad thing - he's been around for a lot of the sickness, and i know he wants me to be better, too. i think about it a lot and talk about it a lot because managing ibs is a big commitment of time and energy. it's important to have people we can talk to without worrying about burdening them.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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Hi, Speaking of poop texture, does anybody regularly suffer
from the thin stool phenomenon? Also, is it due to the colon
constantly spasming? By the way Minnie, I love that pic of
your cats! Is one the parent and the other offspring? -Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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Honestly, if you feel like you are obsessing about your IBS more than you'd like (and I think we all obsess a bit, particularly when starting the diet), why don't you try hypnotherapy? It really did help me integrate my IBS into my life rather than ignoring/fighting it. While you may not want your IBS, all the stress that goes with fighting it only makes it worse.
Let me give you an example. When I used to feel an attack coming on, I would tense up and become hypervigilant. While this did make me diligent about drinking tea and eating SF, it never stopped an attack. Plus, it was a really miserable way to live.
One day after doing the IBS 100 hypno, I was getting that pre-attack feeling. Instead of tensing up and dreading that attack, I instead consciously relaxed and told myself that I have contingency plans if the attack comes and that I'll feel better pretty quickly. 15 minutes later, I felt perfectly fine, which never happened with the old tense-up routine.
It took me a couple of years after discovering Heather's diet to actually get the darn hypno CDs, but I should have done it earlier. It's a great way to move IBS from being the center of your life to something a little more proportional and livable.
--AC
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For me it means being able to plan and live my life as if I don't have IBS. It doesn't mean never feeling bloated or never having an attack. It means keeping things manageable through smart food and supplement choices, getting enough sleep, etc. It means not freaking out every time I have to take a car trip or eat at a restaurant. I know that I will get through it. When I do get an attack, I know that it will pass, I know how to control it, and I don't let it affect the rest of my week. I think some people forget that this is (so far) an incurable disease. Don't confuse "stable" with "symptom-free," because there is a huge difference, IMO.
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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