IBS C
#214527 - 09/20/05 04:15 AM
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debsmit
Reged: 09/20/05
Posts: 4
Loc: South West England
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I am suffering from IBS C. I have been following advice on the site and have been taking soluble fibre supplements for about 1 week. the first few days i had cronic IBS then yesterday i had D and now i know i am getting C again...
how long should i keep taking the supplements for before i know whether they will help?
I'm desparate for some help... i get such pain, it is unbearable...
Thanks
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Debs x
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Re: IBS C
#214530 - 09/20/05 05:14 AM
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Emily H.
Reged: 02/28/05
Posts: 83
Loc: Luxembourg, LU
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I'm sorry you're so miserable.  I know how awful C can be. Here are two things:
What dosage of your soluble fiber are you taking? You should be starting with a small dose and gradually moving up, as taking too much too quickly can actually make you more uncomfortable. I don't know what the average "wait time" is, but I had to wait nearly 6 weeks before I noticed any improvement. It's worth the wait!
Also, have you gotten a definite diagnosis for IBS? If not, you should really go see a GI doc first, to make sure you don't have something else.
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Re: IBS C
#214532 - 09/20/05 05:36 AM
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bamagirl
Reged: 04/02/04
Posts: 1407
Loc: Alabama
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Hi from another C'er! Welcome to the boards! I have to echo the other post here....the SFS will help tremendously, but you have to start slow and gradually increase or you'll be miserable. Don't add a lot of supplements at one time, give each supplement at least a month unless you notice abrupt, severe changes for the worse.
WATER is your best friend along with the SFS, and for us C types, you have to make sure you have a bit more of the IF too. For C, patience is the name of the game. I hope you feel better soon!
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God is Faithful!
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...or any other SFS increase?
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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I'm not a C, I'm more of D (no more A really now that my meds have so much magnesium, taking more calcium to balance it). I increase my Acacia by 1/4 teaspoon every 3-4 days, exception being the past few weeks while I was moving and then on vacation and didn't think about upping it and didn't want to play with changing things while on vacation. In the beginning , I upped it once a week, just to make sure that I was tolerating things ok.
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Melissa
Friendship is thicker than blood. ~Rent
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Good advice!
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IBS-D. Hiatal Hernia, GERD
Unstable
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Or a total of 1/4 tsp for the day? I started at 1/4 tsp twice a day, then went to 1/2 tsp twice a day, then 2 tsp twice a day over about 2 weeks time. I also take 4.5 grams psyllium at night, which I was doing for about 1 month before the Acacia.
Does this sound like too fast an increase? Should I start over? I'm still not having BMs though. Or very incomplete ones that are not solid. 
What happens if a C person increase too fast? Can C people increase it faster than D, or doesn't it matter. 
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Should I take less SFS on the days I eat higher fiber foods?
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Beth, I increased it relatively fast as per Sand's suggestion,
I think I had a bit more gas for a while, but it wasn't that
bad. The BM's very slowly improved at first, but now lately
the improvements seem to be picking up as I mentioned in my
email. The BM's aren't real solid, but they aren't watery
either, and I am clearing enough per day at least.I'm still
doing 3/4 of a dose of Miralax per day, that could be the
problem with the solidification. The BM's having been
coming on better as though there is more seratonin in my
bowel which is what the Paxil is supposed to do. That's
why I'm thinking that's probably the prime reason for im-
provement. Right now I'm taking one level tablespoon of
acacia at breakfast,lunch, and dinner. -Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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Can you give me example of an amount you increased by and how often? How long did it take you to get up to 3 Tablespoons?
Do you get gas and or pain with Acacia? I just don't feel so good taking Acacia and psyllium. I think I felt better with just psyllium at night. I had better BMs than when I kept the psyllium the same and added Acacia...which doesn't make sense to me.
I also take flax seed powder in the morning which adds another 2.5 grams of fiber.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Is this question for me??? I increased to 3 tablespoons too fast!! I went from 1/2 a tbs twice a day to 1 tbs 3 times a day within about a week and a half!! Wayyy to fast!! I kept increasing by 1/2 tbs, every time I took it, everyday.....that was bad. I bloated up like a balloon, had major gas and was nauseous and had diarrhea! I was only supposed to increase the dosage every week. So, I guess it should take about 6 weeks to be on 1 tbs three times a day. I don't know.......maybe longer.....
Michelle 
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IBS-D. Hiatal Hernia, GERD
Unstable
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Beth, I started at half a teaspoon about the beginning of July
and was increasing at about a half teaspoon per week until I
started have worse problems with my BM's towards the end of
July, at which point Sand suggested upping the acacia dose.
At that point I started increasing it at a teaspoon per week,
and this is at each dose,so it would be three teaspoons total,until I got up to a tablespoon per dose and stopped
at that point just a short while ago. No, I never got any
pain, but at points I did notice more burping due to gas.
Now, I'm going to try and increase my IF and actually cut
back a bit on the acacia. -Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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My recommendation is to start with 1/4 teaspoon PER DAY. Do that for 3 days. Then add another 1/4 teaspoon, so you're taking 1/2 teaspoon PER DAY. Do that for 3 days, then another 1/4 teaspoon, do that for 3 days, another 1/4 teaspoon, and so on. I didn't go up steadily. Once I was getting at least 1 Tablespoon total per day, I'd stick at a dose for a few extra days every so often and see how I was doing. I always felt like there was room for improvement until I got to my current dose of 8 teaspoons.
As for splitting doses, my first 1/4 teaspoon dose I took in the morning. When I added a second 1/4 teaspoon dose, I took that in the evening. The third 1/4 teaspoon dose I added at lunch. As I upped the dose after that, I upped it in the same pattern: added to morning first, then evening, then lunch. Once I got to a whole teaspoon in the morning, I added the rest to evening and lunch, because I start my mornings with applesauce and my breakfast is always high SF.
Right now, I do 1 teaspoon in the morning in at least 1/2 cup applesauce. The other 7 teaspoons I mix into 24 ounces of water. I drink at least 8 ounces with lunch and 8 ounces with dinner. Whatever is left after lunch and dinner, I have after dinner.
I know taking a LOT of SFS is important for me (8 teaspoons of acacia per day = 20 grams of SF per day) and I'm IBS-D, so I'd imagine it's even more important for IBS-C. However, I also know going up slowly was important for me, too. I figure IBS tummies are so touchy, anything strange is going to freak them out, so it's best to give them a lot of time to get used to something new and foreign.
As for the question about whether to vary the SFS does based on how much SF you're eating, I would say absolutely not. A SFS supplement is not medicine, but I find it best to think of it that way. My SFS is my base, my absolute irreducable minimum. Any more SF than that is just gravy (sigh, gravy). I don't see any downside to getting "too much" SF if I take my SFS and also eat a lot of SF foods and, besides, the issue of how much SF you're actually getting in food is pretty darn iffy, so why take chances?
HTH.
--------------------
[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I increase it by 1/4 tsp for the day. And to answer your question lower in the thread, I don't think you should lower the dose relative to how much fiber food you eat. I know I don't.
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Melissa
Friendship is thicker than blood. ~Rent
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I thought Bob said that you told him for C we should do greater increases? When I am C it is so hard to be patient.
Do you think I should stop the psyllium and just start all over again with the Acacia at 1/4 tsp a day? Even though I'm not having BMs with the tsp of psyllium and the 2 tsp of Acacia?
Thanks for any advice.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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I thought my advice was getting scrambled a little bit as the thread went on. Just wanted to make it clear that I think everybody should start low and go slow. I did tell BobK that I thought he needed more SFS, but if my advice came across as increasing faster, I wasn't clear enough.
I don't know what to say about just acacia versus acacia plus psyllium. Acacia works for me so that's really all I can comment on. Given that Heather recommends up to 30 grams of SF from SFS per day for IBS-C, though, I don't think 1 teaspoon of psyllium plus 2 teaspoons of acacia gets you anywhere near that. Plus - all together now - you need as much IF as possible if you're IBS-C.
I can imagine how hard it must be. I did a post a while back about how when you're IBS-C, following Heather's guidelines must be almost an act of faith.
Take care.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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wow- 30g SOLUBLE fiber alone?  how in the world can one accomplish that? and not with just the Acacia alone?
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~Jennifer~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
wedding date- May 20th, 2006!
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Do you think I should start all over again with the SFS at only 1/4 tsp twice a day if I went up too fast? Or do you think I should stay at 8 grams a day? It's been maybe 6 to 8 weeks that I worked up to this amount.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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I take 8 teaspoons of acacia which is 20 grams of Soluble Fiber from my SFS alone. I could do 30 grams of SF from acacia with no trouble and I would if I needed to.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I wouldn't start over - it sounds like you went up pretty slowly. I'd just start slowly increasing the amount of SFS.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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3 ~nt~
#214886 - 09/20/05 09:21 PM
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Have a blessed day!...Rachel
stable and sooooooo thankful!
I have IBS but it doesn't have me!
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Re: IBS C
#214897 - 09/21/05 12:18 AM
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debsmit
Reged: 09/20/05
Posts: 4
Loc: South West England
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i've been taking two or three tablets a day, and they are each 700 mg... maybe that is too much to start with!? i'll decrease and just wait and see.
I have had a positive diagnosis - well, as positive as it can be. i've been tested for lots of other things which have all been ruled out.
Thanks for your reply
--------------------
Debs x
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