Accepting you have IBS
#229857 - 12/07/05 09:06 AM
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Niki J
Reged: 07/20/04
Posts: 116
Loc: UK
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Hi All
I've had IBS for years now and still I am finding it really hard to accept that I have it and look after myself. I keep eating foods that I know are bad for me and just lately I am feeling so exhausted from work and having bad IBS attacks.
How did you come to terms with your IBS and learn to take care of yourself?
I don't want to face up to the fact I can't eat what I used to and that eating what I used to is so unhealthly anyway.
Please give me some words of wisdom I am really struggling right now.
Thanks
Niki
xxx
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I try to remember there are worse things I could have. I am glad I don't have peanut allergies or some other allergy. I don't have Crohn's or GI or UC. I also like to keep in mind that everyone has a touch of IBS from time to time and can relate to our pain and lots of people without IBS have trouble with some foods. Then I also like that I have a reason to avoid fatty things and this helps me lose weight. I might be 15 pounds heavier if I ate everything I wanted. After all there are a lot of pleasurable things we can't do without major consequences and we just deal with them. For instance, I would like to have a shopping spree at the Mall of America someday but I don't because I know I will have to pay for it later.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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I think you have to sort of look at it as similiar to a diebetic diet. Lots of people have to be on special diets.
I would not mind this one bit....if it worked for me!  It would definitely be worth it to me. No food tastes better than feeling good! Unfortunately, I haven't found relief from this diet...yet. Still praying and hoping and plugging along.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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1. Truly, there is so much more to life than food.
2. It becomes second nature. To not eat to support my IBS is cruel & unusual punishment.
3. It's easy to substitute.
4. When you make it work for you, you get addicted to feeling good.
It's a lifestyle change, that's all.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Hi Niki,
Yeah. I know EXACTLY what you're talkin' about. Been there! We've ALL been there!
I was in total denial for YEARS. I just kept saying, "Nah! It can't be; I'm healthy as a horse, I eat right, exercise -- nah, the idiot doctor made a mistake."
When I finally got the colonoscopy after YEARS of suffering, and was given a confirmation of all my docs' diagnoses, I accepted it, but I continued on my old eating pattern, and did not get better....
..... until one day I couldn't take it any more. I went online to find something about IBS (heaven knows my gastroenterologist wasn't helping me any!), and I found Heather's book online -- among others -- and hers was highly recommended. I went to Barnes & Noble and bought it, came home and read it. I followed her diet -- MOSTLY -- but didn't get much better, so I e-mailed her. She encouraged me to stick with the program and come into the Boards here for support. The rest is history.
Through Heather's guidelines and these Boards, I got better. I learned everything I know about IBS from only Heather and these Boards. I'm stable now, and have been for a long time.
The trick is to NOT CHEAT on the diet (I was drinking coffee). If you stick with it, you WILL get better. It may take awhile, even a few years (like it took me), but it'll happen. Now, believe it or not, I drink my beloved coffee with no problem.
So my advice to you, if you've had a confirmed diagnosis, is to just face it head-on and deal with it. Accept it as a challenge. Follow Heather's program TO THE TEE, continue to come in here regularly and ask all your questions, and I promise you will get better. We all here know how you are struggling, we all can sympathize. But it's here that you will learn how to deal with it and HOW TO GET BETTER.
You came to the right place.
Bevvy
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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I look at my husband, who was diagnosed with diabetes relatively recently. He has to control his diet or deal with really nasty permanent consequences. Compared to that, my eating right to avoid feeling gross is pretty dang easy and self-explanatory.
You just keep plugging through it. Eventually, you'll decide that eating the right food (and finding a stress management program! food alone is not enough) is more pleasant than attack after attack.
--AC
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Thank you all your replies mean a lot! You are totally right I am blessed to only have IBS and not be suffering like other people are. Just reading some posts on the lounge made me realise how blessed I am in my life.
Thank you for your support it means a lot.
Niki
xxx
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Hi there Niki,
First of all, I totally agree with what Bev wrote to you about how we have all been there because we all have. I definitely have.
When I was living abroad, my mom sent me a link to Heather's website because I had been so so sick and she had found it online. I came to the website, read the diet guidelines and said, "Nope, I can't do that" and shut it down and didn't look at it again for a long while.
The thing is, I had it in the back of mind all the time that while I was eating crappy food and then feeling crappy that I HAD been told (or had read, in my case) the things that were doing this.
For me, it was a matter of getting to a "breaking point". I was so sick that I got really depressed, didn't want to leave the house, couldn't have a good time with friends, and was just in pain all the time. As much as I didn't want to give up some of my favourite foods (which seemed like a huge deal at the time), I couldn't afford to keep letting my stomach dictate how I was going to lead my life.
I think it is also a matter of taking responsibility. I feel like if I am going to eat a bunch of ice cream, I really can't moan afterwards about how sick I feel if I knew it would happen. It's like having a hangover -- you saw it coming, and you did it anyway. Sure, once and a while it's worth it but for the most part, why put yourself through that?
And here is the thing about cutting out food: The longer you go without it, the less you want it. I haven't eaten red meat in a long time, and I never crave it now like I did at the beginning. High fat foods also get out of your system really fast and you'll stop craving them pretty quick.
Another thing I found really helpful are healthy replacements for things I can't have. Like red meat, as I just mentioned. Rather than using ground beef in recipes, I use ground turkey and I LOVE it. AND I don't get sick from it. Here is a great recipe: Turkey Meatloaf that tastes pretty much exactly like regular meatloaf and is super yummy, and guilt free. If you like snack foods, you can replace regular potato chips and snacks with baked potato and corn chips and pretzels. I can't even remember the last time I had regular potato chips.
If you have a look at the recipe index you can find loads of recipes for safe meals and all sorts. I am totally addicted to some of the muffin recipes.
I think like anything else, it is a matter of looking at things and making a decision. Once you make the decision to put your health first, you have to stick to it. Most importantly, you have to eliminate the big bads from your diet and give your poor gut a break.
Try to keep in mind that making these changes aren't supposed to make your life worse or harder, but to make it BETTER.
It is a lot of guessing and testing and it takes a lot of time, but it is so worth it once you feel better.
Good luck, and let us know how you are feeling!
Cheers!
--Steph
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~~I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell-I know right now you can't tell~~Matchbox 20
IBS-D,pain.
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I have had IBS-D as far back as i can remember, but was finally diagnosed with it about 10 years ago.. It can get bad, sometimes because of stress and everything else, I can only have certain things, but after finding this site, there are more safe foods for those times, and I don't know about everyone else but sometimes, in moderation, I can still have trigger foods. All is good in moderation, and when taking proper care.. It's not so bad, could be worse I suppose.. right??
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I am one of those "suck it up and deal with it folks"...I have a formal diagnoses of IBS from a gastro. I took meds for about a year and paid attention to my triggers and pressed on. I quit taking the meds because they weren't helping much.
Heathers diet hasn't impacted my life much. Maybe because I already knew what my triggers were?
Sooo...I just do what my body tells me and I don't eat known triggers. I don't spend a lot of time focusing on the fact that I have IBS and I think that helps more than anything.
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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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IS it weird to naturally RUN from my WORST triggers?
Honestly, it's REALLY truly madly deeply NOT WORTH THE PAIN.
Kate, IBS-D.
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I knew that I wanted to be able to have a good time when I went out with my family and friends. In order to do that, I needed to watch what I ate out or sometimes I just didnt eat, but I was still their enjoying the day. I still cheat every now and then, on days that I dont have class, playgroup or work. You will find out what works best for you.
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It helped me soooo much. It was me!  And Heather's got so much research in there as to what happens to us that it makes it really easy to understand the whole thing. That book changed me around. I've been stable for over 2 1/2 years now (apart from short term problems due to too much cheating!  ).
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Aww thanks Stephie!
I will check out the recipe index I do love cooking and so it would be really good for me to learn IBS safe things to cook. I've got stuck in a rut of processed foods and just needing to break the chain.
It's good to know that it wont take long for me to stop craving junk! I'd love to make a habit of eating healthy and what's more feeling healthy! Thats a big one for me this year I've had so many spells where I've felt awful.
Thanks for your help! By the way I'm a veggie so don't eat meat at all but I do eat fish 
Niki
xxx
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