Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi, my 15 year old daughter is having similar problems: severe constipation (rock hard cement plugs) and scary bloating. I thought we had it figured out for about 3 weeks--we eliminated milk and all dairy completely from her diet and put in a mega-mix of insoluble and soluble fiber. She also took one "Culturelle" bacteria supplement (available over the counter in a drugstore) in the morning, along with one flax oil capsule and one Posture-D Calcium supplement. The flax and Calcium supplement were repeated in the evening, along with a multivitamin. I also found a very heavy, German-made linseed bread in a health food store, and gave her that as a supplement for lunch. (It's pretty hard to eat without some marmalade or jam on it, and the weight alone probably moves things along by sheer gravity...) Her breakfast, lunch and dinner always included some form of beans, lentils or peas. It seemed to help to spread the fiber out over the day, which is sometimes hard with teens. They are never hungry in the morning! I tried to choose foods that did NOT have any high fructose corn syrup added--it's in a lot of stuff that is in the grocery store. Well, she did just great on this diet! We had taken her off Zelnorm, because it wasn't working anymore, and found that on this diet, she was going on her own several times a day, normal in every way, and wasn't bloated at all. We made sure that she exercised in some way every single day. Things were really looking up until this past weekend, when she gave into temptation and had way too much fruit (melon!) one evening. We seem to be back to the same awful cycle of intense bloating, constipation, and finally having to resort to Dulcolax and Fleet phosphosoda, etc. The laxatives almost never work as prescribed, and she needs far more than recommended to get her going. We keep pushing the fennel tea (which she hates) and the peppermint tea (which she will tolerate, but is getting sick of). I have pulled back on the Benefiber, and have held off on starting the Acacia fiber for fear that it might be contributing to the problem. I read somewhere (probably the Citrucel advertisement!) that Benefiber can ferment in the gut and cause gas in some people. I think Benefiber is the same stuff as the Acacia, but am not sure. She is taking one or two peppermint/fennel capsules inbetween meals. We're hoping that we can get her back to where we were a week ago. It's hard for kids to deal with the bloating. We have a supply of loose clothing with elastic waistbands, and do the best we can to reassure her. We find that we have to get her to school late sometimes, after the laxatives have had a chance to work. She will drop 15 pounds almost immediately after they take effect, and after having a chance to recover, can then go to school. Has anyone else found a solution to this problem? What seems to work? Is there an explanation for this bloating?

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