"Eating for IBS". Did this help anyone with chronic constipation?
#114123 - 10/19/04 01:41 PM
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KimGun
Reged: 10/15/04
Posts: 80
Loc: St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Caribbean
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Hi...I have tried many different ideas, diets, etc., to try to manage my IBS, ... all without success. Forgive me if I am a little sceptical about trying another diet, but so far I have had no success and am somewhat demoralised. I am always severely constipated, and have now reached a point the I must have a laxative every few days in order to move my bowels. I would appreciate hearing from anyone else who has had success after being severely constipated.
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Seriously!!! This diet does and will help, but you have to follow it to the "t"!!!
This is what helped me...
1. I first started off by eliminating ALL dairy, red meat and greasy foods.
2. Next I followed Heather's "What to eat when you can't eat anything" guidelines for about 3 days.
3. At the same time as following #2, I also began using Benefiber once a day... I started out with 1 tsp/day and have gradually increased to 1 Tbsp/day. The key to the SFS, is to find the one that your body can tolerate, and to start very very slowly. If you don't start slowly, you only make things worse.
4. Drink at least 8 8oz glasses of water per day. Water DOES help, but it won't if you're not also being careful with what you eat.
5. Once you get past the first few days, and you've started a good SFS, slowly incorporate other foods. For example, chicken and fish. As long as you don't fry them or consume them with any trigger foods ( web page ) you should notice an improvement. Sometimes, it takes a week or so to finally feel that things are moving. C takes longer to correct than D, so try to be patient.
6. Insoluble fiber foods ( web page ) are a MUST HAVE with C, but keep in mind that they should only be eaten safely. Eating any off of the list of insolubles on an empty stomach or without solubles first are absolute no-nos.
One other thing that has helped me, is self massage. You can help your colon by massaging your lower abdomen (gently but with moderate pressure) along where your colon lies, in the direction that it moves.
Keeping a daily journal of everything you consume will help as well. Not only will you be able to figure out what bothers you, but you'll also help yourself in finding what will work for you.
Patience and time, my dear!!! There are quite a few of us with C on the boards. Most if not all of us will agree that following Heather's diet will help. Some of us are able to tolerate things that others aren't. I know that at least one of us swears by "myrilax" which is a prescription that you can receive from your doctor. It personally doesn't help me, but everyone is different.
I hope that I've helped in answering your questions. You WILL fee better soon, I promise.
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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I am one of the Miralax patients...it's a godsend prescription...since I've been taking it fora year, I do not have hard stool constipation...sometimes I still eliminate showly & certainly not daily,I don't have the hard asa rock stool that you have to scoop out with a shovel. I haven't been on the diet long enough to know if it works & I will not stop the Miralax until I can see that the diet reduces the spasms....As said B4, everyone reacts differently to medicines and diets & we all have to experiment with all the meds and options available to us in order to find the combination that works......& that takes time...keep us posted on your experimenting! LZ
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Puddytat55-I tawt I taw a puddytat!
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Yes the diet definately works....although it is not an overnight solution...it takes lots of committment and serious work!! You can do it if you try and I'm sure you'll feel much better.
The one thing I wanted to mention though was....your body can become dependant on laxatives in order for you to have a bowel movement (bm)....if you've been depending on laxatives for a long time now I'm not sure how you might go about weaning yourself off them....
Some people are comfortable taking them everyday and others prefer not to be dependant on them....the choice is yours....do whatever makes you feel better....
The diet CAN and WILL help you though.....don't lose hope yet!!! 
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Thanks for all the positive input. It was just that I had seen a couple of reviews on another site where 2 people indicated that it did not work for them...They had IBS-C.
I definitely would like to stay away from laxatives if possible. I don't know about Miralax, but wondered if this was the safest one to use... when I have to.
I am on Zelnorm, but found this helped initially, but is not working very well anymore after 5-6 months. I know this is to be expected, but I was in such pain before from the colon spasm, that it was unbearable.
I will give it a serious try.
Thanks.
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I am a lifelong C'er, and I love Heather's diet! I have to say that I would have put up with the C, but under stress I can switch to D and that freaked me out. (Not to mention that D after weeks of C is extra unfun.)
As other posters have said, you really do have to incorporate insoluble fiber as an essential part of your diet and regular exercise as part of your life. Plus, it takes longer for us to stabilize than it does for a person with D. But really, I am far more regular now than I have ever been and I know how to tweak my diet now to combat the occasional mild D or C.
--AC
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I too was on Zelnorm and I stopped taking it. I have now been on Heathers diet for 2 weeks now (I am IBS-C) and it has helped me out a lot. Oatmeal with a banana for breakfast seems to do the trick for me. I've been going a lot more frequently than I ever used to.
Try out Heathers diet for awhile, I'm sure it will work for you at some point. Good luck! Feel better! 
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