Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Abby:

By the time I discovered Heather's website, I had been battling IBS for 45 years. I had been diagnosed with IBS by two doctors previously, but I didn't understand what I had and I didn't have a clue (other than through my own miserable trials and tribulations) of how to deal with IBS.

Over those 45 years I became very fearful of food and I had narrowed down my diet to something akin to a prison diet! Well, let's just say it was very,very limited. I just ate what food I could manage to stay alive.

Initially (for months) after discovering Heather's website, I didn't add anything new into my diet. Instead, ironically I removed more foods -- those that Heather listed as triggers. It took me much, much longer to try some of the foods she said were safe. I had developed such a terrible fear of food over the years that I directly associated certain foods with the pain they would cause me if consumed and I literally wouldn't even consider putting them near my mouth (let alone eating them)! Those off-limit foods might as well have been a household cleaner or some other poison because my fear of certain foods was so great I would regard them as akin to poison because of the misery they would cause me if I ate them!

It took a great deal of courage for me to break that life-long way of thinking and try a new food knowing I could be opening myself up for yet another painful attack. I began with a very, very tiny (maybe a teaspoonful!) amount of the new food. I was so cautious that I waited a couple of days after trying that small amount before trying it again even though I had felt fine after the first time.

I also purchased both of Heather's books and began absorbing her rules for preparing food so that it would be safer. I think that's what surprised me the most. Up until I discovered Heather's website I always thought it was specific foods that triggered the attacks. What had never occurred to me was that some of those "bad" foods might be made safe to eat if prepared in a certain way or consumed with other specific foods (soluble fibre).

This precious knowledge has literally changed my life and allowed me slowly over time to expand my diet. As I say, at first I was very fearful, but over time I have been astounded at the good results! It is true there are some foods I have yet to try -- oatmeal, for example, but I take these things slowly since I still remember all the horrible painful attacks I've had going right back to early childhood.

So the bottom line is I totally understand your fear of food and your reluctance to expand your diet. What I want to tell you is that you have definitely arrived at the right website because Heather's diet rules are the only ones that I know of that truly are the right way to deal with IBS. The only thing is I do not subscribe to most of Heather's recipes because I wouldn't be able to tolerate certain ingredients in them. But I consider her diet rules second to none!

By the way, when I made Heather's banana bread for the first time, I ate about two crumbs of it on the second day and then grew too fearful to eat the rest! I made a second batch a week later and braved a half slice and then threw the rest out! By the time I made the third batch, I was slightly more confident (after all I had not gotten sick from my two previous adventures in trying the banana bread) so I ate more of it. Pretty pathetic on my part, but it's not easy overcoming a fear of food that is based on a litany of horrific painful attacks for more than four decades!

Also pathetic is the fact I bought some organic Twinings peppermint teabags on a trip to England two years ago and it took me a year to bravely bring out the first teabag and try it! (The expiry date had almost passed on the box!) Up until that point I had just drunk bottled water for as long as I could remember, and nothing else.

Write to me when you get a chance and I'll try and help you slowly expand your diet in a safe and sensible way, with lots of empathy for what you're going through.

Belinda

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