What is "stable" for IBS-A people?
#202145 - 08/03/05 01:38 PM
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Anthem
Reged: 10/01/04
Posts: 76
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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What is stable for IBS-A people? It is permanent normalcy of bowel movements, sort of suspended in the middle between the 2 extremes of constipation and diarrhea? Have people here really attained that? Yes, I have read boasts by a couple people across the internet saying they achieved stability, then they usually hawk some alternative medicine pill (that on study only contains fennel and ginger) or expensive juice only found in Australia.
What is stability for IBS-A?
I am working hard on re-creating my relationship to IBS, because the way it works now is that if I have a firm bowel movement, I am happy. This means I am healthy. If I don't, then I am tense and unhappy and this means I am sick.
But those criteria only are relevant for non-IBS people, who certainly would feel sick if they had "D" for a few days, but for an IBS-A person it is part of the different phases of the moon, right?
One lady said she felt she was stable, yet confessed she just spent an entire month with "D". That don't seem stable to me! Is it an individual thing? Is stability possible with IBS-A? I loath the "D" because it still signifies that I am sick, but does it? I am trying to teach myself that I am well, just going thru that particular phase again.
How do you have a relationship with IBS-A?
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Poop texture has never been a huge problem for me. I would say stable for A is not getting D and not having C. And if something happens that gives me D (like a cold or cheating) then stable to me is not having days of C to follow and if something gives me C (like traveling) then being stable means not getting D from it. I am very regular and almost perfect substance-wise if you know what I mean. (bloating has always been more an issue with me really) I feel the acacia fiber is what made me get over the stable hump. I do wish (in my relationship with A) that I could go just once a day, but that would probably require less fiber and more meat (like a carnivore vs herbivore). So poop-wise I am pretty content! 
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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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not having D every morning.It is being able to leave the house at any given time and not fear having an "accident" or not having to be absolutely sure that there is a bathroom where ever I may be going. Knowing that an attack will eventually subside if I have one. The gas and bloating I think I can live with and control on a daily basis. I accept that.
I think it means something different to everyone, kind of like everyone's syptoms vary drastically. Those are the keys for me. I guess it just depends on what any one person can comfortably live with and what their way of looking at things is. My theory is that this happened to me for a reason. I don't like nor understand what has happened, but I know there is a good reason( and no, I'm NOT religious). Possibly, to have a better understanding and knowledge to help my children with similar problems. Most of my kids have varying intestinal problems, nothing terrible but we never thought twice about it, just dealt with it. Now that I know so much more about how things work, I grimace at the thought of some of the things we've done to help get through situations. Now I can help them more effectively, as well as other family and friends.
Ok, I've rambled on and on. Hope this makes sense.
Alyson
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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Thanks, because ultimately my boyfriend (as a reminder, I am gay) says I am obsessed with IBS, and need to make peace and accept it as part of my life instead of being at war with it all the time. He is right. "Resist not evil" and all that jazz. Not sure how to do that except to just allow that having IBS will entail periods when I have "D" and periods when I am just peachy keano! I started this thread to get some ideas from others here what their peachy keano state is, since I sincerely wondered if I am just too hard on myself. For example, in July I had about 20 good days without "D", then I had about a week when I had "D" light symptoms (mushy stuff) and was put on Lorazepam by my GP because I was so filled with anxiety about it. But my partner says that I have to learn to go with the flow (no bad pun intended - oh, gross!), since having a "D" day can make me a nervous wreck. There is still part of me that thinks it means I am sick! In reality, I am just having an IBS D day, although I sure wish I could figure them out and stop them. I try so hard (pity party in progress). I have been making my definition of "stable" be NO IBS "D" EVER AGAIN! Well, not sure that is realistic, but it sure sets me up to be a basket case a few times a month (and someone in another post told me I was lucky not to get PMS?). The worst part of this ailment has been my emotional response. If I can define "stable" in a much looser manner (again, no pun intended as in 'loose as a goose'), then I can perhaps have a better life. If I was a vain teenybopper girl, I'd cry into my pillow every night if I had a zit. This nonsense has got to stop since my partner is threatening to suffocate me with a giant loaf of soluble sourdough bread!
P.S. Yes, ladies, I was a very vain teenager, so I apologize if I insulted females in this post. I even did modeling work for Macys which helped put me through college. But now none of that matters - life is a process of renewing "who" we are, hopefully in more mature terms. Oh, my favorite modeling photo was standing around with some other really handsome guys, all of us in underwear holding footballs or football helmets. Sure, I have football helmet parties all the time, don't you? Wierd! I guess they thought it was kinky having a group of good looking guys standing around smiling at each other in their undies, but giving them sports equipment made it ok! What a society! (smile)
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I am so jealous! It is hard for me to even fathom that there are people with IBS who have regular bowel movements every day. Wow!
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The relationship part is definitely the hardest part for me. I don't know if you know this, but this all started 3 days after my wedding last October, throw on top of that Arthritis set in, at exactly the same time, in my lower back and shoulders and I turned 40 two weeks later(my little pity party)! Not exactly the way I envisioned my 1st year of marriage( I'm sure you know what IBS does to one's sex life). This has been a true test of our relationship. I feel so very fortunate that he is TOTALLY understanding. Funny thing is, I don't know why he is. Just makes him very special, I suppose. I think having someone so understanding has made this a little easier.
Anyway, you'll get there. Don't beat yourself up so much. Maybe try thinking of it as an excuse to stay around the house and do something else rather than thinking of it as bing "sick". As stupid as it sounds, when I start to stress, I just tell myself( in my head of course)"you're ok, you're ok...over and over. I know, I know but it helps me. Accept your partners love, help and understanding for what it is and maybe eventually you'll be able to look at it a little differently...
By the way, I had to laugh about the teenage thing. My 16yr old daughter has been very entertaining lately (hope I don't offend anyone by looking at these incidents with a sense of humor). Yesterday she was storming around the houses because our internet was out most of the day. She was so panicked..."mom, please call comcast, ask them when it will be fixed".... I called them twice just toget her off my back....The last weekend we went camping. This REALLY made me laugh. We made her go with us( I know I'm soooo mean for wanting family time with my teens...:)). We were in an area that has almost no cell service. OMG, this girl stomped around camp because she couldn't check her voice mail. She walked all over trying to get a signal, ranting and raving...."oh my gosh, mom, I can't get a signal grrrr" "I can't check my mesages" she went on and on, it was quite entertaining...:)
Alyson
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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this miracle juice found only in Australia. I'd really like some  I feel a bit the same about heaps of american products (like Beano) not to mention the wonderful alternatives to dairy over there that you can't get here! I guess what I imagine stable to be is not being scared of leaving the house in case I need the loo while I'm out. Of having a "normal" (or firm) BM. I'm a bit the same as you. Normal bm = happy me, D = sad and sick me. Good question 
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Amy
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and I was for a little while. And then the month of july came and everything went, um, down the toilet! I've been back and forth between C and D for the entire month of july and beyond. I hope my "stable" moniker didn't throw you for a loop. I thought I had things figured out, but I was wrong.
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Keep on keepin' on...
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Stable for me is having that lovely non-D regular BM or 2 at around the same time every day. For me, it's morning, although lately, something's been happening in the evening, too. (Sorry if that's TMI.) Stable is not being afraid to leave the house without the aid of anything requiring a prescription or having to stop somewhere between here and the other side of town specifically to use the facilities because of an "OMG" moment. Stable is not having D or not being C for more than a day or two. So yeah, it is sorta a "phases of the moon" thing for me. And I can count on things being a little touchy no matter what around "that time of the month." I know that's not an issue for you Anthem being a guy, but it is a thing for a lot of females.
I think in another post you mentioned your partner thinking you are obsessed with IBS. Well, I think about mine often, too. I bet my husband hears about it much more often than he really cares too. Not even the gross stuff, just the day-to-day stuff, like "I wish I could eat ice cream without fear of retribution." I don't know. I'd rather be obsessed and very careful than have an attack that could have been avoided.
Oh, and it took me a couple months of being on the diet before I didn't have D every week. Hang in there!!! 
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Was I your daughter??
that was me to a T, phone growing out of my head! HNow I hate the phone but am glued to the computer!
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Keep on keepin' on...
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You and I have the same mind set about IBS. Bluntly, I don't believe there is such a thing as IBS..I think it's just a name they've given to a few chronic symptoms. I try to keep it in my heart that I can think my way out of this , or that I've somehow thought my way into it..maybe stress, depression...or...what I really believe is that there is something physically wrong that I just can't pin point yet. It's a frustrating thing that is happening to us, but I don't believe for one second that I'll be this way for the rest of my life. You know in the bible it talks about D and how if you suffer from it you are unclean at the time with some sort of bacteria or...blah blah...I forget now but I read it at one point. There is a way here and it's not what we are eating unless we have some proven food allergies. I believe there is a way to calm the colon....and I will find it.
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Isn't that what men do in locker rooms? Stand around half naked looking great?
I should say right off that I'm not A, I'm D, so feel free to stop reading. But I consider myself stable. I guess I'm contrasting that first awful month or so where I couldn't eat ANYTHING, not even a bite of potato, minus the skin, without running to the bathroom. I was diagnosed four years ago and the more time that goes by, the better it gets. I still have D every morning, but it's not the double-over in pain, crying, cold sweat kinds. I still have reactions to food, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was four years ago. And I'm happy with that.
Wondering about the psychological/obsession end of things... I don't think not feeling perfect means you are "sick." I mean, this is something we have to live with. It's not going to get better overnight, but gradually better (maybe this is the D, not the A speaking here as I don't really have major swings or setbacks as it sounds A-ers do). It's a condition (so is pregnancy), a syndrome, not an illness that can be instantly cured. Celebrate the good days. Call the bad days bad days and move on.
And I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but sometimes it seems like people on the boards are obsessing over every tiny little thing, which I imagine is very emotionally taxing and can lead to more stress. (Now I realize that people who aren't stable need to obsess to figure out what it is that is bothering them) But if you find out there is HFCS in the ice tea, you never knew it before and it doesn't seem to bother you - why stop drinking it now? That doesn't mean you eat french fries all day long and suffer the consequences, but that you do the best you can dietwise, maybe have a few bites of your date's cheesecake if you can. Does that make sense? Hope I didn't offend anyone who is suffering. Again, this is coming from a stable, D perspective.
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I have been following Heather´s diet for a short while, and feel I am becoming more "stable".
I spend less time feeling sick with D, and bounce back quicker from an "attack" and now I know that I can feel better. Consequently I have an increased confidence about handling IBS and a more positive outlook and best of all expanding my diet with yummy food (couldn´t handle quite a few of Heather´s recipes at the beginning)
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Re: LOL< alyson,
#202258 - 08/03/05 08:05 PM
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Alyson McG
Reged: 05/20/05
Posts: 317
Loc: Vancouver Washington (IBS-A, but D prominant)
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Hmmm....I hope not...If I'm not mistaken, you have kids...and I'm NOT ready to be a GMA, at least not to humans(my 21yr old has my "grand puppy")...:)
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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Stable for me is no pain, not much bloat/gas and no D or C. When I'm regular and eating healthily I have 2-4 BMs a day....and nice solid, not hard logs too.
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i agree to a point. i also feel like "ibs" is a name given to a collection of symptoms - i think that's actually the definition of a syndrome, as opposed to a disease - but it seems like it's just a clinically hypersensitive stomach. just like some people get headaches more easily that others, or are more sensitive to pain, we have *very* sensitive and reactive digestive systems. coffee upsets 'healthy' stomachs, too - ours, just moreso. this doesn't mean the pain isn't sometimes very severe, and it doesn't mean that it's all in our heads. it's a fact of our bodies that we have to live with. even before ibs, i always held nervousness in my stomach. i have a friend whose anxiety manifests as asthma.
i think it's important to remember that this isn't just in our heads, something we're imagining - of course, our emotions and thoughts impact our bodies. it's all part of the same thing. but that doesn't mean that our minds are weak, or wrong, or bad, or that we can think our ways out of this any more than we could use our minds to mend a broken leg. this is just how we work, and we have to do our best to make it better.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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my roommate (& best friend) has been bearing the brunt of my 'obsession.' there's definitely a part of my neurotic brain that likes having something to micromanage so intently. (i've also always had control issues with food - see: vegetarianism - so the unhealthy part of me is getting to work towards a healthy goal. i suppose that's good?) but i definitely talk to my roommate a *lot* about this, about the diet, and now the message board, all of it. i don't think it's a bad thing - he's been around for a lot of the sickness, and i know he wants me to be better, too. i think about it a lot and talk about it a lot because managing ibs is a big commitment of time and energy. it's important to have people we can talk to without worrying about burdening them.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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Hi, Speaking of poop texture, does anybody regularly suffer
from the thin stool phenomenon? Also, is it due to the colon
constantly spasming? By the way Minnie, I love that pic of
your cats! Is one the parent and the other offspring? -Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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Honestly, if you feel like you are obsessing about your IBS more than you'd like (and I think we all obsess a bit, particularly when starting the diet), why don't you try hypnotherapy? It really did help me integrate my IBS into my life rather than ignoring/fighting it. While you may not want your IBS, all the stress that goes with fighting it only makes it worse.
Let me give you an example. When I used to feel an attack coming on, I would tense up and become hypervigilant. While this did make me diligent about drinking tea and eating SF, it never stopped an attack. Plus, it was a really miserable way to live.
One day after doing the IBS 100 hypno, I was getting that pre-attack feeling. Instead of tensing up and dreading that attack, I instead consciously relaxed and told myself that I have contingency plans if the attack comes and that I'll feel better pretty quickly. 15 minutes later, I felt perfectly fine, which never happened with the old tense-up routine.
It took me a couple of years after discovering Heather's diet to actually get the darn hypno CDs, but I should have done it earlier. It's a great way to move IBS from being the center of your life to something a little more proportional and livable.
--AC
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For me it means being able to plan and live my life as if I don't have IBS. It doesn't mean never feeling bloated or never having an attack. It means keeping things manageable through smart food and supplement choices, getting enough sleep, etc. It means not freaking out every time I have to take a car trip or eat at a restaurant. I know that I will get through it. When I do get an attack, I know that it will pass, I know how to control it, and I don't let it affect the rest of my week. I think some people forget that this is (so far) an incurable disease. Don't confuse "stable" with "symptom-free," because there is a huge difference, IMO.
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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nt
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Keep on keepin' on...
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I think we're all indefinitely searching for the holy Grail but we should be looking for like, 75% peace. 
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Keep on keepin' on...
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Amanda?
#202457 - 08/04/05 01:06 PM
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Cyndy
Reged: 03/05/05
Posts: 1301
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Do you mind me asking what supplements you take, brand name and dosage amount? Any advice would be helpful!
Thanks so much!
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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I'm confused as to whether you believe it is a stress induced effect on our body or a physical one that we haven't found yet.
I wish I had your faith that it will not be this bad forever. How can you be so sure of this?
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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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Thanks. They are not my cats, just from an e-mail I got once of cute photos. I don't know about the thin poop. My guess always was that it was from further up the colon. I think this might not be right but it just seems the thin stuff comes after normal stuff so.... 
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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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Quote:
Hi, Speaking of poop texture, does anybody regularly suffer
from the thin stool phenomenon? Also, is it due to the colon
constantly spasming? By the way Minnie, I love that pic of
your cats! Is one the parent and the other offspring? -Bob
I have a book about IBS with a drawn diagram of the intestinal tract. It shows a spasm in the large intestine that squeezes the stool so that it comes thru that smaller openning very thin. If you've ever seen them it is a bit like the children's Play-Doh toys. There is one toy where you stuff Play Doh in one end and then squeeze hard, and the big bulk of Play Doh comes out in very thin spaghetti strings. Same sort of principle.
Usually, the stool that is waiting to come out has been there at least a day or more. So if your body begins to have a "D" phase, that stool that was waiting will come out first and may then be firm and thick. Then the rest of the feces that do not have time to go thru having all the water removed and bound into a nice shape just washes out behind it. This is normal too as you go into a "D" phase.
My problem is that I don't have answers for why I go into a "D" phase. I eat the same foods all the time, so how can it be food? I tend to think it is something we do not consciously control much.
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I take the peppermint caps about 3 or 4 times a day, gasx like crazy, and acacia when I remember. I feel a whole lot better when I'm in the habit of taking acacia but it's been a crazy stressful summer and routines of any kind are hard for me to keep up. I completed almost all of the hypno CDs back in March but then had to stop (I moved, went on vacation, had friends staying ... by then I basically had to start over). I am going to resume them soon. They really help. I'm goign to start over from the beginning. That's about it. I also take equalactin, drink Heather's peppermint tea, and take an occasional immodium (though they stop me up for days). Other than that, I do my best to stick to the diet but I'm not obsessive about it. What I mean is, I only keep IBS-safe foods in my house, so my main meals are always safe. But if I'm out one day and I really want a slice of swiss cheese on my turkey sandwich, I go for it. But, I won't eat a big piece of cheesecake. All things in moderation -- and part of being stable means you can cheat a little and get away with it. It also means accepting the fact that on some days I'll do everything right and still feel like crap. That's life with IBS. I feel lucky I don't have anything worse! I am 24, otherwise healthy, and life is good. I try to enjoy it and not let my stomach hold me back!
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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As someone else mentioned, for me being stable is not having excessive D or C. I tend more toward the C end, so that's what I struggle with more. For the most part if I have a BM every few days I consider that stable. But to me being stable isn't quite that easy to define. I also swing to the A end from time to time, for weeks or even a month at a time, and when I do I just have this feeling in my gut that tells me no matter what I eat it's probably going to give me D or at least make me feel pretty sick. So when my tummy doesn't feel upset like that AND when I'm having BMs, that's stability to me.
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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Anthem, Thanks very much! It sounds consistent with the BM's I've been having. First thing in the morning, it's just a collection of thin stools. Later, in the morning after drinking plenty of water I get BM's where the stool is larger
lighter in color and much softer, almost like sludge. However,
if I don't get a lot of stool out in the morning, and have BM's later in the day, it's back to the thin stools. Maybe
I need a new anti-spasmodic. I was on Robinul Forte(Glycopyrrolate), and now I'm on Levsin. Are there better antispasmodics you can suggest? Thanks again. -Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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I think the juice is mangosteen or something like that. In American money it is an outrageous $25 per bottle. It grows only in certain parts of Australia and must be tended by virgin gardeners who reap the harvest of the fruit only under a full moon while singing the Australian National Anthem. Some of what I just wrote is not true (smile).
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Quote:
and I was for a little while. And then the month of july came and everything went, um, down the toilet! I've been back and forth between C and D for the entire month of july and beyond. I hope my "stable" moniker didn't throw you for a loop. I thought I had things figured out, but I was wrong.
I had a good month of July with weeks of "torpedo" stools, and I ate the same dull stuff every day. Then suddenly for no reason I started having gas one day really bad (uh oh) and then it lead to "D". I have no idea why. I took Immodium and it shut down, so now I am in the quiet zone, and hope the pendulum of the IBS-A is now going to swing back the other way (away from "D").
But I get really annoyed at people here (and I love them all but I still get annoyed) desperately trying to find THAT ONE TRUE TRIGGER (like the Holy Grail) that started their "D", and if they can just find it, they will never again have a "D" attack.
I love you all and want the same thing, but I just do not think life with IBS is that easy. We do not evevn know what causes it, and I simply do not believe it is controlled 100% purely by what you eat. The latest theories say it is a mind-gut communication dysfunction. So eat your little hearts out, all the most pure food in Eden, but I think there is still missing knowledge (maybe we need to follow Eve and seek the answer from the Tree of Knowledge?). I don't think we know enough about IBS to think we can "out eat" it. If you have an attack, it might be something you ate. True enough. But the reason can be totally oblivious to us!
I remember (was it King George the Third?) who had a rare disease that caused madness and his urine to be blue! This is historical fact. Well, at the time, the way to evaluate a person's health in the 18th century was to see how firm their stools were. His stools were firm, so the best physicians of the period were stumped. But they assumed that since King George was Royalty, this explained why his urine was blue. Of course, now medical science has a name for his rare disease and knows all about the cause and why the urine was blue.
Sometimes as far as IBS goes, we are still in the 18th century and our physicians are just as clueless.
Perhaps in IBS this slang expression and rude bumpersticker is LITERALLY TRUE:
"S**T Happens".
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I think that for a lot of people being 'stable' is more about how they can get about their daily lives, not so much physical symptoms.
Everything she said I think makes perfect sense.
Being stable doesn't mean NEVER having an attack, or a flareup or whatever you want to call it. You will always HAVE the IBS and that means you have to keep in somewhere, but hopefully not at the front!, of your mind. If you go for months being able to not worry about your bowel habbits, but have one bad day after some particularly bad decisions at a Mexican Food Restaurant (not that I'd do that.. ) doesn't mean you aren't stable. It means you made poor choices that as someone with IBS, you can't afford to do WITHOUT expecting consequences.
Good luck!
--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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Quote:
Thanks, because ultimately my boyfriend (as a reminder, I am gay) says I am obsessed with IBS, and need to make peace and accept it as part of my life instead of being at war with it all the time. He is right. "Resist not evil" and all that jazz. Not sure how to do that except to just allow that having IBS will entail periods when I have "D" and periods when I am just peachy keano!
Hi again!
I just wanted to poke my head in and say one more thing in response to this post about what I quoted there above.
Do you feel like your boyfriend is very supportive of you? It is only too easy for people who AREN'T dealing with this to say, "Deal with it, get over it". I think things like that can be very hurtful, and I hope that you do feel like he is supporting you rather than putting an additional stress on you.
You will learn to deal with this, but it will take time. If you feel like maybe he isn't understanding this, I think it is worth sitting down and talking about. I remember I had to sit my own boyfriend down and say, "Remember that night that you had a bad curry and spent all day in the toilet? Now, imagine me telling you to ignore it, to go out, to have a drink at the pub, to go shopping..." And it totally changed his outlook on it once we talked about it.
Stress is such an important factor in IBS that you need to make sure that you are supporting yourself in the best way possible.
This might TOTALLY not be an issue for you, but I know it was a big one for me and some of what you said sounded so familiar that I just wanted to post. I really get a bad feeling when people make statements like being "obsessed with IBS", it rubs me the wrong way! I think someone else put it best to me when they said, "Is a diabetic obsessed because they have to make sure to eat properly, take insulin properly... Is a parent obsessed with their children because they have to modify their lives around the lives are their children? No. It's not a fair statement!"
I really hope you find your own stable soon, hon!
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 know that some of my triggers are food, and stress, but the fact that I got so sick today really brought home the fact that there's no cure and it's totally misunderstood. I find that diet, sleep and probiotic HELPS, but as I've said quite a few times before, I think this is a whole lot deeper than we know yet. Unfortunately. But, if it wasn't, would we have the community we have now in each other?
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Keep on keepin' on...
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Well being an Aussie girl I can honestly say I've never heard of Mangosteen (although I don't doubt it exists here). I do drink aloe vera juice though which I suppose is much the same type of thing. He he on the dancing around and singing National Anthem whilst harvesting, you dag.
What you said in an above post about food and it not affecting you can be true. I saw my GP recently (and I hold my breath while I post this one for fear of starting a problem  ) and he told me that I've tried every diet there is to control my IBS and it's still out of control. He told me that while the larger population with IBS are helped by diet that some of us (like me) are simply not helped at all no matter what we eat. Mine is largely caused by stress and hormones (the latter I guess you don't have to worry about so much ) and so I am starting to eat "normally" again after about 5 years of diet fiddling. I'm not saying Heather's diet is not great. It has helped SO many people here, sadly I'm just not one of them. I do hope you find some stability soon, for that matter I hope I do too.
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Amy
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Hey Astrochick. Would you mind if I e-mailed you privately about the cds? I know there's a board, but I'd like to ask someone individually. Or, would you mind e-mailing me at Passanie@hotmail.com?
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In one thoughtful post, you mentioned support from others. My partner is very supportive, but I nonetheless feel that I need to keep quiet at times, just to preserve his sanity. Afterall, the average citizen doesn't like talking about stool quality and this type of stuff. So I try to keep it to myself unless I really need some emotional/physical stroking. I am sure we can relate, if a member of our family has an ailment (not IBS) and we do care about them greatly, but it can become tedious when they talk about all the time. So in that sense, I sort of suffer on my own. No one is in this body but me (as far as I can tell).
By the way, I have been having horrendous gas and gurgling in the left abdomen (large intestine) and I went out in the sunshine and sat on a parkbench and just took deep breaths and said over and over "My mind and body are peace". It worked! I just pictured my entire body in such relaxation and peace (a biofeedback expert one time told me it is easier to relax the entire body rather than try to relax just one part). The gas has subsided, so perhaps some of this was related to my conscious mind agitating the digestive area. Deep breaths, a sense of safety and talking to yourself in affirmative ways. If God is part of your belief system, talk to this figure also. I'm waiting for some divine advice on all this.
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Steph, I am sort of lost on the forum right now, and want to get off the PC (body tension building). But I did not interpret any of your posts as even hinting I should leave. You said many good positive things.
I keep coming here to support others, and sometimes I miss on that goal. I also come hoping that someone will announce that they found a fantastic product to save us all. Of course, that is also why I get Heather's email newsletter.
By the way, considering that in the USA, 1 out of every 5 people have IBS at some severity level, think what it must be like if you have it and are in Iraq as a soldier. I think that life/death situation would give me the runs even without havving IBS. It must be rough, unless they don't accept people into the USA Military if they admit they have IBS.
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