Heather, please answer my post. I need help.
#265660 - 05/26/06 06:15 AM
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ccckkk
Reged: 11/06/03
Posts: 48
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I have IBS-C. I am a total mess. I started Heather's diet about 3 weeks ago. Felt great first week on just rice, chicken, rice cakes, puffed rice. It was a miracle. But at that same time I also had my period and I usually feel better at that time of month. Second week, I started adding in insoluable foods one at a time and felt so bad. So, I then went back to what I was eating the first week to get back on track. I still felt terrible. Maybe, I felt so good the first week only because I had my period combined with the diet I was on. Anyway, now on the third week I started adding in fruits. I am terrible. Gassy, bloated. I am moving my bowels which is unusual but still no relief with the gas and bloating. My eyes have circles under then and are black. I am so fatigued, just a mess. Maybe I would be better off eating hamburgers, cookies and whatever junk food I can find, because all of this nutrious food is making me worse than ever. I just do not know what to do. I was thinking could it be a hormonal problem? But then again, I was diagnosed with colonic inertia, so all these fruits and vegetables are taking so long to come out. I am still seeing brocolli in my stool that I had eight days ago. HELP!!!!
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It could be too much too soon.
Go back to your rice and chicken. Go to the soluble fibre foods list. There is more than rice - and plenty of healthy nurtitious veggies - like cooked sweet potatoes and carrots are a great place to start. Also, applesauce and bananas are probably the safest fruits.
Then, when adding insolubles, cook, peel, mash and puree. This will make them easier to digest. Things that are more mashable are easier to digest. Think - cooked carrots vs. broccoli. Carrots are easier hands down. Besides, broccoli can cause a lot of gas problems.
Fruits can be really tricky so I would start off only on cooked and mashed. Baby food is great for this. I also love making apple crisp - cooked apples, and I add strawberries, with the oatmeal SF. Smoothies are also a really good way to incorporate fruits.
For bloating and gas, fennel tea is best. Break up a tablespoon of fennel seeds and steep in a mug of boiling water.
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Formerly HanSolo. IBS, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD times 3.
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Thank you for posting.
I did start out with the mashed bananas, mango mashed in blender, potatoe, cooked string beans. All of this stuff alone made me sick. I even used one-half banana at a time, not even a whole banana.
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My heart goes out to you. My story is the same. For me I didn't see relief until after 3 months. Get raw fruits and vegetables out of your diet. Get fennel tea. Get on Acacia fiber, in very small amounts as listed in the directions, and eat smaller portions often to start. Never get starving. Keep reading about trigger foods and be patient. Even after long periods of feeling good you could have a bad streak, but never give up.
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I'm not Heather either, but I've found that going slow is the best place to start. Take your time and don't get upset if you have a bad day. Each new day is a new beginning and you have full control over your food choices. Follow the diet explained in Heather's book and if you have a problem, back peddle a bit and try again later on. Slow is best when making food changes.
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But you eventually did have relief with the diet? Does my body need to get used to the fruits and vegetables? I took the Acacia powder a couple of years ago and just could not handle it, even the littlest bit. The fennel tea I have been drinking for years and do find it helps, but once I start eating fruits and vegetables nothing else makes a difference. Thanks for posting.
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I thought I already did start over again eating the rice and chicken, but then tried again with the fruits and and still could not handle it. I also do not think that eating the rice beforehand is making any difference at all. Believe me, I am very strict when it comes to diets. I will do anything it takes, but I just do not think Heather's diet is helping me.
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How long have you had your stomach problems?
If you've been like that a while it makes a lot of sense that it might take more than 2 weeks to start to stabilise yourself enough so that you can start introducing the fruit, etc.
And bodies are strange, complicated things - if it was as simple as changing your diet for just 2 weeks, I'm guessing nobody would have IBS at all? 
Don't be so hard on yourself, and give your body time to adjust. IBS sufferers have infamously sensitive tums - any dislike any change, for better or worse. They can usually only be helped by taking things really slowly... Really hope you start to feel better soon! 
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http://ibsblondie13.blogspot.com/
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Are you on Heather's diet? Has it helped you and how long have you been on it?
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I was the same, you really have to add food slowly. I find I am simply intolerant to some foods and cannot eat them at all. The way that I identified them when I was diagnosed first was to keep a food diary of what I ate, at what time and what symptoms I had. That helped me to track what really didn't agree with me, even though not necessarily a "trigger food" for everyone.
MSG KILLS me, yet I can have carbonated drinks occasionally. Green veggies are very very tough on my gut too, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, even lettuce I find very difficult to eat. Go back to the basic diet. Add one food a day like Hansolo suggests, things like carrots or pureed fruits are easy to add. I found carrots and mushrooms the easiest veggies to digest, but it's different for everyone.
Drink lots of the teas too, I find peppermint is excellent for cramps.
Good luck
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S.
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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I've been following Heather's guidelines for a few months now, and yes it has made a WORLD of difference to me.
Whilst I am still spending 99% of my time in my house, most of this is now down to my anxiety based on previous experiences when I was far, far more poorly than I am now. Before starting Heather's 'diet' I was very, very poorly, every single day - I'm talking constant D (like 20 times a day), nothing but D (if you search my posts for 'normal poo', you'll find what a great achievement it was for me to have my first one in months and months and months), severe cramping every day that made me gasp and moan, and being bloated to the point of looking 4 months pregnant.
But where am I now? Well, I still consider myself a 'newbie' to the diet - I've been poorly with IBS a long time, since getting severe gastroenteritis twice within a few months and afterwards taking antibiotics, and I don't expect any change in my diet to have instant effect. Whilst I am far better than I was, everyone comments I even look better than I was, I still have severe IBS and I'm still suffering - but I am now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and can feel myself making progress.
I also 'cheat' occasionally - whilst I know this puts my progress back every time, and makes me feel rubbish in the long run, etc etc, I have always had low willpower and an addictive personality - and I currently consider having pizza once a month, a glass of coke occasionally and a few squares of chocolate one evening every week still progress for me, as before implementing Heather's diet I ate copious amounts of all this stuff, and worse, every single day.
I guess what I'm saying is this - if you are looking for a quick fix to IBS you'll be disappointed. If it was that simple and easy, like I said, nobody would be suffering with it. Also, every person's IBS is different, and you can also throw in food intolerances too which further complicate things (for example, Heather takes egg yolks out of our diets because of their exceedingly high fat content, so of course I double up on the egg whites in every recipe - but a food intolerance test I had done highlighted that I had intolerances to egg whites, just to further complicate things!!)
Honestly, go easy on yourself, and go easy on this 'diet' - these boards currently have over 8000 members (who wouldn't be here if this wasn't helping, particularly the people who have been posting here years, despite the fact they are now stable - choosing to stay here to help us newbies find our own way to improvement), and Heather's diet is known and respected worldwide for it's high success rates. I would guess only gut-directed hypnotherapy has higher success rates (a guess). Take Cailin's advice and keep a food and symptom diary, and go back to the 'what to eat when you can't eat anything' diet for a while - and give your body the time to adjust that it needs.
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http://ibsblondie13.blogspot.com/
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Thank you.
I did start out with the rice and chicken. Then, mashing one-half banana with rice milk. Then, another day pureeing a mango and eating only half of it. I fell terrible. I now took 3 Milk of Magnesias this morning to try and get all the fruit out of my system. Besides this, last night I took my normal MiraLax and Colase and I still have not moved my bowels.
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Thank you for posting. I am so happy the diet is helping you.
I definitely know there is no quick fix. I am going on 32 years of having this and tried everything you could imagine. I will keep everything you said in mind. Thanks again.
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