How long until stable?
#299218 - 02/07/07 11:17 AM
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Digby
Reged: 07/31/04
Posts: 453
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I'm IBS-D. Just wondering how long it took other folks to get stable after starting the IBS diet. (I know it will vary from person to person.) If you respond, please include other things you take to get stable. Many thanks! 
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I think it was a year and a few months. I've been what I consider stable ever since - I won't say I never have bad days, but I'm down to maybe one or so a month, usually related to hormones, if you catch my drift.
Other than the diet, I don't do much. I don't take any other supplements. I gave up on the fiber supplement after a while because I couldn't afford to buy it anymore - it did help me stabilize, and I highly recommend using a SFS, but once I *GOT* stable, I found I didn't need it anymore anyway.
Oh, I did use peppermint tea as an antispasmodic and to settle things down after an attack.
The only medication I take is an anti-anxiety med (Lexapro). I've never taken any prescriptions for symptoms, like bentyl or anything like that.
I'm an A by technicality, but I was always primarily a D. (Years of D alternating with an occasional monthlong or so period of C.)
Hope that helps a little. 
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The most effective things I've done to get it under control are following the EFI diet, acacia fiber, and hypno.
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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and how do you define stable- ie been feeling ok for at least a certain amount of time???
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I think "stable" can mean different things for people. I'm definitely NOT symptom-free. I considered myself stable when I got to a point where I was only having one or two bad days a month, and the rest of the time, I was able to live my life pretty much normally - and stayed that way for a few months. I've now been stable for 1 1/2 years.
I should also point out that stability isn't this magic state that you reach and then life goes back to how it was before. I still follow the IBS diet, for the most part. I still take my medication. I understand that if I stop those things, I'm going to be just as sick and miserable as I was before (and that was pretty darn sick!).
I noticed improvements after maybe 5 or 6 months on the diet. Or maybe it was 4 or 5. Hard for me to remember, but you get the idea - it took a while to see even the slightest improvement. But so worth it!
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Im having one or two episodes a week. Went to GI guy and Im having colonoscopy because I have had it with cancelling my social plans and not wanting to go out. 
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As atomic rose said, the definition is probably personal.
I consider myself stable, when I don't experience pain each time I eat and when I don't have to take laxatives (meaning I had enough IF to make me go with the meal).
I still have bad days (around my period) but that's normal... I am miserable when I get my period anyway, so I don't consider that that big of a deal... it is just a little bit more miserable than before I got IBS.
I'm IBS-C though and that's pretty different from D.
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I'm not quite stable yet, but close. I have definitely seen improvement. About a month into the diet, I had a food-triggered (versus my more common stress-triggered) attack. Rather than needing a full day to recover and then a few days of eating lightly, I was feeling better the next day. That was a HUGE improvement to me. My D attacks aren't frequent, never were, but now when I have them they're significantly less miserable. Even the C is starting to respond well to the fiber.
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IBS-C, D and nausea with acute attacks, stable on EFI for 3 years
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By stable, I mean I don't have attacks more than once or twice a year. And they are almost always brought on by something other than IBS (bad food, illness) and exacerbated by IBS. I've considered myself stable since Aug. of 2005. But before then and after switching over to Heather's diet, I was doing pretty well. I had attacks only around the time of my period. Summer of 2005 is when I did hypno. In the days when my IBS went unchecked, I had attacks everyday. In high school, it was full blown D everyday. I cut things out of my diet slowly as I noticed that they caused D. And then, many years later, I found Heather's books and that changed everything.
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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I am stable for the most but still have bits of pain here and there--I was having major pain for many months, so a little here and there is not a problem. I stablized in stages and have used every tactic. Just so you know I was diagnosed in October of 2006 and found this website before I was officially diagnosed incase the doctor's assumptions were correct.
I started with the break the cycle diet for 4 days. I slowly ncorporated other food with a solid SF base and started the Acacia fiber 1/2 teaspoon a day and built up. I was put on Rifaxmin for 7 days (antibiotic) and that helped.
The pain lingered the longest compared to my other symptoms, so I decided to try the hypnosis--it did wonders for me. I also take digestive enzymes and probiotics in addition to the peppermint capsules. Basically, I do everything including the EFI diet just to maintain a normal life.
It is all worth it and I have Heather and the people on this board to thank for all their help.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
Oh, it took me almost 5 months to stop having daily pain. Now most of my days are pain free!! AMEN!
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