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How do you test yourself with baking soda?
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IBS-D. Eating gluten and dairy free.
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that could be the underlying problem- thats what happened to me before i was diagnosed
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I found it somewhere online where you add 1/4 t to an 8oz glass of water and drink it first thing in the morning. If you belch within 2-3 minutes you have sufficient acid in your stomach. If it takes you 5 minutes to belch then you have low acid. It took me 12 minutes to belch so who knows!!!!!!
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Re: For Todd
#350323 - 09/26/09 07:21 AM
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Syl
Reged: 03/13/05
Posts: 5499
Loc: SK, CANADA
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Unfortunately it is not a particularly effective method for determining if you have excess stomach acid. Hypochlorhydria can be difficult to diagnose. Ask your health practitioner for a Heidelberg test if you think you might have hypochlorhydria.
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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And what if you can't belch at all? I've never been able to burp, not even with carbonated beverages.
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Hey Ashleigh
I just wanted to let you know I have the same problem. My symtoms started off mild and now my symtoms are extreme. The gas and constipation are constant and I'm in so much pain. I'm lucky if I have two bowel movements a month. The gas that I have hardly ever comes out so I have constant fullness and cramping. I can barely sleep it's so bad. I haven't found anything that works but if I ever do I'll let you know since I having been trying one thing after another.
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Syl, how did you find out about your fructose malabsorption?
Here I go again...this is just another example of how many different things there are out there to consider. The more I try to figure things out the more confused I get. I follow the (Heather's)IBS diet and take the supplements but it makes very little difference and I'm always reading or hearing about new things that make me question everything I'm doing. Things like...
...even though you do not have celiac, and white bread is suggested as a stabilizer, you could still have an allergy to wheat or gluten (in which case you should avoid it)?
...soy is bad for you, especially men, and could be a trigger?
...tea (even though it's herbal and soothing peppermint) can be a stimulant/trigger?
This leaves me wondering if I even have IBS due to food intolerances or is it a digestive/enzyme issue. I don't have reactions to any supposed trigger foods, just multiple and urgent BM's every morning. I mentioned in a previous post that I wonder if getting a food allergy test would just give me an answer or maybe hypnotherapy but they both cost money. And then I see a thread about digestive enzymes and even though I've already talked to my GI about Habba Syndrome and gallbladder function and tried Questran (unsuccessfully) I wonder if I should be taking some?
There has to be an answer.
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IBS-D. Or so a doctor says.
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Thank you, Todd for posting this information. I am new to this site, though have had IBS-D haunting me since the mid-1990's. Every day has presented a new challenge and there didn't seem to be any answers found in what I ate, what I avoided, or whether I ate anything at all!
I do think there is merit in what you write here, along with what was written in the links you provided. It's certainly worth a try!
Some days I have felt desperate for answers and exhausted from running to the bathroom. Colon cleanses were certainly not the answer, and in fact they seemingly made matters worse.
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Senior female, IBS-D, presently stable thanks to Heather & Staff
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I found out about fructose malabsorption by reading the IBS research literature. In consultation with a GP I tried an elimination diet and found that I had problems with the sugars fructose, lactose and sorbitol. There is a breath test but unfortunately the fructose test does not tell you how much excess fructose (i.e more fructose than glucose) you can tolerate. The test is done using a 30 gram load of fructose. So while you may test positive at that load the test doesn't tell you if you can handle 1, 5, 10, etc excess grams of fructose. You still have to experiment to figure it out. A recent study shows that about 45-55% of IBSers have problems with fructose.
Fructose malabsorption can also include problems with wheat which contain fructans. Fructans are long chains of fructose molecules that are indigestible in the stomach or small intestine. However, they are easily fermentable by bacteria in the colon. Generally speaking wheat doesn't have to be eliminate from the diet but its consumption reduced.
Fructose, fructan, sorbitol, lactose, etc are known as short-chained carbohydrates. Collectively they are called FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligo-, Di- and Mono-saccharides And Polyols). Beside the article linked to in my signature there is a good article on FODMAPS in Malabsorption of Fructose and Other Short-chain Carbohydrates
Soy is a problem for a lot of IBSers and normal people too. It can produce cramping and gas. I cannot eat it even in small quantities which annoys me because I love soy sauce on rice. Some people find they can eat soy if they take Beano.
Over the years I have learned that dietary supplement and some digestive enzymes can cause problems. Some of them contain ground up plant material containing the active ingredient. Unfortunately, they also contain a high amount of insoluble fiber which can cause problems. Also, most digestive enzymes which are composed or proteins are broken down in the stomach acid providing little benefit. However, the enzyme in Beano and lactase are two digestive enzymes that do work well.
I find many herbal teas are problematic. Not sure why.
Generally speaking food allergy tests will not enlighten you much. From the IBS research I have read an food elimination approach is more effective that an allergy test.
While eliminating a variety of foods from your diet may help manage IBS symptoms it is definitely not the definitive answer. Dietary management helps me keep my IBS enough under control that I can 'almost' live an ordinary life but I still have bloating and pain daily --- it is just not as intense 
I completely understand your frustration. I am sure most people with IBS ask themselves the same questions you do daily. You would figure the medical profession would have figured out how to manage or cure IBS by now. However, the GI systems is one of the most complicated organs in the body. It is an interface between the outside world and our internal workings. Surprisingly we still know relatively little about how it functions 
Have you tried to figure out a base diet - that is a simple diet to which can fall back on when you get an IBS flare-up?
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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I have been doing some extensive reading here and elsewhere about IBS these past few weeks. I've suffered with IBS-D for more than a decade following an extremely stressful (trigger) time in my life. When the stress level went down, the IBS-D remained, naturally!
I'm finding Healther's products and suggestions to be extremely helpful. At the same time, I am coming to the conclusion that causes and treatment are DEFINITELY a very individual thing, and vary from person to person. The end result of the condition (IBS-C, -D, -A) may be the same, though the causes aren't necessarily found in the same places of the GI tract. Even so, Heather's products are the perfect place to start and go from there to personalize your own program of success. These products are a perfect foundation, non-irritating, and soothing.
In building your own program, you may find that what helps one person may not help another whose problem rests in a different area of the GI tract. Seemingly, we have to 'fine-tune' our own program of success. I also have the thought that once we get our gut awakened to working properly, our symptoms might well be less when indulging in some foods in moderation that we are presently avoiding during this personal process.
I would guess that the timeframe also varies from person to person as to how long it takes to get symptoms under digestive control and become less symptomatic. This no doubt is linked to how dysfunctional a specific organ has become, and the duration of time it has functioned like that.
I suggest that you keep experimenting, absent introducing too many good ideas into your gut all at once. I personally have found this all to be a trial and error path to personal adjustments and recovery. If we try introducing too many things at one time, we never will know what helps and what is aggravating our own GI tract.
Also, never rule out that some 'people' can be stressors in your life and need to be weeded out. Such can be a matter of your personal survival and enjoying life far more. Some people can be stressors in life, while others are wonderful stress relievers (support systems). Such choices are entirely our own!
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Senior female, IBS-D, presently stable thanks to Heather & Staff
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