IBS-C in remission
#369256 - 02/26/13 08:19 AM
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I'm writing to say there is hope for those suffering from IBS-C. I sympathize with the D folks, but we C folks have it hard. So few things seem to help.
I found this website after my GI specialist diagnosed me with IBS then told me there was nothing I could do. That seems pretty standard, and I'm so grateful for the existence of the website as a place to go for help. As my first step, I bought the book and started the diet.
The diet was AWFUL. I was on it about two years. During that time I would have a random few days when things would stabilize which convinced me to stay on it. When it wasn't working most of the rest of the time, I doubled-down on forbidden foods. I am someone who eats very few pre-packaged foods and cooks dinner every night so eating healthy has never been a problem for me. On this diet, I had cut so many things out that I gave myself anemia. I also got a cold or the flu every 4-6 weeks like clockwork. I only get sick when I'm not eating well. My hair and skin became extremely dry because I was eating so little fat. Please, please be careful on this diet. If it's not working, don't get ever more restrictive. Give up and try something else. Dietary interventions are much less successful for IBS-C than they are for IBS-D according to the research.
Completely desperate, I tried the hypnosis CDs. Yikes. I do not have the personality to deal with hypnosis. There is nothing less relaxing I can think of then having someone tell me I'm relaxed. Puhlease.
After finally giving up on dietary interventions to help, I went back to the doctor's office. Obviously, not back to the same person who told me to do nothing. This doctor of course told me to take fiber (I ignored this advice, as the research does not indicate that fiber helps in most cases) and prescribed Miralax. Miralax works. Absolutely, I started going every day, several times a day. Except after a couple of weeks, I still looked 4-6 months pregnant most of the time and I never got that feeling of a complete evacuation. Back to the doctor, who told me to take the darn fiber already. So I did. I started on Citrucel since I can get it at the drugstore, but in order to get up the 25-30g recommended for IBS-C, I needed to switch to Heather's brand.
And finally, relief. I spent the first couple of weeks pooing out about half my body weight. I mean I knew I was backed up, but seriously. Hard to believe there was that much stuff in me. I take four tablespoons of Heather's fiber a day, and a dose of Miralax in the morning, and my symptoms are in almost total remission. I've started weaning myself off my probiotic as well.
I never thought I would get to this point, but I would read posts on the forum from people who had conquered their IBS, and I would try to maintain hope. I thought I would be another one of those stories for anyone thinking things will never get better.
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IBS-C
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I'm glad you found something that works for you. Unfortunatley, the fiber doesn't go down very well for some of us.
Can I ask, do you follow heather's diet or the fodmap diet? Or do you eat anything you want as long as you take the fiber?
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I have a couple of quick questions for you. When you say that you had to switch to Heather's fiber because you could not get up to the 25-30g with Citrucel, may I ask why not? I am not familiar with Citrucel, so I was just curious. And also I have heard good and bad about Miralax, but your experience was good then? No D with it? No pain with it?
And congrats on feeling so much better!
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1. Citrucel has 2g of fiber per tblsp while Heather's has 6g. I would have been doing nothing but eat fiber if I had stuck with Citrucel to get up to the 24g I'm taking now.
2. Miralax really only worked in conjunction with the fiber. Miralax makes me go, fiber makes sure there's something that comes out. Without the fiber, it was more like D.
3. No pain.
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IBS-C
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That's a bummer about the fiber. Have you tried flax seed?
I gave up on all the diets. I briefly gave Fod-map a try, but there's no way to tell if things are working. I mean if something makes you clutch your stomach and run to the bathroom, that's a pretty good sign you shouldn't eat it. But we on the C side don't get that. The only way to tell if something is blocking us is for us to get stable in the first place and then have a flare up. Well none of those diets ever got me stable, even in the elimination phase.
Now that I go regularly, I can start to figure out my problem foods. I still eat them, because it's hard to find that line when it's going to cross into too much. Sometimes it does (this is where I think Fod-map has it right). Then I get blocked. But instead of two weeks of problems, it's two days. At this point, I'm ready to call that success.
That was a long answer. The short answer is no, I can't eat anything I want. But I can eat some bad things in small doses. And if I eat too many bad things, it's a temporary setback.
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IBS-C
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No, I haven't tried flax meal. I am currently taking Mirilax twice a day...but it's too much. No bulk at all. I recently went up on the amount because my gi doc told me to, but today I am decreasing it to once a day and trying 1 Tablespoon of citrucel again (for bulk).
I totally agree about diets and C. It's impossible to figure out trigger foods when you are full of poop and hurting because of that all the time. I am on FODMAP for over 2 months and it has done NOTHING for me. I don't have D, so i'm not running to the bathroom either, so what is causing the food besides the constipation?
What have you found to be your personal problem foods? What can't you eat? Do you still eat soluble before insoluble? Or eat red meats or anything like that? I hope to hear from you again.
Congratulations on your success. What a relief that must be for you. I'm ready to just give up and face a life of pain. 
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Believe me, I have been there. Which is why I wrote the post.
The Miralax did not work without the fiber for me. It took me over a month to get to the 24g I take now. Go slow. I started with Citrucel tablets which only have 1g of fiber. I increased by one pill every couple of days until I finished a bottle. Then I switched to Citrucel powder and increased by 2g every couple of days until that ran out. Then finally I switched to Heather's fiber and kept increasing.
I don't know if this makes a difference, but here's how I actually take my fiber. I have a 32oz water bottle that I fill with 4 tblsp of fiber in the morning and water when I get to work. I start drinking after my morning tea around 9:30 and sip on it all day until it's done, usually around 4. So I'm basically continually taking fiber for several hours rather than taking a couple of big doses at once. Might be why I'm tolerating it better.
Honestly, forget everything about the diets. Eliminating all kinds of food didn't help you. So you still have no idea what you should and shouldn't be eating and you're spending all this time stressing about eating rules, right? Made my life hell, and more importantly, didn't work. I rammed my head against that wall until I gave myself anemia. I was literally suffering from malnutrition before I gave up. Save yourself the trouble.
I'm still in the process of figuring out my trigger foods. For sure, cruciferous vegetables. I can only eat a very small serving once a week. Beans are also out. No one can digest beans, and I don't know that pureeing them (into hummus, eg) helps any. I eat all meat. I have to, since everything vegetarian is made of beans. Meat has never given me any trouble. I should probably also stay away from beer and stick to wine.
I will say that when I quit Heather's diet and just started eating whatever I wanted, I went through a couple weeks of intense stomach discomfort. Pain so bad it woke me up at night. It passed after a couple of weeks as my stomach got used to actually having to do some real work again.
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IBS-C
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Do you find that that amount of Heather's fiber dissolves easily in the 32 ounces of water? Or do you have difficulty getting it to dissolve and it floats around in clumps?
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It does not dissolve easily, but it does dissolve. I fill it and shake. Ten minutes later, more shaking. Vigorous shaking. After a while, I'll look over and the water will be clear.
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IBS-C
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Thanks!
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