Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Embarrassing topic - but

step back girls, this is my department. kim, you have just described my life two years almost three years ago. except that i would have an attack at least once a week.
i too have ibs-c, but when i have and attack its severe cramping and then severe d. so let me tell you what it is, and what you can do to make it better.
first off, the fact that this happens every month or two shows that you are doing a pretty good job of taking care of yourself. you are sticking to the diet very well, or it may just be that traditional japanese food is very conducive to the diet. sushi, rice, and miso are the some of the safest things for me to eat.
secondly, what is going on is that you eat something that is not good for your tummy, but still not that bad, like the meal you described with the egg and ham and mayo, it's hard for your body to digest, so it ends up sitting in your system for too long and becomes hard and painful. it blocks everything else, all the good food, from being digested and passing normally. finally, your system is completely backed up, there's nowhere for the food to go! then you eat something, it doesn't even have to be a trigger, it can be perfectly safe, but your system doesnt know what to do with it so it panicks and starts to force everything out, resulting in lots of cramps and "d".
now, what can you do to prevent this from happening. stick to heather's diet, it works! be sure to get plenty of soluble fiber, and drink lots (at least half your weight in ounces, like i'm 120, so i need to drink 60 oz) of lukewarm water. also, you can probably feel when you are starting to get backed up, probably a day or two before your attack you feel crampy, especially in a particular spot in your abdomen. once you recognize the feeling, i would start taking a stool softener every day for no more than a week when you feel like it. also, when you have an attack and it's really bad, my doctor gave me a prescription for diclycomine, a muscle relaxant in 10mg capsules. i take one when i'm having a bad attack, it stops the cramping, but then there's the problem of still being blocked up. so then i take a stool softener capsule, like surfak and then another one the next day until things start moving again. so again, what you need are;
heather's book- stick to the diet! it helps, even with your attacks, they won't be as long or as painful.
diclycomine 10mg or its equivalent
stool softener capsules, surfak for example
don't worry, it will get better. and stay away from that mayo and egg yolks, that alone will make me ill.
take care,
laura

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