Complicated Question about IBS-C
#501 - 02/07/03 08:39 AM
|
|
|
|
|
sek
Reged: 01/29/03
Posts: 63
Loc: Virginia, USA
|
|
|
Please bear with me as I try to explain this...
I used to eat all of the wrong things--whole grain bread and pasta, tons of cheese, tons of raw fruits and veggies, etc. I had (have) constipation, bloating, and gas problems, with pain and cramps once every week or two. I knew that alcohol had me doubling over the next day but I couldn't identify the other triggers.
Now that I have the information about the IBS diet, I can't understand why I didn't constantly have cramps. Plus, if I was eating all of those triggers, why were my bowels so sluggish?
Then this morning I was looking over my Eating for IBS book (for the hundredth time) and I noticed a sentence I hadn't really noticed before. It was something to the effect of bowels "shutting down" in response to previous stimuli and thus leading to constipation.
Ah, another piece to fit into the puzzle! So now I'm dying to understand more about this shutting down response. Is that what was happening before when I was eating triggers constantly? I think this might be very important to finally understand and thus identify my personal triggers and tolerances. Hopefully other IBS-C folks could benefit from a discussion down this path as well.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Hi - That piece of information in Eating for IBS actually came from Dr. Ted Bayless at Johns Hopkins. I was on a PBS news show in Maryland with him and he talked about the colon "seizing up" as a result of IBS spasms. This clearly explained something I'd been wondering about - how insoluble fiber and other triggers that stimulate the muscle contractions of the colon could cause constipation as well as diarrhea. The diarrhea aspect seemed obvious - if you have a lot of sudden, violent spasms of the colon, matter will be rushed through too quickly and diarrhea (not to mention cramps) will result.
However, it would then seem likely that insoluble fiber would help, not hurt, IBS constipation, as things are speeding up and moving along. BUT - if those muscle contractions are too strong and sustained (and this muscle function is exactly what goes awry in IBS), you can end up with a type of "charley horse" of the colon. The muscles are simply seizing up like a clenched fist, and colonic motility comes to a standstill. Constipation is the result (and painful cramps as well) until those muscles finally relax back into a normal state.
So, as paradoxical as it sounds, insoluble fiber and other GI tract stimulants can actually cause constipation for IBS folks as well as diarrhea. Soluble fiber is the magic key here - it will gently stabilize the GI contractions and get everything moving through at a normal rate, with a normal water level, thus relieving both constipation and diarrhea.
- Heather
--------------------
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!
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Heather this all makes so much sense to me. I was wondering, why I am still suffering from cramps from time to time? I stick religiously to your diet, exercise and do Yoga. All of this has eased the C greatly and I have regular BM now but am still incredibly swollen and bloated all the time. Could these cramps be telling me that I am unknowingly still constipated? I don't understand it. 
--------------------
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
Posts
