Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Atkins made a monkey out of me!

Hi everyone! Newbie poster here - been looking around, reading some of the posts, and clinging to my IBS books. I have a very important question, but let me give you background (please, bear with me, it's a bit of a longie):

All my life I ate like garbage - I used to jokingly say I was a "meatatarian", and I could eat anything - lots of sugar, flour, fried stuff (except of course that eating anything was rarely vegetables!). I didn't have any digestive problems (except on rare occasion, like any other average person). But I did start to have some other health problems, specifically anemia, hypoglycemia and all it's side effects.

After reading a researching, I went on the Atkins diet. I felt fabulous for a few months (it cured both my problems), but then something went horribly wrong with my stomach. At first they told me it was GERD and a small hernia, and they just gave me a pill, which was ineffective. They didn't see anything wrong with the diet - after all, it was the first time in my life I was eating nice healthy whole grains, whole nuts, tons of fresh veggies, and a wide variety of poutry, fish and red meat (no, it was not deep fried bacon cheeseburgers). I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, so I made sure I packed on the "healthy" stuff.

Eventually, it seems my stomach gave up. I ate and ate, but nothing really digested -it kinda rotted inside. I lost so much weight and dehydrated so bad, I became vulnerable to some kind of stomach virus, and was placed in the hospital twice. The doctors didn't really know what to do other than give me tummy tranquilizers and say "Oh, it's probably just Norwalk Virus & IBS" - without testing for anything else or giving me some more practical adivce.

Well, I recently chucked all the doctors who told me I was stuck like this for life (which may be short if the weight loss doesn't stop!). My new gastroenterologist is starting to do the proper tests now (she thinks it IS IBS but also some other problems), and has put me on a milder medicine and some of the supplements suggested on the boards/book.

I just finished the Eating for IBS book and realized my problem probably was that I did such a good job of eliminating all white flour, sugar and starches, that I have had almost 0 soluble fiber for 7 months. I'm so grateful I found the book, but so frustrated - why didn't the doctors tell me there was 2 kinds of fiber? Why didn't they see it in my food logs (not even the nutritionists caught it)?

But here's my real question - and I'm stuck - all these recipes on the book/site look really good, but if I go back to real sugars, I'm back to hypoglycemia, seizures, moodiness, etc. But it seems I can't use artificial sweetners either because it will upset my stomach (I know Sorbitol in large quantity does me in, I seem ok with Splenda). Am I stuck never sweetening anything?

I've really tried to keep a positive outlook, but I just don't want to eat anymore. I don't enjoy food like I used to. My last joke with my doctor was "Maybe I should've stayed eating like cr-p - I would be in less pain"!

Anything anyone out there could suggest would be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

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