Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | IBS diet, bacteria overgrowth, meds, questions...

I was diaganozed with IBS-D a few years ago, and have been trying to get things under control by trying pretty much everything there is to do. My symptoms besides the d include bloating, dizziness, stomach and back pains/cramps. Apparently the dizziness has to do with effects on the central nervous system caused by the colon irregularity.

Below is an outline of what I have done, what has worked/not worked and also questions for you guys.
Thanks for taking the time to read!

-Diet-Have followed the diet guidelines on this site, have helped, but still have had a lot of cramping, bloeating and gassiness. I went to a nutriotionist who is having me try an elimination diet to test for food allergies. Basically I cannot eat anything with the following products or derivatives of these: corn, dairy, soy, wheat, yeast. I felt much better after 5 days or so, but last night had horrible stomach and intestinal pains, not sure why-maybe I accidentally had one of the forbidden products, I don't know. I will be on this for 2 weeks, then I test each food back in to see if there is a reaction.

Meds-I take nortriptyline (10mg once before bed) and dycyclomine as needed before meals if really bloated. These work really well, except the dycyclo makes me constipated. I had tried hyosciamine and it was horrible! I was sooo sick from the side effects so I stopped taking that. I also take gas-x, and Imodium as needed. I am also told to take probiotics (specifically pb-8) which I have not tried yet; you can only get this online.

-Bacteria overgrowth--I was given a stool testing kit by Dr. to test for bacteria overgrowth. I do this and send to a lab and then they send results back and treatment plan. Have not done this yet.
--Exercise-yoga and just general stretching helps, also helps to do cardio exercises, but I'm pretty bad about that these days due to time constraints.

--Questions:
Anyone out there have problems with gluten/wheat? I was tested for celiac and do not have it, but still seem to react to these products.

Do HFCS (corn syrup or corn products) have an effect on IBS? I read on this board that it does for some people, not sure.

What causes sharp stomach/back pains. They almost feel like menstrual cramps, but are much higher? anyone have this?

I'm now afraid of the bacteria treatment given what people have said about constipation. Anyone out there do this and have positive results?
Thank you!!!!

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