Hi All -- and especially Heather if she happens to read this,
I am a 38 year old man who was diagnosed with IBS about 10 years ago. I feel very lucky because i found the helpforibs.com website soon after and it really helped me learn about what I could do to take charge of my situation. All those years ago, I was struggling with indigestion, diarrhea, and bloating. It was a very stressful time and I would feel despair at how tricky eating was for me. Learning about soluble versus insoluble fiber helped right away. For several years now, it has become rare that I have an attack of diarrhea.
What can continue to be frustrating is gas, bloating, or bowel movements that are incomplete/not easily passed (sorry for the visual). With all of the recent talk of FODMAPS, I have also tried to incorporate some of those guidelines too. What I did notice was that restricting wheat (good quality white bread had become a stable because of the soluble fiber) has significantly reduced painful bloating and somewhat normalized by bowel movements. So i guess I feel like I am at a bit of crossroads in that so many of the soluble fiber foods that I had been relying on (apple sauce, mangoes, pears, white bread) are high in fodmaps. I haven't been able to find breath testing here in Toronto, Canada but wonder if that would be useful. I guess I am just feeling unsure about how to proceed.
ALso, and I imagine I am not the only one, it can be so confusing how some foods seem so fine at certain times and soooo not fine at others -- IBS can be mysterious!
Thanks so much for letting me share, Adam
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