Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | My Recent Experiences (May be more helpful to IBS-D)

Hi all,

One of the things that I love about this board is when people post what has worked for them. I thought that there are a few things that have been really helping me lately, that I would share:

The first one is, if you can see a nutritionis/dietician DO IT. Through my job, a thing was sent around saying, "Free Nutritional Advice" so I pounced on it. I met this nutritionist, who is based in another province, but she talks to me at least once a week on the phone and sends me things by post.
Speaking to her was a really eye opening experience for me. I realised that as I have been on this diet for so long, and have gotten so afraid of so many foods (I didn't add the things back in that I should have, I got stuck just off the "What to Eat When You Can't Eat Anything" diet) that my body is really unbalanced and subsequently very unhealthy!

I sent her some copies of my food diaries, and she did a full analysis on them for me. Turns out, I am getting less then 14% of what I should in both iron and calcium! Whoops!! This is a big deal to me 1) As a woman and 2) As someone with D. Both these can be constipating, so she said I needed to get on that right away.
She also said I was likely retaining a LOT of water, which could explain some of my excess weight. I got some food poisoning or something a couple of weeks ago, and sure enough I lost over 8 lbs in 2 days. That's gotta be water.

Anyway, I am rambling but the point is that she was able to point out some of the things I am missing in my diet because I let myself get way off track with foods.

Now, I have made some changes and since I have, I have had the most normal BMs that I have had in MONTHS. And not just for a week, like I have with other stuff that I got excited about and then it stopped working, but for going on 3 weeks now, so I thought I would share them.

1) Every morning, I eat: 3 Tbsps of Oatmeal (the pure kind with no additives or anything) with 1 Tbsp on Oat Bran, cooked in the microwave for 60 seconds with 1/2 cup of water. I eat that with 1/2 cup of Silk Soy Milk (need the calcium!!) and I usually throw some fruit in (thawed frozen berries, raisins or usually a small can of diced peaches, juices drained).
I think that this is the biggest one for me, as every since I started doing this I have had solid BMs. And formed. Which is really, really rare for me. And every day?? It's like heaven!

2) I am taking 2, rather than 1, generic brand children's vitamin a day. Make sure you check labels for ANY sugar alcohols like sorbitol, manitol, etc as these are BIG BAD.

3) I am every day trying to add in a new fruit or vegetable, but very slowly so my anxiety level is low. Like, for three days I ate one grape a day. And I was fine! I also tried one strawberry a day and gradually increased (until I had to throw them out 'cause one berry a day is a long time to have a whole little box!

).

4) Now, this next one is not one I am recommending for everyone as it does go against Heather's Diet and I felt remarkably better on her diet and don't want to discredit anything she says, but the nutritionist also encouraged me to have at least one serving per week of very lean red meat. The reason for this is because my iron levels are so low that I am barely getting a period some months, and she says it is very important I get that up. For me personally, small amounts of red meat do not bother me as much as leafy greens (which have some iron, although a different kind) so I choose this option. The servings I am having are very small.

I have only been at this for just over 3 weeks now, and I am taking baby steps so it will take time but I really wanted to share because my stomach really felt the most "normal" I think it has in years. I am still getting other major problems with reflux and things like that, but my "bathroom habbits" were what concerned me the most and they have been great.

I hope that this helps at least one person out there, I love to hear about people reaching a "so many months" stable and stuff like that and I hope I can post about that soon too.

Also, maybe it would be a good idea for others to post on here a few changes they have made that have really helped them.

Cheers!
--Steph

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~~I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell-I know right now you can't tell~~Matchbox 20
IBS-D,pain.

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