I found this site sometime in September and it was good timing because my life became hectic and stressful again with the kids' activities, scheduled events, lots of things to make me worry about getting d. It is Nov. now and I have come a long way but I still have a LOOOONG way to go b/c I'm realizing that there are so many factors that impact on how you get stable. But I am determined to stick with it and check this board tenaciously b/c everyone is so supportive and has concrete advice for you. The problem is that we are all different so the diet and supplements may affect everyone differently...good news is that at least you should get some improvement while you're working out the kinks.
As for the immodium...well, I still take it, but I'm really trying to less often partly b/c I'm becoming a little more confident/relaxed that my body won't betray me if I eat the right things and partly b/c I want to see what will happen if I don't take the immodium (not that I want a bout of d but maybe it won't happen after all). With that said, before finding this site, I had muddled through years of events in pain, embarrassment, and basically torture to get myself through until last year I had a changed mindset. I decided that I couldn't "accept" that much stress anymore and just stagger through everything to be the perfect wife, mom, friend, worker, whatever. I decided that I would only attend functions if they were absolutely necessary or I would insist that my husband and I drive separately (not following anyone) to go somewhere. For those necessary events, I still tend to beat myself up and feel like a failure for breaking down and taking the immodium when I might not even have d at that moment, but if it helps me actually "enjoy" what I'm doing, then it's worth it.
My advice is to start taking another SF since the benefiber has changed (before taking the acacia, I took fibercon but I would definitely recommend buying the acacia...I am a skeptic to things like this but the acacia can only help..especially I think with d). I would also recommend getting Heather's books or reading all that you possibly can from this site (not just the boards..the info from the home page). I would also recommend eating something soluble when you have d or are afraid of d. That is the biggest thing that has helped me along with the acacia for my mornings in particular. I used to starve b/c I was so afraid of d or the d was so bad that I couldn't imagine eating would help. But now I realize that eating something soluble is necessary (oatmeal works for me but not everyone...try cream of rice...think sticky...picture it absorbing the water in your bowel to help with the d). And if you need to take immodium, others have suggested taking less than normal (ie.,1 pill instead of 2) but I'm not there yet...if I'm that stressed, I have to "know" that I take enough to be safe to go out. Stick around and don't worry so much about "when" you will become stable. Just know that knowledge really is power. Having some control/direction over your IBS is a success in and of itself when you first start out. I'm not even stable, but look...I'm giving out advice  ...that means that positive changes have already begun. Hope that helps. good luck.
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Originally IBS-D for a million years!
Then IBS-A, Now a transformed slightly C
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sualeksa...immodium
