Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Need advice with SFS

I'm IBS-D and my experience was like yours in that once I got into Heather's diet and taking an SFS (I use acacia), the twisting, cramping, liquid diarrhea attacks stopped, but my frequency and urgency were still worse than I wanted. Now, most days I have one BM and if I have two, they're morning and evening, not right after each other. I think three things have helped me get to that point.

First, longer time on the diet. I know I'm not "healing" from IBS but I do think the more time my gut has without being in an uproar, the better it's able to regulate itself. I'd definitely agree that Heather's diet is a must.

Second, an SFS. I take 8 teaspoons of acacia a day, split into 3 doses. I started with a very low dose and went up very slowly and it's working very well.

Third, Immodium. I didn't take it as a preventative and for a long time I resisted taking it regularly at all. After reading the posts on this Board, however - especially Linz' - I started taking it when I was going out. At first, I took one tablet about an hour before I left the house. That didn't do much - I'd be in the bathroom about a half-hour later. Then I started taking 1 tablet about 2 hours before I went out and another about an hour later - that worked. I still resisted taking it when I was going to be home all day, but finally figured, "Why should I be miserable at home?" and started taking Immodium if my gut felt unstable or if I had more than one BM in a short period of time. That worked, too. If I had it to do over again, I'd definitely try taking it daily - or twice daily - as a preventative for a while.

At this point, I rarely need Immodium when I'm at home. When I'm going out, I can now take just one about an hour before I go and I'm fine. A couple of times a week or so ago, I went out twice without taking anything. And, every once in a while, I have an experience where my gut says it needs to go; my mind says I'm busy, I'd like to wait a while; and my gut says yeah, sure, fine, catch you later. I haven't had that happen in years.

I see from your follow-up post that you're going to try acacia - I hope it helps. Remember that acacia has more fiber per teaspoon than most other SFS, so you almost certainly cannot just start taking the same amount of acacia as Metamucil. Instead, you want to take a dose that will give you the same amount of fiber you're getting now from Metamucil. Here's a link to Heather's Soluble Fiber FAQ where she talks about the different soluble fibers, what's in them, and how much fiber each provides. (You'll see that Metamucil has IF as well as SF, so I personally would avoid it.) And there's a sticky post near the top of the Board about acacia dosages, including switching to it from other SFS.

HTH.

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