I'm sorry to hear that you are also suffering from nighttime IBS pain. It's one thing to have pain in the daytime but then at least one would get a decent night's sleep. The years of sleep deprivation have been very hard for me. It's almost like a fact of life now and I have almost given up that it will get better. Sometimes it's only mild, but often it is enough to keep me tossing and turning all night.
I don't know how long you've had the problem or if you've had a thorough check up, but I haven't come across too many people with this type of IBS-C. Mine feels like a gas pain, but I don't think that's all it is. Before I had IBS I would occasionally get gas pain, but it wasn't like it kept me awake at night. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I've been on lots of antibiotics in the past (after 5 surgeries). Maybe my intestinal wall was damaged because of this - who knows? (I joked to my husband that IBS should be called "none of the above" disease because it's just a label they give you when nothing else is found). I've also had my gallbladder removed about 12 years ago and that can make digestion of fats more difficult.
Right now I'm again trying to cut out "suspicious" foods. It's so hard, because I'll stop eating one type of food thinking that I've solved the problem and then it starts again. I must admit I've not been disciplined enough to completely cut out trigger foods in the past but lately I'm attempting to be more strict with what I'm eating. I had kind of given up because nothing I tried seemed to help.
For the past few weeks (since I discovered Heather's diet) I've been trying to eat mostly soluble vegetables instead of lots of salads, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and I'm not eating any cheese. I think it's a very interesting theory about not eating too much insoluble fiber. I've tried cutting out cows milk in the past, but that didn't make any difference. I seem to be doing a little better on the soluble fiber diet but it's too soon to tell. A few weeks ago I started using the acacia fiber (1 tbsp. per day) and also some liquid acidophilus. One of the two caused me to really bloat up with gas, so I'm confused now which to cut out.
Despite having this horrible health problem, I lead a very full and busy life - I don't have time for this! I just would love not to be tired all the time and being afraid of food. I'll just have to make it more of a priority again to find out what is causing it.
The only thing that helps a bit is when it starts to get difficult to pass stools I take a dose of milk of magnesia. This helps to get things "moving" again. Also, a heating pad on my lower abdomen helps quite a bit if it's really spasaming (is that a word? lol).
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Re: Nighttime IBS Pain
