Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Heather, please answer my post. I need help.

I've been following Heather's guidelines for a few months now, and yes it has made a WORLD of difference to me.

Whilst I am still spending 99% of my time in my house, most of this is now down to my anxiety based on previous experiences when I was far, far more poorly than I am now. Before starting Heather's 'diet' I was very, very poorly, every single day - I'm talking constant D (like 20 times a day), nothing but D (if you search my posts for 'normal poo', you'll find what a great achievement it was for me to have my first one in months and months and months), severe cramping every day that made me gasp and moan, and being bloated to the point of looking 4 months pregnant.

But where am I now? Well, I still consider myself a 'newbie' to the diet - I've been poorly with IBS a long time, since getting severe gastroenteritis twice within a few months and afterwards taking antibiotics, and I don't expect any change in my diet to have instant effect. Whilst I am far better than I was, everyone comments I even look better than I was, I still have severe IBS and I'm still suffering - but I am now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and can feel myself making progress.

I also 'cheat' occasionally - whilst I know this puts my progress back every time, and makes me feel rubbish in the long run, etc etc, I have always had low willpower and an addictive personality - and I currently consider having pizza once a month, a glass of coke occasionally and a few squares of chocolate one evening every week still progress for me, as before implementing Heather's diet I ate copious amounts of all this stuff, and worse, every single day.

I guess what I'm saying is this - if you are looking for a quick fix to IBS you'll be disappointed. If it was that simple and easy, like I said, nobody would be suffering with it. Also, every person's IBS is different, and you can also throw in food intolerances too which further complicate things (for example, Heather takes egg yolks out of our diets because of their exceedingly high fat content, so of course I double up on the egg whites in every recipe - but a food intolerance test I had done highlighted that I had intolerances to egg whites, just to further complicate things!!)

Honestly, go easy on yourself, and go easy on this 'diet' - these boards currently have over 8000 members (who wouldn't be here if this wasn't helping, particularly the people who have been posting here years, despite the fact they are now stable - choosing to stay here to help us newbies find our own way to improvement), and Heather's diet is known and respected worldwide for it's high success rates. I would guess only gut-directed hypnotherapy has higher success rates (a guess). Take Cailin's advice and keep a food and symptom diary, and go back to the 'what to eat when you can't eat anything' diet for a while - and give your body the time to adjust that it needs.

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http://ibsblondie13.blogspot.com/

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