Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

It looks like you didn't eat enough *and* you waited too long to eat. An empty stomach is deadly for IBS. When you don't eat your digestive system basically goes to sleep. Waking it up is a tricky proposition when you have IBS. If you can wake it up once with a high SF morning meal then keep it up and running throughout the day by eating like a Hobbit , you'll be better off. You can take a look at this
old post to see my "cold car engine" analogy - this was a really helpful way for me to think about things.

As for the "bad things" you ate, there may not have been much of them but on an empty stomach their effect is going to be multipled. Your poor sleeping digestive system not only has to wake up, it has to wake up and deal with stuff that's just hard for it to handle.

(I'm not sure exactly what you ate for breakfast but a "good Carb breakfast" is not necessarily the same thing as a high SF breakfast. There are carbs that are not SF.)

As for the Acacia, I don't think that caused your attack but I do think you're taking too much to start. I know the amount you're taking is what Heather recommends but I think it's safer to start at a lower dose and work your way up. Taking too much Acacia (or any Soluble Fiber Supplement) can cause gas and bloating. It shouldn't cause D but the gas and bloating just adds to the misery.

I don't think taking Acacia or any other Soluble Fiber Supplement is going to let you eat whatever you want. A Soluble Fiber Supplement is really just a way to make sure you're getting enough SF without having to get it all from foods.

As Gracie says, you absolutely need the full range of diagnostic tests and to be diagnosed by a good GI but the fact you don't have symptoms every day does *not* mean you don't have IBS. I didn't get symptoms every day either but trust me - I've got IBS. Since IBS is both food-related and stress-related whether you have an attack on a given day is going to depend on what you eat, how you eat (did you get SF first), and what kind of stress you have in your life.

If you think your gut flora is off you should talk to your GI about SIBO - Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth. You can do a couple of Searches across all Boards with no time limit, one each for:

SIBO
small bacteria

and you'll see lots of info on this. If you truly have SIBO and it can be fixed by antibiotics and/or replenishing good gut flora, then you don't have IBS. However, even if you don't have SIBO and do have IBS you may find taking a probiotic helpful but not to the extent that your symptoms will disappear and you'll be able to eat whatever you want.

It sounds like you're in the "no, no, no" stage of IBS acceptance. I think we've all been there - who wouldn't rather have something "fixable"? And it's a shame you're having to wait so long to see a GI so you can find out for sure what's wrong. You don't say where you live but you might page through this thread and see if there's a GI listed near you who might be able to see you sooner.

Even while you're waiting, though, it won't hurt to try Heather's guidelines full bore. It won't hurt you and if you do have IBS you'll be ahead of the game.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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