Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi, I do basically follow EFI. I eat SF and IF at every meal. I take acacia, probiotics, enzymes and Beano. I drink fennel tea. I don't eat most of the trigger foods - gassy, spicy, high-fat, caffeine, alcohol etc. I do find that the white-flour products endorsed by EFI just bung me up. And I guess the biggest difference is that I am back to eating dairy, 3 times a day. I cut it out for around 10 years and it didn't make any difference. I have several professionals urging me to eat it, esp since I tested negative for lactose intolerance and didn't notice that it made my IBS worse. So I am eating it. I do notice that a lot of cheese will make me C, but I don't feel any more or less C or bloated eating kefir, non-fat greek yoghurt, lactose-free milk and small amounts of low-lactose cheeses like swiss and parmesan.

Honestly, like everyone on this site, I have been tinkering with my diet for the past 15 years in attempt to deal with my symptoms. I cut out more and more foods. It didn't make my symptoms more manageable, and it did make me much more obsessed with and stressed out about food. I really feel that diet is not going to the be the answer for me. Yes, eating the way I do now gives me less pain than if I were scarfing hot wings and diet coke, but I don't believe that my getting "stable" depends on stumbling upon the right mix of foods. I think it's going to take a lot more than that. I also think that it's doubtful I'll ever get stable, if history is any indication.

I might note that when I went into ED treatment this spring, I was faced with a compulsory diet that was very "normal" and thus very different to how I'd been eating. And I actually felt better there than I'd had in ages. Yes, I was more bloated (which all anorexics experience during refeeding, as the body takes a while to adjust to the increased volume and fiber), but I was not as crampy as I am now that I'm out of treatment and experiencing more of life's stresses. But I'm still not even sure that stress is the crucial difference here - maybe it was the sheer volume of food I was putting into myself during refeeding that created a buffer against the cramping. I am now on a smaller maintenance meal plan, but I am thinking of increasing my dose of acacia to see if that helps with the cramping after BMs. I am currently taking 1 tbsp at breakie and dinner and thinking I should add one at lunch.

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IBS-C, lots of spasm and trapped gas.

Edited by renee21 (11/07/10 12:07 PM)

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