Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Heather says you can get up to a maximum of 3 tablespoons a day (divided). i would recommend that your husband up his acacia dose again. it needs to be done slowly, as i know many of us do get gassy when we increase the dose. i drink a lot of fennel tea during those times, and it really helps. You may find it helpful to reread Heather's info on acacia.

would you feel comfortable posting his food lists for a few days? we may be able to help you find some triggers you may be overlooking...

keep in mind, triggers can be things other than food. stress is a major trigger, and things that are seemingly benign, like a cold drink, can set off cramping and diarrhea! i know i am likely to get an attack if i overheat (really looking forward to summer.

). are you checking labels for hidden dairy? is each meal strongly based in soluble fiber? are meals small and frequent, or are they big meals just 3 times a day? are you avoiding things like MSG and aspartame? even though things like MSG and aspartame and dairy products never bothered me before IBS, i find that i am extremely sensitive to them now. it sucks, but it's true. i think many people figure since they "used to be able to" tolerate something, then it's not a trigger for them!

i think a food diary is great, but it needs to contain a lot of other information for many of us to get help from it. i would track how much sleep he got the night before, what the weather is, maybe a stress level on a scale of 1-10 or something similar, so he has an easy frame of reference.

maybe your husband should go back to the book or this site and reread to see if anything was missed when you first read it. i did that when i wasn't improving and found about 4 things that didn't register the first time i read the books! also, it may be a good idea for your husband to go back to what to eat when you can't eat anything, and see if he can stabilize. he should. if he doesn't, there may be additional problems going on. once stable, slowly add foods/drinks back in following the rules of this diet and keeping a careful record. it may be easier to identify triggers that way.

hopefully upping the acaica will help, and identifying any lingering triggers should seal the deal.

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