Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Thanks For Bumping This, LS; I Missed It!

Hi Winnie,

About the Acacia dosage, go to the top of this Board, and you'll see Heather's red thumb-tacked post, "Acacia Dosages." That's your guide. You haven't been on any SFS, have you? Then you might want to start out at only 1 teaspoon (that's a MEASURING spoon, not a SERVING spoon -- there's a difference!) in the morning, then another teaspoon before dinner. Stay at that dosage and see how you do with it. If you're okay, then after a few weeks try increasing it to 2 teaspoons in the a.m., and 1 teaspoon in the p.m.

When you get the Acacia in the mail, check the back of the package; it will specify dosages and give you the maximum you want to GRADUALLY work up to. (However, be aware of your subtle body changes, such as bloating and gas. It was real gradual for me, and I got up to the maximum dosage and didn't realize it and had SEVERE problems, all the while increasing it even more! DOH.)

A probiotic is billions and billions of good bacteria that make for good gut flora. Antibiotics kill ALL bacteria, including the good kind. Your body needs good bacteria. Do you eat a lot of soy yogurt? (Not DAIRY yogurt, but SOY yogurt?) That provides good bacteria too. Anyway, when you finish your course of antibiotics, you'll be depleted of good bacteria. When I stopped taking my probiotic, I developed a UTI. I immediately got back on the bandwagon, and now I'm okay. The probiotic I take (which a lot of others here take as well) is Jarro-Dophilus EPS. Here's the website: web page

Diet: you need to keep a food diary. It's the only way to pinpoint the culprits that are giving you the problems, especially since it's not every day. Do you have a word processing software on your computer? Just make a chart, new page for each day, with columns. Here are your headings:

Time
Item Consumed
Amount Consumed
Reaction
Activity

You can also add the medications you've taken that day and of course the amount of water you've consumed. I put my headings across the top, not down the sides like I have it here. Then every time I eat something, I put in a row across the page under the time column, and I enter the amount. Then, later, if I have a certain reaction to that food, I come back to the chart and enter the reaction. I also enter my workout activities, or even household activities, anything that burns calories or wears me out -- or even activities with hubby (oh yeah, they count too!).

It may sound like a lot of work, but it's truly THE way to pinpoint what you can tolerate and what you can't.

You said, "I can eat the very same thing very same no exceptions...I'll be fine 5 days and 2 days I'll have big time D what's with that..." Yeah, that sounds about right. Your body is trying to tell you something. It'll tolerate it to a point, then that's all folks.

Happened to me too -- until I kept the food journal AND stuck with the program. Dairy is a huge trigger for all of us with IBS; I strongly suggest cutting it out of your diet. If you stick with the program religiously, there will be very few of those "2 days I'll have big time D," if any at all. AND you'll be able to spot the culprit on your journal if you're honest with yourself. I'll bet the culprit for you right now is that milk on your cereal. Why not try switching to Silk (soymilk) for a day or two, enter it on your journal, and see how you do with it? I think you'll be surprised. BTW, vanilla Silk is YUMMY! Oh, and try the chocolate Silk; just pour an 8-ounce glass and heat it in the microwave -- you won't believe it, but it's the best hot chocolate you've ever had! (Heather taught me this one.)

Chicken and rice every night? Yuk! How about a nice piece of grilled salmon? Have you checked out the Recipe Board? There are all kinds of good things we can have. Don't blame them, they're innocent. Blame the dairy.

Say, ya wanna know what I'm eating right now? I'll tell ya: Soy Dream Mocha Fudge Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert. OMG! It's BETTER than ice cream! Okay, maybe I'm having a little more than I'm supposed to, but I never claimed to be a saint!

Later --
Bev

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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy

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