Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Limited diet longterm

Dear all,

I haven't posted for a while since I'm not really getting better or worse. But I know that some of us get very worried about having to exclude so many items from our diet and about getting all the essential nutrients, vitamins, etc. I have had reason to worry now for a whole year as there are only a handful of things I can eat (see below). I guess my diet can be considered as rather extreme and so I would just like to report that to my own surprise, I'm not too bad apart from the IBS symptoms. Maybe this will be of some reassurance for some of you. I do perhaps feel a bit weaker in phases when I get too thin, but my head's clear and my general state of health is fine, also my immune system.

In the long run, the lack of protein is my biggest problem. In my former life I used to prefer vegetarian meals, but now, when my weight drops beneath a certain level, I start craving protein, though in bad phases I can't eat more than a spoonful per meal.

The things I can eat on good days are rice, rice cakes, up to one small carrot, one small apple (of course everything stewed or mashed) and perhaps up to 50 g (2 ounces?) of fish or chicken breast per day (cold or smoked meats are fine with me, too). Again on good days I can tolerate up to one small teaspoon of oil with each meal. In very good phases I can add in a few variations like a gluten free roll, or canned apricots instead of the apple. The only other vegetable I know I can eat is heads of asparagus (I do not experiment very much as my symptom-free days are so very rare).
Unfortunately the bad times are just as frequent as the good ones and then I have to exclude or halve fat, protein and vegetables for up to two weeks at a time. During these phases I survive on sweets, like dinner mints (with plentry of rice cakes), honey on my rice cakes, chocolate coated rice cakes (two or three per day alongside a whole package of plain ones).

I am taking a multi-vitamin supplement covering all the essential vitamins and minerals (300% for the B and E vitamins), and additional Calcium twice per day. Also Omega 3 essential fatty acid capsules (it's very important to get the timing of these supplements right since they can interfere with each other). I'm also taking Phyto-estrogens, which are normally included in a healthy diet. They make a huge difference for my hormonal situation. The only thing I think I may really be lacking is Magnesium, but I still haven't figured out how to take it without promoting D. I'm also taking soluble fibre supplements and several medications.

I don't know whether there might be some longer term damage if I'm having to continue living like this. I follow Heather's guidelines meticuously and thanks to them I can lead a fairly normal life as it is, but hopefully in the long run I will get better (I'm considering antidepressants but need to sort out my hormonal problems first) and be able to eat more normally.

Susanne

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