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Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Does anyone here suffer from IBS or other similar disorder?
I've suffered from IBS for over 20 years and during that time have tried various remedies. Cutting out food additives has been the most successful, but I still do get attacks, sometimes once a week. At its worst I was in constant pain.
How do other folks cope with this condition and what have you found to be most successful?
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I have a very sensitive stomach these days.
I had thought, recently, that I was oversensitive to Wheat, so have experimented a lot with this. I have now found out it is Broccoli that I can no longer tolerate - I was getting mixed up because I eat a lot of it, but hadn't considered it as a culprit.
I am sad about this because I love Broccoli - the taste, and the way it looks like little green trees!!
Hope you find a way to manage your problem - too much fibre seems to be a factor for some people, doesn't it?
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Oh, btw, I now take the old warning to chew my food properly, and not to drink with a meal, seriously - it has worked wonders!!
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Stress can be a factor for IBS.
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celtic rose, Here's an article from drmcdougall.com. Hope that helps. ;)
NB. Don't read it if you're eating.
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I used to suffer with IBS until I gave up bread and now I don't have so much of a problem as long as I only have it occasionally.
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Yes! there is real help for those suffering with irritable bowel syndrome (and many other idiopathic and so-called incurable diseases). First off, I highly recommend reading the book: "Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor’s Program for Conquering Disease", by Joel Fuhrman M.D. (1995). In this well researched and thoroughly documented book, he describes the dietary causes of many common chronic illnesses including; (headache, hypoglycemia, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, colitis, psoriasis, lupus, and uterine fibroids). In a nutshell, by removing the causes of disease (excessive low nutrient foods = toxins) and eating a nutrient dense diet of (whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains) the body is naturally able to heal itself without the use of medications. In the case of some tricky/stubborn diseases (arthritis, migraines, asthma, lupus, etc), a medically supervised water only fast is sometimes required followed by a careful reintroduction of suspect food triggers. Here is an excellent article on his web site covering miscellaneous illnesses including IBS: Nutritional therapy should be the first-line treatment for most diseases.
I also highly recommend his more recent book: "Eat to Live". There is an excellent review of this book here over at VegSource.com (pay particular attention to the testimonials at the bottom from the likes of John Robbins, Howard Lyman, T. Colin Campbell, etc.)
Although I have no personal experience with IBS, I am an asthmatic who was cured by following the advice on nutritional excellence from Dr Fuhrman's books. Dr Fuhrman is my hero!
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Thanks everyone, followed up all the links which confirmed my belief its diet related.
I just need to weed out the trigger foods.
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Celtic Rose,
I have IBS, and there is one diet that has made a big impact on my life, you can find out info at www.helpforibs.com . It can be easily tweaked to be vegan; infact, it is what started me out to later become strict vegetarian. ALot of the diet consists or cutting out red meat, dairy, eggs, etc. There are also restrictions on how you eat certain foods and fibers, etc. it is a very good diet, please take a look!
Good luck, that is a shame you have had this for twenty years, I have had IBS for about four years now.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Following a nasty bout of food poisoning I have suffered with what I guess is IBS... Although I don't want to admit because the same thing has ruled my Dad's life for nearly 30 years.
I found cutting out Meat, white bread, onion, caffiene, eggs and dairy, combined with eating a reasonably high amount of soluble fibre.
My gut is now very calm, but I am still bothered by the panic of going out to a small degree.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
I used to have dreadful ulcerative colitis, and was on medication for it, but going vegan helped. What helped most though was cutting down on sugar and caffiene, having said which I am on my third cup of coffee now...
Someone has posted on our Vegan Buddies Forum, suffering from Chronn's disease. Anyone have any good ideas to help her? If so, drop me a line!
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
^^ She should avoid nightshades, take MSM and arnica (also apply them topically). Sleep is very important to keep from having a flare-up.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Quote:
ConsciousCuisine
^^ She should avoid nightshades, take MSM and arnica (also apply them topically). Sleep is very important to keep from having a flare-up.
Sleep! Yes, that too!
I found that substituting potatoes for sweet potatoes in many recipes helped when I was going through bad times. They are a nightshade, right?
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Some herbs can help with IBS by soothing the nerves that control the intestinal tract, such as skullcap, valerian and chaomomile. Some people have found that slippery elm is helpful. Others swear by aloe vera, although there are different qualities of aloe vera availabe, and I'm not sure which is best. Flaxseed oil is also beneficial.
The gut actually has what amounts to its own brain. Its nerve cells are very similar to those in the brain. Emotions affect the gut. Type the words enteric brain into a search engine and you can discover all about it. Here are a couple of links to be going on with:
http://www.positivehealth.com/permit...r/butlin42.htm
http://altmedangel.com/gutbrain.htm
Crohn's Disease is a nasty one. It's recommended to have a test to discover if there are any nutritional deficiencies. Again, as in IBS, flaxseed oil and other omega -3s can help, by soothing inflamation and in helping to repair the tissues.
I have some info about Crohn's somewhere. I'll find it and post it here.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
In Crohn's Disease sufferers often have a lack of nutrients due to the gut not being able to absorb them efficiently. Good nutrition is important. Sufferers especially need the B-complex vits to ensure that new cells are formed and to help to prevent anaemia. As you all will know, the body renews itself over a certain period. Some parts are renewed in months and others in years. Glucomsamine is necessary in this renewal process. Some of you might have read about its use in cases where people have damaged cartilage - it can help to rebuild the cartilage. It is also needed by, I think, every part of the body, including the skin, bones, eyes, and digestive tract. The cells there are renewed very quickly. Glucosamine supplements could help here. However, Glucosamine sulphate, the most common kind, can in some cases irritate the gut. Glucosamine hydrochloride is easier on the gut. There are vegan forms of the sulphate one but I'm not sure about the hydrochloride one. As with anything, including herbs, one should try a small portion to see if it has any adverse results. If a sufferer can take glucosamine it will help to renew the cells of the gut.
Human growth hormone also helps in the regeneration of cells. High intensity exercise, especially weight training, results in a surge of extra growth hormone being produced. Good sleep is needed to utilise it.
A system called Neuro-Linguistic Programming could help. It has been successfully used in various diseases. I have had practitioner training in it but an advanced practitioner would be more effective. It also needs face-to-face contact, in my opinion, to be most effective. Practitioners should be recognised by the Association of NLP. If anyone is interested in contacting them, let me know.
Green tea and turmeric can protect the gut from developing tumours. As has been mentioned by others, avoid spicy food, and sugar. And milk.
Because the mind and body are one system, and the gut has its own brain, relaxation techniques such as meditation can help. I have found that self-healing imagery can help many people who have physical or emotional symptoms. Cancer patients, too, can get beneficial results.
It is often the case that if someone is relaxed and concentrates their attention on a particular body part, there is an increased flow of ***** to that part. Something similar is done in Autogenic Training. People can do self-healing imagery work by imagining their problem in some form so that they can then imagine a process that will heal or alleviate the problem. Take clogged arteries for example: Someone with this condition could imagine their arteries as the chimney system in some large house. Then they could imagine a chimney sweep getting to work cleaning out the clogged chimneys. Someone with a leg ulcer that won't heal could imagine it as a hole in the road that a super-efficient team of repair men are sent to work on. They carefully repair the hole and make it better than it was. This may seem like mumbo-jumbo but, at the very least, it helps to put the person into a state in which natural healing can take place - the type that happens when we sleep. But, more than this, the personal involvement in your own healing can pay dividends. You will be communicating with some deep level of your mind and directing it to marshall your natural healing energies into working properly. Much of the healing that takes place in hypnosis works in this way. Try it. If anyone wants help with this, let me know. You get best results by relaxing and keeping an open mind. If you have a little voice telling you that it is rubbish, it will be difficult to even start. Concentrating on your breathing is a good way to become relaxed. Again, if anyone needs help with this, let me know.
It is better if each person thinks of their own imagery - so that their subconcious minds are more in tune with it.
According to the Mayo Clinic, many people with Crohn's Disease are low in certain nutriets. These are vits A, many Bs, and E. And selenium.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
I don't know what happened with my post. Where there are five asterisks ***** it should be the word '*****'. I tried editing it but still the asterisks appeared.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
It's happened again! That word should be b l o o d . If this doesn't work, the word I want to type is that red fluid that flows in our veins and arteries.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
I imagine that Korn has the site set so that "swear words" don't come up. I will have to check what we have done on our site, since I have certain words to be censored as well. (We want kids to go on the site without horrifying their parents.) But if we are going to lose words like b l o o d then we will have to rethink our strategy!
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Well, blooming hell.
Good night. Off to kip.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
You might be gluten intolerant, this often gets mistaken for LOTS of other things. Do a search, I never knew how bad I felt till I felt better, it took me getting very sick and no doctors being able to figure it out, to start doing research.
Gluten Freedom - Symptoms of gluten intolerance/celiac disease
Celiac Disease - Gluten Intolerance Group of North America
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
A doctor told me it is caused by dairy. I haven't used daisy in over 10 years and I still have trouble with my stomache. Sometimes it hurts so much I pass out. I don't have health care but the er doctors never tell me what is wrong or just don't care enough to help. I have had this problem both before and after I went vegan. I wish I knew what was wrong so I could avoid it. :(
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
try the elimination diet.
dont eat gluten for a few months, see how you feel, pay attention to changes in your bowel movements. I swear the pain was so horrible, and the doctors didnt help at all. Dont think you have to have expensive tests done, alot of people recommend elimination and oberservation.
Youd be suprised. gluten is like whey, its in EVERYTHING.
http://www.gfcfdiet.com/Beginningthediet.htm
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
thanks I will try that. :)
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Since starting this thread I've discovered caffiene is a major trigger for my IBS.
Plus, a good way of settling my stomach is a cup of peppermint tea.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
As well as peppermint tea, I've read that fennel tea is also meant to be quite good for IBS. I don't have IBS (as far as I know) but I do find fennel tea is good for settling the collywobbles. I didn't like the taste at first but it's grown on me.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Raspberry leaf tea is also good. And tasty.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
everyone in my family has IBS but we all have different triggers and symptoms. mine gets triggered by white bread, eating too quickly and eating too much at one sitting.
since i became vegan its all but disappeared since i dont eat dairy which used to be a huge trigger for me. as long as i dont eat a big whitebread sandwich really quickly ill be ok! :D
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Hi,
Proper food combining is an important factor in overcoming IBS.
Warm wishes,
Gina
Dr Gina Shaw
at http://www.vibrancy.homestead.com/pageone.html
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Ibs
My mother was just diagnosed with IBS and told not to eat any soy or whole wheat products :rolleyes: , and it got me thinking...
A lot of people seem to have IBS lately (almost everyone I know), and I was wondering, is this caused by poor diet (ie, not enough fiber or not being used to fiber?) Is it maybe just over diagnosed or self diagnosed by people who do have poor diets? Does anyone know what causes it?
I don't want to offend anyone who may suffer from it, BTW, as I really feel for anyone who experiences these symptoms, for any reason. I only wonder as it seems everyone suffers, and if maybe I am at risk as my mother has it (is it hereditary?). I always thought of myself as being lucky enough to have perfect digestion, but maybe it will change or maybe I can do something or continue to do something to prevent it. :confused:
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Re: Ibs
none taken:)
you wont necessarily be at risk because your mother has it, no one realy knows the cause.
i have it...but i may not be much help as i do not knw a lot about it!:(all iknow is that when mine was diagnosed a doc told me my poor eatin habits over several years had been the main cause,(i had eatin disorders as a kid and was anorexic as a teen) with a history of stomach problems in the family contributing or at least definitly not helping.i kno also that immune system strength is sometimes hereditory and this can be linked with IBS but no one is really totally sure.
find out if there is a history of stomach problems in the family...and have a think about if you have any of the symptoms.
also, mine gets alot lot lotLOT! worse when i am stressed....i am not sure if this contributed tothe original cause though as i do not recallbeing particularly stressed at that point,but some docs do say it can contribute to the cause.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Is IBS the same as Inflammatory Bowel Disease which has similarities to Cron's and ulcerative colitis? If so, I had that too nearly 4 years back now and I haven't had it back since.
I was on natural treatments for a multitude of ailments due to a crashed immunity system so only had to add Psylium Husks (being a pure fibre and treament) in water 3 times daily to what I was already taking until all became normal again.
Fibre is the most important for the bowel at all times. The British medical standard amount is 15 grams daily but I prefer the American medical standard of 30 grams. On the 30 you can always cut it back if needs be which is better than suffering on too low an amount.
According to my Atkins book there is a high frequency of candida overgrowth with any form of IBD and you have to pinpoint and combat glucose intolerance as the majority of IBD patients suffer from this.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Thanks Sugarmouse and Gal.
Sugarmouse, your post really helped, that was just what I was wondering.
Gal, that is really interesting that the UK only suggests 15 grams of fiber per day! I am sure I must get around 40 or 50.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Ah but then there are to types of fibre. Soluble and insoluble.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Quote:
Wildflower
Thanks Sugarmouse and Gal.
Sugarmouse, your post really helped, that was just what I was wondering.
Gal, that is really interesting that the UK only suggests 15 grams of fiber per day! I am sure I must get around 40 or 50.
I am glad i helped..i always thought we needed about 18-25g of fibre per day...but i could be incorrect i am no expert.you need the corect combination of both types as far as i am aware...but i would htink this would be dependant on the individual?:confused: i know one type is from fruit n veg etc sources and one type from wholegrain and 'bulky' foods.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
There is an interesting live case study and advice here based on a vegan diet.
SOURCE http://www.vegsource.com
Q. I've been a vegan since i was 12 and a vegetarian ever since i found out what meat was! However, I have also been suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it makes it very hard for me to eat a healthy vegan diet, since fibrous foods (like fruit and veggies and beans and certain grains) aggrevate my symptoms (diahherria, constipations, extreme gas, cramps, pain). What can I do? I've had IBS for several years now and nothing has helped. I've been to countless doctors and specialist and even a homeopath, and none of these have helped. I'm 16 years old and its really taking a toll on my life. Do u have any suggestions? I'm taking extra-strength gas-x 4x's a day, zoloft, and acidolphilous. I miss eating more variety and eating fruits and veggies and beans.
Please help! thanks
A. Dear Shelby, You've come smack up against one of the few real problems on a vegan diet: more fiber than your GI tract can handle. Fiber is mostly indigestible cellulose which is a long chain polymer of glucose. The fiber goes right through your small intestine and then dumps into the colon where there are bacteria that elaborate the enzyme cellulase. Cellulase splits glucose molecules off the ends of cellulose and the bacteria then metabolize the glucose, releasing gas and bowel irritants that lead to increased peristalsis, cramps, and diarrhea.
I don't know if your doctors have worked you up for celiac syndrome but even if they have I would recommend a trial of a gluten-free diet for a week or two. Gluten is a protein in most grains, particularly wheat, that generates an auto-immune reaction in about 5% of the population. If it goes on long enough there's microscopic damage to the intestinal lining, weight loss, and most of the symptoms you describe. I believe the vegan diet unmasks celiac syndrome in more people than the medical profession realizes and since there's nothing in grain that you can't get along without, it seems sensible to cut out all grains except perhaps boiled white rice for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If you're a celiac most of your symptoms may be gone shortly.
Beans are tasty and fairly nutritious but they contain two indigestible five carbon sugars, raffinose and stachyose that can also cause big time gas. In spite of their reputation as the protein source for veg*ns beans actually contain less protein per Calorie than leafy greens, the foods that should make up a large part of any healthy diet.
If you're eating the customary three squares a day it's possible that the meals are so large that they are simply overwhelming your digestive resources. A properly designed vegan diet based on vegetables and fruit rather than starches and grains and meeting Calorie needs is about 1/3 larger by weight and volume than an equicaloric omnivorous meal. Frequent small meals rather than three large ones work well for many people and more closely mimic the feeding patterns of our primate ancestors who were herbivorous arboreal grazers rather than carnivorous gorgers.
For someone with your symptoms it's very important to chew your food thoroughly so that it will be broken up mechanically and mixed with salivary amylase prior to swallowing. If you can't do that, a Vita Mix blender can turn out a very smooth, nutritious, and tasty mix of vegetables, seeds, and herbs meeting the RDA for all nutrients save B12. That problem can be fixed by adding a teaspoon of Red Star nutritional yeast. There's also an acidophilus product Töpfer Lactopriv/B Lactobacillus bifidus powder (vegan acidophilus substitute) available at health food stores. I haven't been much impressed with adding it to the blender as a digestive aid but it's worth a try.
I hope this will be of some help. If not, write again. I had similar symptoms for my first 25 years as a vegan which ended abruptly when I stopped eating bread and other glutinous grain products. That was after a gastroenterologist did a complete workup with tubes and gadgets in all available orifices and came up with the same diagnosis as yours, IBS.
Sincerely,
-William Harris, M.D.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Can someone have mild IBS? I'm quite gassy. I pretty much fart 24/7 and sometimes my stools can be very soft (not like diahherria but soft and shapeless).
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
I have suffered from IBS since the age of 12. My symptoms went away completely when I went vegan.
I have a book written by a gastroenterologist that lists several common trigger foods for people. They include:
White flour
White sugar
Meat
Dairy
Or any food that contains large amounts of these ingredients.
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Tigerlily there are many differing cases of IBS from very mild, to the kind where you cannot leave the house soem days and need toi always be within 5 mins of a toilet.
im somewhere in between:rolleyes:
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Quote:
Xenius13
I have suffered from IBS since the age of 12. My symptoms went away completely when I went vegan.
I have a book written by a gastroenterologist that lists several common trigger foods for people. They include:
White flour
White sugar
Meat
Dairy
Or any food that contains large amounts of these ingredients.
I think alcohol is one too. My aunt has IBS and couldn't even drink on her wedding night because she was scared what would happen on her honey moon. :p
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Oh, yeah. I knew I had forgotten something. Alcohol, caffeine and tobacco are on the list too.