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[durdaana]

Well, after a year of ongoing intense and inexplicable pain, I have been diagnosed with IBS.  On the down side, there is no cure, I am stuck with this for good. On the up side, I finally know what I am facing and can start taking steps to manage it. After such a long time of this thing seriously impacting my quality of life it feels pretty amazing

Comments

[reflectshadow]

I used to think it was normal to have stomach pain after every time I ate.

[ladykutenay]

IBS bites so hard. But you're right, at least now you have somewhere to start in terms of managing it, and that's awesome. Hugs!

[littlegirltoast]

Poor damn thing (don't worry I'm still going to reply to your e-mail). Hope you can manage it well!

[ladykutenay]

Ok if I am not gcareful I am just going to start flooding you with advice, which you didn't aske for and might not want! So I will just say this one thing: the single best thing I have done for my stomach, which I didn't do until recently, was to completely stop taking ibuprofen. It was building up in my system, I think, and attacking me even when I hadn't recently taken any. I have felt much better since stopping.

[durdaana]

I also used to take ibuprofen a lot and I stopped taking any pain killers a while ago, just to be safe. What I've done in the past couple of days which has been helpful is base all of my meals on soluable fiber (like rice, noodles, yams, oatmeal), and reduced insoluable fiber (like whole wheat, cruciferous vegetables, beans), and anything high in fat or protein. It's actually made a huge difference already.

Also this website is super awesome! http://www.helpforibs.com/

[lennymichelle]

I also was diagnosed with IBS when I moved out here, and that website has been very helpful! I can no longer eat most raw vegetables, but as soon as they are even a little bit cooked it helps a lot. Finally, I take a probiotic daily: Tu-Zen, which is the elusive lactobacillus plantarum 299V strain that has actually received some clinical trials and absolutely, definitely helps me (I had problems even with "safe" foods). It's unfortunately expensive ($37 or so for 30 days) but, at least for me, it is worth it.

When I couldn't get Tu-Zen because all the Shoppers ran out, I took a complete digestive enzyme, which didn't help nearly as much as the probiotic, but was better than nothing. I still take it sometimes with meals that I know are more likely to cause problems.

[suitcasegnome]

Hi Maggie -

It's been a while! This is Meg from your Mandarin class; I visited you in Toronto shortly after you moved. :)

I've had IBD since I was 17, so I just wanted to offer my sympathies. I'm glad dietary changes are helping you.