IBS newbie, need advice on diet.

I did iron levels and occult blood stool test, everything was fine. Thanks for your suggestions, you're very helpful and sorry for all this nagging. It's just that I'm even more confused with these results then I was before. I'll keep you posted.

Just wanted to say that I've found the back and forth between the two of you to be the most educational topic in this forum (so far). Thanks for taking the time to do the research and share interesting articles! I hope you get an answer Anne.

Jfer, what's your diagnosis? Well, my plan is to go and do a Candida stool test on Monday, then I'll call the hospital to make an appointment for celiac disease test. I'll let you know how I'm doing. If everything turns out negative, my doctor suggested doing some food allergy test. After all that is done, I'll make another appointment with my gastroenterologist to discuss test results. Just wanted to mention that I had a chat with a very nice lady from my country (I'm from Europe) who told me that she was also diagnosed with non-specific colitis and doctors dismissed her with IBS diagnosis. So it seems to be a very common practice among MDs. I definitely know a little something about gastroenterology since I am a student of veterinary medicine but am also doing a lot of research on that subject on my own. I was very interested in that area of medicine since the beginning of my studies and I hope one day I'll get to do a specialization in field of gastroenterology. So I'm very passionate about finding out what exactly is wrong with me and I see it almost as a challenge to help myself and all of those people suffering from this awful disorder.

Anneboleyn, I don't have a diagnosis, after at least 35 years I've been told it is IBS and told it definitely isn't IBS and currently the dr isn't giving me a diagnosis, but doing more testing.

I was told by one Gastro doc I couldn't have IBS because my diahrrea often wakes me in the middle of the night lasting for several hours... But he also diagnosed me with ulcers, prescribed Protonix and two weeks later declared me 'cured' without doing a follow up scope. I WASNT cured of my ulcers and suffered many many more months until I found yet another Gastro doc (my current doc) who did a simple blood test and diagnosed H. Polori and only then was I was properly treated.

Anyway- Maybe I have IBS AND other unknown causes as well? I have been tested for celiac through a small intestine biopsy and that was negative. I've had stool samples examined when I had C. Diff (3 different occasions) and my former Gastro said I did not test positive for crohns or inflammation... I do know diverticulitis causes diahrrea and I've had multiple episodes of that, including perforation of my bowel. Interestingly, every single Gastro doc (except my first Gastro who diagnosed the diverticulosis via colonoscopy, and my current Gastro who knows my long history with the disease)... Every Gastro doc dismissed my concerns and questions about diverticulosis saying 'it will never give u trouble, it's 'an old lady disease' - every Gastro doc told me this despite my explaining what I was told at age 20 (see below) and dismissed my concerns - some saying 'just avoid nuts and seeds' and others saying 'nuts and seeds have nothing to do with diverticulitis' they all seemed pretty blasé about it and some dismissive and even annoyed by my questions... Every Gastro doc- interestingly it was my primary internist who was the one to finally put the peices together of my diahrrea, fever, and pain - he actually saved my life. What happened was I was seeing the nurse practitioner bc I was always having to call for a same day appointment (one can't predict an attack!) and she was the only available - she kept mis diagnosing me and sending me for the same ultra sound tests of my abdomen - despite the same symptoms and the tests always negative... She never ordered lab work despite multiple appts for the same pain/fever etc. The nurse practitioner misdiagnosed me for 1 1/2 years, sometimes never even touching my body / abdomen - like I was nothing but a hypochondriac. So 1 1/2 years of about every 3-4 month complaints she finally orders lab work.

3 DAYS after my latest appt with her, another referral fir an ultra sound but this time she orders blood work... My primary dr called me pretty late on a Friday night telling me I needed to pick up a RX for cipro antibiotic, now, bc I had what he believed was diverticulitis (it was). The NP never consulted with the doc during all that time, but he was signing off on my lab work... the nurse practitioner didn't even tell him of the results of a high WBC - well after that night she no longer was working there. I like to think she was fired bc of me, and not communicating with my doc about what I was going thru. Horrible but... A few months later I had another episode requiring an 8 day hospital stay (when my doc saw me this time and sent me straight to the hospital from his office). My next episode -4 months later- was the perforation and I almost died. I had to say goodbye to my two tween daughters and husband at 1130 at night not knowing if I would see them again. I was THAT sick. If the Gastros educated me better vs dismissing my questions and if the nurse practitioner diagnosed me 2 years earlier, when I first began getting infections, I'm sure that could have been avoided... BTW I perforated before my bowel healed enough from my 8 day stay... As I had an already scheduled resection... Arrrgggghhhh.

Sorry for the long rant. I don't want u or anyone else to suffer in all the ways I have.

Oh- I was diagnosed with diverticulosis when I was 20 and told then I had the bowel of a 50 year old. That doc took everything very serious but I lost touch w him when I moved out of state for a couple years, and probably he didn't take my new insurance? He said he'd never seen such a damaged bowel in a person my age - and said it was genetic or congenital.

So - whew - I'm being tested for bacteria, which sounds similar to yours but I'll ask my Gastro, I also want testing for a fructose intolerance, and malabsorption bc I have anemia, pre menopausal osteoporosis, I also have Undigested foods go thru me, sometimes as little as 2 hrs after eating, like full pieces of lettuce, peppers, carrots, of course corn, nuts (which I eat a tiny bit about 2X a year as a treat bc of the diverticulosis.

I'm interested to hear about your test results, and how u r doing.

And I promise everyone not to write so much again!
Jfer

Although I do not have IBS per say some of the info I post may/might help those folks with irritable bowel problems. I was diagnosed with diverticulitis about two years ago, I had bad pain in my lower left gut quite frequently and occasional bleeding (really scary). One of my recent (6 months ago) blood tests showed my blood sugar a little high (102) so as a precaution I cut way down on sugar and carbs. I figured if I had diver I surely didn't need diabetes!!! I removed the great majority of carbs and sugars from my diet (5 months ago). I eat proteins and fats and low carb veggies. I also take 2 Tbls of ground flax seed daily along with many vitamin and mineral supplements. All these changes helped tremendously, although I would still occasionally get a mild (very mild) diver attack. I don't know if it was the sugar and or the carbs that was irritating my gut?? about 6 weeks ago I read on another forum about how Aloe Vera juice helped to heal the gut so I started using AV daily about 5 weeks ago. My gut feels really great here lately. I’ve been on AV for about 5 weeks now and I feel so good I’m afraid to talk about it. I take 5 AV gel tabs a day. My big question(s) is: I don’t know if I’m taking too much AV and I don’t know for how long I should keep taking it?? The AV info label reads for 1 tab, “Aloe Vera(200:1) 25mg”, then it goes on to say “(Equivalent to 5,000 mg or approx. one teaspoon of 100% pure AV inner leaf gel).” My question is, how much AV am I actually taking (5 tabs a day) ??? Evidently each gel tab is 25mg but contains 5,000 mg of AV gel??? If that is correct then am I taking 25,000 mg of gel per day??? Is that safe?? Am I correct in my calculations?? How long should I keep taking this amount of AV? I have had absolutely no side effects except ZERO diver attacks and ZERO diver symptoms AND I MEAN ZERO!!! I have even been introducing small amounts of candy and honey into my diet with no bad effects. Could I have lulled my diver into hibernation??? Do I keep taking the AV so I can continue to eat some candy/honey?? Inquiring minds want (need) to know.
I've always read that eating lots of fiber would help the diver/inflammation...NOT TRUE IN MY CASE!! Before switching to low carb/low sugar I tried tons of fiber and my stool would be softer but I still would get diver attacks anyway. Now my stool is very firm and I get no pain or discomfort at all (since the AV). In fact...my intestines feel stronger and more capable of doing their job (it's hard to explain). As if, in the absence of inflammation, they work better and are stronger???
UPDATE: THIS IS SIGNIFICANT!!! I also have Asthma and have been on an inhaler for a year as my Allergy specialist has been trying to decrease the inflammation in my lungs. They have a machine you blow into and it measures the amount of inflammation in your lungs. Although I have been using the steroid inhaler for a year the inflammation has not decreased. When the low carb, low sugar diet helped to decrease the inflammation in my gut I had a theory....could the carbs and sugar be inflaming other parts of my body??? I stopped taking the inhaler 5 weeks ago to test my theory and just visited my Allergy specialist yesterday (11/4/2014). He was pleased to see that the inflammation in my lungs had finally decreased and told me that the inhaler was finally working. I told it that it wasn't the inhaler because I had stopped using it many weeks ago, it was the low carb low sugar diet. I explained everything to him and he was amazed!!! My Doctor admitted that he also has Diver so he was very interested in what I had to say...should I have charged him a copay????
My point is this....If you can figure out what food products/items inflame your gut and or any other parts of your body you might be able to help yourself without any drugs/expenses!!
PS - I eat less than 30 carbs a day and maybe 15 sugars (honey) a day.


Hope someone can tell me if I'm overdosing on AV????
Thanks,
Treblig

Unfortunately I don't have much to share with you. Candida stool test came back negative. I am currently waiting for celiac disease testing... My problems are still the same, but now I even get a lot of gas and bloating. And what scared me the most is that yesterday I experienced a sudden chest pain on my left and it's still present today. Any thoughts? I read online that it can happen because of the pressure your intestines that are filled with gas put on your diaphragm.

hey anneB -

I have uc, but I lurk around the other forums once in a while - kaz is a veteran of this stuff and she know's it well -

I agree with what she has told you - i would suggest spending time on the uc forum as well -

i know your medical system is definitely challenging, at least as far as flexibility - but if there is any way to see another doc, i would advise doing so - i don't think your current doc is doing enough for you -

good luck -

In 2012 I had IBS really bad, it took me 3 months to fix things, but it was the most miserable I had ever been in the entire 58 years of my life. I went from 360 pounds to 300 in those 3 months. I did figure out a cure for myself and unfortunately I have gained 40 of those pounds back. But it you are interested I will relate what I did to ultimately fix myself. When I mentioned it to my MD he scoffed, but I will relate it to you here and you can take it or leave it. First of all I first got my IBS after a weeklong bout of I believe food poisoning. After finally getting better. I just could not eat. It’s a while back but I did have bouts of feeling I was back to normal, only to relapse back in a day or two. I did a lot of research, and there is a lot that transpired but I will cut to the quick. What I did learn was the brain-gut connection was crucial here. In my bouts of feeling better, I worried so much about it coming back that it did. I learned that brain gut does not mean in your head either. Your brain triggers the real problems that are happening in your gut. I reasoned that if the brain could be made to be at peace then it wouldn't trigger these actions in the gut. What I ended up using to fix myself was a psychotropic drug, clo****pan. When I had my bouts with IBS, I tried a small dose of clo****pan, and added as needed to calm myself. Low and behold with the anxiety taken out of the loop, my IBS stopped. And no I did not continue to take the clo****pan when the IBS stopped. I stopped taking it when the IBS stopped. My IBS finally came back after 2 weeks. Again I used Clo****pan, and the IBS stopped, again this time it was 3 weeks before it came back. I again used the clo****pan, only this time when my IBS stopped, it never came back. Clo****pan is very addicting so if you try this and it does not work for you just stop trying, this is not the route for you. But it was the route for me and my IBS has yet to return. Things had gotten so bad, I started seeing a psychologist for this but it did not help, then I finally upped the ante and made an appointment to see a full-blown psychiatrist. But by the time I saw him for my first appointment I had stumbled on to what cured me. I explained it to him and the term he used was cognizant realization. In other words when my mind realized it actually controlled what was happening in my gut, it turned it off. There were a lot of details I left out that would probably take a book to go over so I left a lot out but this is basically what worked for me. Good luck.