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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 11/8/2007 7:40 PM (GMT 0)
I have another question for you guys.  I have had IBS for 15 years (with a break for 2 years) and everything I eat goes right thru me.  usually I don't even have time to finish my meal before I have to jump up to the bathroom.  Needless to say I don't go out to eat!!!  But.....I am at least 80-100 lbs over weight.  I am 35 and 5'9 female.  Why is it if everything passes right thru, why do I weigh so much.  I can't seem to lose weight.  I have had my thyroid checked, and that came back fine.  My Doc from years back said it was IBS and then 3 years ago I switched to a different DOC and he says I have something called Eosinophillic Colitis....But no one has ever heard of it.  I take no medication.
Posted 11/8/2007 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
I'm going to assume that you know that all that extra weight is fat, not muscle, because obviously muscle doesn't count in being overweight (not that the BMI will tell you that). 

Your case does sound very unusual--most people with D that bad are on here asking how to gain weight; you may have a metabolic problem or outright disorder.  Honestly, there really are some people out there who are fat no matter what because their bodies don't burn calories even approaching correctly.  You might try a doctor that knows something about those kinds of disorders (usually genetic) who can test you for them.  There may or may not be any medicine to help it.

Even if you don't have a true metabolic disorder, consuming too few calories can actually cause you to stop losing weight, as your metabolism slows down to compensate.  That's why throughout history there have been people on starvation-ration diets who lived for years like that (we're talking around 500 calories a day, and very unbalanced in terms of nutrition).  The only way I can think of raising your metabolism without fiddling with your diet (you have to eat what you can tolerate!), is for you to lift weights/do strength training.  Muscles work (fat stagnates), therefore they require calories in order to function.  So working your muscles burns calories and building more muscle burns more calories.  Also, if you can get in several small sessions throughout the day, you will be revving up your muscles and they will be active (even for a while after you stop exercising) and burning more calories. 


Just know, though, that muscle weighs more than fat, so you may not notice a dip in the scale, even though you have made improvements to both your body and metabolism.  However, muscle takes up less space than fat, so you can usually tell a difference in how your clothes fit. 

Posted 11/8/2007 11:47 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, and have you had your hormones checked? You don't have poly-cystic ovary syndrome, do you? PCOS is very bad to cause women to gain and retain weight, because of imbalances in estrogen. Even if you don't have PCOS, you may have a hormone imbalance that causes weight gain.
Posted 11/9/2007 2:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Keriamon,

Thanks for the reply.  I do not know if I have PCOS.  I know my sister does and my niece does (she is the daughter of my other sister) In 1992 I got really sick (that was when I was told I had IBS) and lost approx 60 lbs I was 5'9" and down to 140 lbs....I looked pretty darn good!!  LOL.  In 1995 I moved out of my parents home and into my home that I am still currently in.  By 1998 I had gained back all the weight I had lost plus some.  In Nov 1998 my IBS symptoms went away, I became pregnant with my son in March 1999. (after over a year of trying to get pregnant) approx 7 months after my son was born my IBS came back in full swing. I have D all the time. It is to the point where I go nowhere!!!  I lost some of my pregnancy weight before the IBS came back then once it came back I gained approx 40 more lbs. 

Long story short...sorry for rambling...I just had a hormone test this week (no results yet) because I have not had my period since July. So OB Doc wants to check hormone levels.  I guess PCOS is a good possibility since family members have it and I have alot of the symptoms.  Other possibility is early menopause.  I still need to figure out a way to control the D.  I am going to Florida (Disney) 3 weeks from today  with my family and I am scared to death.

Posted 11/9/2007 4:27 PM (GMT 0)
Okay, with the D we might can help.

The first thing to try is calcium supplements. Linda (Inape) on here has done all the research and found that Caltrate 600 w/ Vitamin D is the most constipating form of calcium available OTC. Since you have bad D, take one pill first thing, before breakfast, and another one at night before bed. Three is the maximum you should take, and you should not take three if you consume a lot of dairy products already. There is such a thing as too much calcium.

Some people find it bothers their stomach if they take it before a meal. It doesn't bother me, no matter when I take it, so try before breakfast. I think it does better if you let it get into your system first before you put food in there, but you ultimately have to do what's best for YOUR guts. If that means taking it with or after a meal, you can do that. You might also experiment with the timing of the doses. I take my two pills before bed because I'm worst when I eat breakfast. I also delay eating my breakfast for a few hours after I get up. My system seems wake up gradually and get itself righted before I eat most of the times. If I eat too soon after waking up, it tends to get upset that I've dumped food into it before it was all the way awake, and I tend to have worse bowel movements as a result.

If your stools are ever yellowish in color, or burn, then you probably have an excess bile problem. This may stem from a bad gall bladder, but it can also be from your intestines not reabsorbing the bile like they are supposed to. There's actually a class of cholesterol meds that bind up that bile so that it doesn't make your stools watery. The form that I am on is Welchol and it works like a real DREAM for me. I'm post-gall bladder removal, so I just have bile floating around in my guts all willy-nilly; there's nothing in there anymore to time its release. So the Welchol soaks it up when it's not needed.
Posted 11/9/2007 4:28 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, and dehydrated banana chips. I can't think of anything that will constipate a person faster! You do need to prep yourself the day before, though. Eat a couple of big handfuls and see if they don't help, at least for part of the following day.
Posted 11/9/2007 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, I actually started taking the Caltrate pills almost a year ago then they scared me off. I was talking one before each meal for about a week and before I knew it I was constipated for the first time in my life. I was in so much pain. I thought I was trying to give birth to a bowling ball out by bum!!! LOL. I can laugh now but I was crying then. That has happened to me one other time since. So I have been too scared to take them again. My stools are never really yellowish but there is alot of mucus during a real bad flare up.
Posted 11/9/2007 5:03 PM (GMT 0)
Hmm, I don't think I've heard of anyone getting that constipated on just calcium before. Sounds like what happens to me on Imodium.

Still, one before each meal is three. Obviously too much. Try just one in the morning and see what happens. You can also cut them in half and take just half of one, or take half at two different times. You've got three weeks before your trip; see if you can find your magic dose (for your trip to the Magic Kingdom, LOL).

Also, when you start getting constipated, immediately stop any medicine like that. I liken taking Welchol (which works similarly) to a diabetic taking insulin: you have to adjust based on how things are today. If I start getting constipated, I either skip my calcium dose or take one less Welchol pill. When I start getting loose again, I up it. While I'm pretty steady right now in my medicine needs, when I was first using Welchol and calcium, I was all over the place with how much I needed on any given day. I always have a morning bowel movement, so that gives me a pretty good idea of where I need to start with my medicine. I also carry some around with me so I can dose during the day if things change. Don't be afraid to be fluid with your dosing; you may only need one calcium pill every other day in order to achieve your equilibrium. That they clearly did stop the D for you makes them sound promising, if only you can figure out what's the right amount.
Posted 11/9/2007 6:59 PM (GMT 0)
Well, now that you say that about the Imoduim. I did take imodium during that time too. One day I took 3 pills cause I wouldn't stop going. And that is when I got the constipation, so maybe it wasn't the Caltrate pills. Has anyone heard of Gastrocrom? I am on another forum for the eosinophillic colitis and someone over there mentioned that, said it works wonders for them.
Posted 11/9/2007 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Can't say that I have heard of Gastrocrom. But someone else probably has. You might want to ask about it in a separate post, though, because someone who might know about it might not be reading this thread.

I think I mentioned on another post about doing the Immodiums 1/2 a pill every 30 minutes until you stop needing to go to the bathroom.

What you might want to do is take a weekend or other time when you don't have to work or go anywhere for a couple of days, and start in on just the calcium. Try two and see what that gets you. No Imodiums if you can stand to be without. That way you can kind of see how much the calcium helps, and know whether or not it's enough on it's own. You will surely need Imodium from time to time, but perhaps you can get to where the calcium is okay alone for most days, and requires less Imodium on bad days.
Posted 11/9/2007 11:49 PM (GMT 0)
Have you been on antibiotics before? Do you/have you eaten a lot of grains? What does your daily diet consist of, generally?

Posted 11/10/2007 1:31 AM (GMT 0)
Just adding my bit... i've also had diarrhea-type IBS for many years and am definitely not underweight!

I also find that Caltrate-D works well a lot of the time (i use a cheaper generic version but same ingredients) but my body seems to develop a tolerance to it after a while, so i have to go off it for a few weeks and use a combination of antispasmodics and Pepto-Bismol, then switch back to the calcium after a while.

By the way, i read that it may be the calcium in green vegetables that is good for bowel health, not just the fibre. There has been some research that shows a link between bowel cancer and lack of calcium in the diet.

:-)
Posted 11/10/2007 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
I'm post-gall bladder removal, so I just have bile floating around in my guts all willy-nilly; there's nothing in there anymore to time its release. So the Welchol soaks it up when it's not needed.


Keriamon, that sounds just like me... is Welchol expensive and do you need a prescription? I had my gall bladder removed over 20 years ago but have always had the excess bile problem.

One thing i've heard is that people like us don't have cholesterol problems (mine is very low) - something to do with the excess bile. Have you been told that too?
Posted 11/12/2007 9:34 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, it requires a prescription and, without insurance, it's about $80 for 100 pills in the U.S. How many you have to take per day depends on you, but I'd sell possessions in order to raise the money to be able to afford it! It works!

Actually, I read an explanation about how the Welchol works (as a cholesterol medicine for normal people). It binds up the bile and keeps the body from reabsorbing it. The liver then has to make more bile to replace it (otherwise it's a pretty good, self-sustaining cycle), and bile is made from bad (LDL) cholesterol. So that's how Welchol works--it takes out the bile so that the liver has to take LDL from the blood to make more.

I don't know what my cholesterol is (at age 28, I don't think anyone much bothers to look), but after reading that I figured I probably do have low bad cholesterol because even if I'm not on the Welchol, I'm pooping plenty of bile. In fact, I'm convinced my liver makes too much! If bile is made from bad cholesterol, then I should be good on that account, at least!
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