Have you ever suffered from IBS and managed to get it under control?

[Thewholeshackshimmy]

Or, ideally, no longer suffer from it. I would love to know how?
I have suffered on/off for 20+ years. It was really bad in my late 20’s when I first got it and although it never went away it was more controllable in my 30’s after I had my children. However, the last 4/5 years I have symptoms every single day and it is driving me insane and frankly, making my miserable.
Two years ago I had a full colonoscopy, a gastroscope, an ultra sound scan and ct scan. Luckily all results came back clear. The very helpful and understanding gastroenterologist told me it was ‘just’ IBS and he couldn’t help me. Told me to go back to my gp. They can’t help either, I’ve tried all the IBS meds they offer which either makes things worse or no help at all and have a draw full of other, off the shelf stuff which gives minimal relief.
I can switch between constipation and out of the blue diarrhoea but am mainly ok in that area but what I do suffer from daily is acid, burping, nausea, pain in stomach, gurgling/growling in stomach and intestinal/bowel area, lots of bloating and flatulence. It’s a daily cycle of an unsettled, unhappy sounding gut.
I am low fodmap, I have no alcohol, coffee or other stimulants. Just drink water. No artificial sweeteners or excessive sugar consumption. I exercise (walk an hour a day) and I listen to gut directed hypnotherapy and the headspace app.
I do everything recommended for IBS yet still I suffer every day and it is now completely controlling my life.
I am 48 so not sure if my hormones are contributing and exacerbating the issue?
I know IBS is a common complaint so am hoping someone on MN has experienced this before and managed to control their symptoms and can offer up some advice that I haven’t yet tried.

Symprove probiotic is meant to be excellent and highly effective but it is expensive.

I have Ibs and brew my own kefir from goats/ coconut milk. I used to make a smoothie with the kefir & berries in the morning. I also eat fermented Kimchi regularly. I find this all helps.

Hormones are probably contributing to your ibs.Mine certainly played up over the menopause but has settled down now at 57.

The only drugs I've tried are Colpermin ( which helped) & Buscopan which made me feel dreadfully ill and lightheaded.

@Thewholeshackshimmy

NeverDropYourMoonCup it’s interesting that you mentioned EDS. I have thought for some time I have it and that my mum and grandad also suffered, they have also had gut issues. How did you get diagnosed? My gp doesn’t take me seriously on this. jevoudrais did you get any gut issues as initial side effects from the Sertraline? I have been offered it by my GP but am scared it will give me diarrhoea.

Rheumatology. They eventually added a Psoriatic Arthritis diagnosis on top, so I have to balance the autoimmune side with the structural/connective tissue/biomechanics side all day, every day.

However, good meds for the PsA gives me the freedom to be able to work to stabilise joints - and the dietary tweaks eliminated (sorry!) the other things that actually were harder to cope with than anything else; pain? Used to it. Injuries appearing for no reason? Used to it. Buggered tendons, inflamed joints, etc? Yeah, same - but killer headaches, face pain, not being able to breathe through my nose, horrible snoring, crippling nausea, constantly feeling like shit were all sorted by changing the foods that had made up so much of my diet from infancy (no wonder I was a pale, weak and sickly child).

I used to find that a course of colonics helped. When I went low carb I discovered that that really helped! I have suspected EDS but I’ve never pushed for a diagnosis.

I had a lot of pain with mine and even passed out from it once while I managed labour without pain relief, it can be so painful.
Mine has almost completely gone and I put it down to probiotics (I use biokult and sometimes a higher dose one whose name I’ve forgotten ) and homemade kefir . It’s also helpful my anxiety but I find that too much coffee can trigger both anxiety and ibs again so may be sensitive to that still.

Same here. Cut out alcohol and caffeine which help a lot. Also vegetarian.

Grapes and any stones fruit had to go as they have such an agonizing effect on me.

Following as I have such bad IBS. The pain is unbearable. I'm pregnant so can't take any of the usual painkillers I normally would. I spend 99% of my life in pain

Fferny1 I keep looking at the CoYo coconut milk kefir, I should try it I suppose. I reacted badly to buscopan too, it calmed my stomach within 15 minutes but I couldn’t feel my fingers, it was really scary.
PaperMonster my friend says her IBS vanished when she went keto. I’ve tried but find it such a difficult diet to pursue as I can’t eat diary and not keen on much meat.
CatchthatCat I notice the reviews for Bio-Kault are very good. Did you have any initial unwanted side effects?
Katefoster I feel,for you, it’s such a horrible condition to have, especially when pregnant. Mine went away with my first pregnancy but was awful during my second.

For me it was removing gluten from my diet. I had a blood test which was negative for coeliac disease but the blood test isn’t 100% accurate. I went completely gluten free anyway out of desperation and I have experienced full recovery. Symptoms started when I was 10, I went gluten free at 21 and I’m now 32 and so much better. For me, recovery after going gluten free was not immediate - there is damage to the gut that has to repair and for me, that was 11 years of damage so it took probably a year to get good quality of life back. I did go back to a gastroenterologist and was offered a biopsy to get confirmation but to do that, I’d need to eat gluten for a period of time and I’d just got my life back, got back to uni, got a part time job, so I chose to just go on without the biopsy process. I found what worked for me and that was good enough. It meant I couldn’t get the a gluten free prescription but that was a small price to pay not to rock the gut health boat!

For me, antidepressants and giving up gluten

For me to tolerate it it is low gluten and dairy and bacon caffeine doesn't seem to react with me. Even with doing this I have times where its really bad.

I was tested for coeliac years ago but had not been told prior to eat gluten before so came out negative and now they won't retest

I did an elimination diet and quickly discovered the triggers for me were gluten , bananas, peanuts ( but not other nuts ) and caffeine.

I’m 100% symptom free as long as I’m extremely strict about avoiding them.

@Thewholeshackshimmy I have had similar symptoms (silent reflux, burping and the IBS-c/d cycle virtually at the same time) but especially bloating/gas which is really painful, though I am far less sensitive than you. Like you I have to juggle fibre - too much is worse than too little. I am highly triggered by onion and the whole allium family and most cruciferous vegetable.

I definitely can't have anything highly cultured or fermented (including yoghurts, kefir, kimchi etc). So I find it interesting other people have found some of those helpful as they certainly aren't for me. If you are to try those I'd suggest introducing them in very small quantities and slowly.

With pre and pro-biotics do be careful that they don't contain inulin which as you probably know is a trigger for most people with IBS.
For example onions are very high in inulin.

I did a brutal elimination diet some years ago for 3 months then gradually added back to the point I can eat a fairly wide range of foods though some in only very small quantities. So I can now manage it, with some good/bad days. No medications worked and ADs made it worse with unrelated horrible side effects.

Coping wise, I must eat something within an hour or so after getting up in the morning or I get nausea and stomach pain. I eat little and often during the day and try not get to the point of being too hungry as that has a bad effect and no large meals. Regular exercise really helps too.

@LapinR0se

For me, antidepressants and giving up gluten

Same here. I've tried to come off citalopram many times because I'm not depressed but if I drop below 20mg a day my IBS pain comes back with a vengeance.

Thewholeshackshimmy I didn’t notice a reaction to Biokult and nor on DS who’s had it daily and I’ve seen his bad anxiety vanish with it. I did however really react to the kefir for quite a while and could only manage a bit while I built it up.
I’m interested in the reactions to alcohol (which is disappointing as I love wine!) and too much in the past triggered bleeding in my gut but I can manage it better now

My IBS turned out to be a gluten intolerance when I tried the Fodmap diet. Now I don't eat gluten, and also take a turmeric supplement having researched this, and I have been much better.

I've had more IBS since I started an immune suppressant for a different random condition. This is what works for me

• max 1 slice bread a day, no other wheat (everything else gluten free e.g. pasta, cereal etc.)
• ok with lacto free milk and small amounts of young cheese
• either greens or cruciferous veg every day
• 30g fibre
• probiotic and digestive enzyme. I recommend Lamberts.
• For things I know are triggers, moderation, not daily etc.

Also 60-120g natural yoghurt a day.

Think I should try giving up gluten again and really monitor it this time as it does seem to ease so many gut issues.
CatchtheCat I should definitely try the Biokault, if it could help ease my anxiety too that would be a great bonus.

I have IBS and lymphocytic colitis - when I was diagnosed with the LC, my gastroenterologist prescribed cholestyramine (in the form of cholestagel tablets). He said that IBS can often be caused/exacerbated by bile acid. Your liver secretes bile which enters the digestive tract just below the stomach and helps the digestion of food in the small intestine.

It should be reabsorbed before it reaches the large intestine, but in IBS sufferers, this quite often doesn’t happen, and the presence of bile acid in the large intestine causes inflammation, leading to irritation and diarrhoea. As well as being a cholesterol reducing medication, cholestyramine is a bile acid binder - it binds to the acid and stops it causing the irritation.

I take it twice a day, and it has really improved my IBS symptoms.

Peppermint tea. Loads of it. 3 bags so it's nice and strong. Really helps the bloating and bad wind. I swear by it now.

I gave up gluten about 3 years ago, have gradually introduced it back to my diet and I'm doing well. Probably because I'm on propanarol for stress - maybe that's why I'm feeling better! 🤣

For me, cutting out dairy and drinking kombucha.