To ask if anyone has ‘cured’ their IBS?

[ImaHogg]

I know it’s classed as a life long condition but I’ve been suffering for 22 years and have just about have enough of this horrible condition.
I belong to endless IBS support groups but obviously most of the members are people like me who are still suffering a looking for help and advice. I am assuming that if people do have a grip of their symptoms then they are hardly likely to be on support groups.
I’ve tried endless things over the years from the low fodmap diet to hypnotherapy and CBT. None of which have really helped long term.
Two things I haven’t tried are probiotics (some of the reviews say they can cause diarrhoea which is one of my huge fears with this complaint). I’ve also tried a few antidepressants but I couldn’t get past the awful side effects.
I’m 48 and am starting to think that hormones now play a big part as my symptoms became much worse and virtually daily at the age of 45 and I also can’t lie and say I don’t suffer from anxiety as I really do and I have a very stressful life atm.
Late 2019 I had a colonoscopy, endoscopy and ct scan. At the follow up appointment the gastroenterologist said all was clear. I handed him a list of my symptoms and he asked if I had tried all the standard IBS meds, which I have to no relief. He handed me back my list and told me that he couldn’t help me and to go back to my gp!
So I am just wondering if anyone on here has/had IBS and has found a way of living well with the condition and has minimal or no longer has symptoms?
Any advice is most welcome.

I've found Probiotics from Holland and Barrett to be a life saver for me.
Without then I get constant spasms and stomach ache. I've had IBS for 25 years.

The cramps put me in a and e twice, over cheese... I did eat buckets full though.

Just stay away now mostly.

FODMAP is an exclusion diet that should be used to IDENTIFY triggers when you reintroduce them one at a time - it's not a long term diet plan to be followed to cure IBS. If people have just "done FODMAP" for however long, have you been reintroducing things??

I did it under a private dietician (who taught NHS dieticians) because there's so much crap info on the Internet about how to "do" FODMAP and at least half of it is wrong. It cost me about £150 all in and was worth every penny.

My triggers are legumes, wheat and yeast. Peas set off my gut near instantly on eating. Peanuts are ok, peanut butter is awful. I'm better with white bread than brown, and I'm better with unleavened bread than a risen loaf. This knowledge makes a huge difference to me.

I take a probiotic daily, and I've not had an IBS flare up in about a year, not even when eating known triggers. I also have IBS(D) but haven't had to sprint for the loo in a long time! It's just a jar of capsules from Holland and Barratt, but it was several months before I saw a big difference.

idontlikealdi I feel for you, I hate the IBS-d side of my symptoms.
romany4 which H&B ones do you take?

Mine was pretty bad a year ago and I followed the FODMAP diet. It is pretty much impossible to eat out in the early stages of the diet (when you cut out everything), so doing it during lockdown was great timing. I worked out that I can't eat gluten, and need to be careful with dairy, garlic and onions. Now I follow a pretty restricted diet but my digestion is so much better it's worth it.

Another long time sufferer here. I started taking prebiotics after christmas to try and help my ibs and acid reflux and they are definitely making a difference.

I used to find that if anything like a vitamin or supplement or medication said "may cause diarrhoea" I would get it. My stomach is so sensitive. I take acidophilus from holland and barratt and while it's taken a little while the last two weeks I've noticed a big difference. I'm also trying apple cider vinegar to, just started that last month

When I was younger I had specific triggers like really fatty foods or too much wheat but since having my children its seems theres not one thing I can pin point a bad episode to

Stress. Your body does this because of stress. Better to accept that and work on lifestyle changes. I had to totally stop everything that wound me up, recover, the gradually reintroduce things.

DH's has stopped since he's been working from home.

Intermittent fasting has helped me a lot. Basically I don’t eat anything between 9 in the evening and lunchtime the next day which gives my digestive system time to calm down.

I get the impression from doing a bit of googling that it doesn’t work for everyone and can actually make things worse for some people. Based on how much it’s helped me I’d say it’s worth a try. I also take probiotics and try to get some (gentle) exercise every day.

All of that hasn’t cured my IBS, but has made it a lot more manageable. I still have to avoid my main triggers and will get a flare up if I get really stressed, but it doesn’t dominate my life in the way it used to

I also found that the balance between insoluble and soluble fibre in my diet makes a difference too. I can’t eat much of the insoluble stuff, but the more soluble fibre I eat, the better I feel. It’s a bit of a balancing act!

FTEngineerM cheese is such a huge trigger for me too!
SoddingWeddings I’ve done the low fodmap diet 3 times, twice under the hospital and once with a private dietician. Sadly I have never had enough reduction of symptoms to be able to reintroduce and have been told that I am probably of the 25% of people the diet doesn’t help. I was gutted but now still mainly low fodmap even though I now it’s not a good thing to do because I am petrified of most high fodmap foods incase they make symptoms so much worse.

I had it for years after a bout of salmonella. What worked for me in the end was eating certain foods every day (oats, apricots, tons of probiotic yoghurt) and taking peppermint oil capsules after eating. I also massively upped my water intake.

Soluble fibre was the key for me, hence all the oats.

It's hard cos IBS isn't a complete diagnosis. It's just a word for many different bowel issues that they can't diagnose lol so everyone's will be different. Personally mine turned out to be anxiety in the end but was debilitating for years until I realised and addressed it. Don't get it now so yeah probably 'cured'

Yes, me. I had terrible IBS for years. I went vegan 5 years ago and the IBS disappeared. I haven’t had a single episode in that whole time.

I’ve suffered from the age of 17 nearly 45.
2019 I had a camera up the bum because symptoms were getting ridiculous to the point I couldn’t go out for a meal without running straight home to be sat on the toilet all night !
Consultant said deffo bad ibs no other problems he prescribed laxido which I took 1 sachet a night and I kept thinking I don’t have a problem going why do I need this but in actual fact it was because I wasn’t going regularly everyday so what was happening was kinda like a backflow if that makes sense ?
Anyway the laxido made me regular and normal and I have way less problems with constipation and the runs .
Triggers will be eating too much onions garlic ect so just don’t over eat on trigger foods
Hope this helps I had tried everything including fodmap diet x x

So I tried some low fodmap stuff for a while... Mine is now fairly under control with a mixture of things:

1. Contraceptive pill - my IBS gets 10x worse when I have the week off.

1. Semi- low FODMAP diet - I used it as a bit of a trial and error thing. I have to avoid too much fibre, but the absolute killer for my is Galacto-oligosaccharides. All beans (including soy products like soy mince), chickpeas and lentils. I can cope with things like green beans where you're mainly eating the pod. Peas aren't great but I can eat a few.

I also can't drink beer at all, other alcohol is okay but even a pint makes me pretty unwell - I can occasionally get away with half one but it's generally not worth the consequences.

That's been combined with moving to a lower stress job, which really made a difference in getting it under control, but interestingly now it is under control even when my job is incredibly stressful I am still a lot well-er than I was.

I also avoid chilli/"hot" spicy foods.

I think it's sort of like this: the food things above make me ill whether I'm stressed or not, but if I am incredibly stressed pretty much any food could also make me ill.

For context I lost 2.5 stone in 8 weeks at the peak of my IBS and was on 20+ tablets a day to try and control it without success. It was life ruining - I was at uni for the worst of it and gave up alcohol totally. I used to sit in lectures just crying because of the amount of pain I was in. I was told it might never get any better and could hardly bear the thought I might have to live my life like that.

Now I rarely take any medication, still have some acid indigestion issues and digestive unhappiness but am able to go out for dinner, work normally etc and live a normal life.

Sugar intolerance is very common but rarely mentioned.

I cured mine with anti-depressants. I tried Sertaline which was horrific. Then Fluxetine which worked for a while. Now on Flux and Mirtazipine which has been really fantastic. Only downside is massive weight gain in the first 6 months with the Mirtazipine.

Mine disappeared at the menopause. I was always sure it was linked to periods because that's when it was at its worst.

Mine disappeared when I quit a stressful job and moved to another city.

Antidepressants worked for me. Very few flare ups now compared to almost every day previously. They are grim at first bits it’s worth sticking it out.

As someone else said, it's different for many people. I know one person who had bad ibs, they lost a lot of weight and the ibs went away. Very little change in diet, just ate less and exercised more.

I think my partner has ibs too although it's not as bad. He also put on weight and it appeared, so I think it's the same issue for him. Same with his asthma.

I take an immodium before bed as most of my issues are first thing in the morning.
Triggers are onion, garlic, fibre and dairy.
Bottle of strawberry milk shake had me curled up in a ball screaming in pain. Learnt to avoid large quantities of milk after that!

Seconding anyone who says FODMAPs because it literally changed my life.

I've even titrated up on some items to being able to include small amounts of some troublesome items again.

OP

I use the chewable Acidophilus from H and B But you can get capsule ones too.
They've worked for me and my DS who had IBS too. I don't know if they work for everyone obviously

My brother has suffered with terrible IBS for years and tried lots of things without much relief until he went vegan, wheat and gluten free two years ago- It seems like such a restrictive diet to me, but it works for him and he’s so much better with it.

Totally cured it 30 years ago with monthly colon irrigation for 12 months. But you need to find a reputable practitioner. Mine used to be a nurse.
I met a specialist who was researching into IBS being something hypermobile people had. Ie their muscle tone was poor during parts of their digestive tract so things did not flow in a regular way. Before I had colon irrigation I had had to give up fruit as it upset my stomach too much and I struggled to not pass wind at the wrong time so I was desperate. Also had pills to calm stomach spasms. Had no issues since the colon irrigation at all and I eat what I want. I think if you can get matter stuck in the digestive track from decades ago that interacts in a bad way with the new stuff coming through. The first ever colon irrigation session leaves you with this incredible high as your body releases toxins it’s keen to get rid of.