Help!What CAN I eat with IBS?!

[FlobberWobber]

I have IBS (trapped wind, bloating, constipation, fatigue, nausea). I don't eat processed or junk food but have read my symptoms could be caused by vegetables, wine & dairy...

We eat a lot of garlic, onions, broccoli, cabbage, peppers & beans...

So those are out, so is dairy, bread fat and spices. And wine..

What can I eat?! Potatoes?

I have coeliac (have you been tested?) and obviously eat gluten free, avoiding bread, pasta, cakes etc but also find eating simple non processed food is better e.g grilled fish or chicken, baked potato and salad or rice dishes and fruit. I found dairy hard to handle at first but think as I'm healing I can have a little now.

I haven't even been tested for IBS, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is, it's been going on for about 6 years now. I get it really badly if I eat white bread, also worse aroundmy period. Do my symptoms sound like coeliac and how do they test for it?

I've been suffering with IBS for years and recently cut out anything with gluten and found it made a huge difference. However, I also find that vegetables like sprouts or broccoli or cabbage affect me too, so I eat very little of them. I did cut out dairy for a while, but have now gradually introduced it and seem fine so far.

What are the main things you can't eatas a coeliac?

I am trying this low FODMAP diet at the moment www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/158268-low-fodmaps-diet-for-ibs-d/. Only on week two but it seems to be helping a bit. Finding it hard to cook for everyone when you can't use onions, etc.

It's so hard! I'm going to the doctors tomorrow, had enough!

If you see your GP, bear in mind that some of the medication they prescribe can cause constipation - if you are already suffering with this, you don't want it to get worse. Worth mentioning to your GP.

I think IBS is different for each person I only have it mildly, but my GP advised a high fibre diet, which works brilliantly for me. Other people find fibre makes their bloating or discomfort worse.

I suspect a food and symptom diary would be good for you. Be aware that good takes longer to get through your system than you may think it would.

Try low-carbing. Since I started low-carbing I have non of those symptms. I used to get terrible bloating and cramps (not diagnosed with anything tho) and since I cut out anything made with wheat (and other carbs) i have been symptom-free.

DP has too - he was worse than me, and we've now been low-carbing for 1 year; Lost weight, no more bloating (flatulence in his case!) or cramping.

Any symptoms that are worse leading up to and or during menses should be checked out properly by a gynae. This may not be IBS at all and self diagnosis is never recommended.

would second low carbing. I have just fallen off the wagon and my bowels are in turmoil

Fizzy drinks are the one thing I avoid like the plague as they really affect my IBS. I'm also better with white bread.

Sorry just got back to this, coeliac can be tested for with a blood test to check for antibodies and then endoscopy (camera down throat) to check for damage to villi in intestines. I have to avoid gluten which is found in wheat, barley, rye so bread, biscuits, cakes, pasta and processed food best avoided. People get varying symptoms but mainly constipation/diarrhoea, bloating, maybe sickness, tiredness. Oh and more likely to have it if you have immediate family within or with other autoimmune illness e.g. hypothyroid, type 1 diabetes.

I have a gluten intolerance which basically presents as IBS (I test negative for coeliac). I find that I am fine if I avoid gluten, but also cannot tolerate ginger.

My brother has the same symptoms, and cannot tolerate gluten, dairy, and onions.

I think you need to speak to your GP, and maybe cut out food one at a time so you can work out your triggers.

IBS can be different for everyone. I need a diet high in soluble fibre. Fibre like bran just makes things worse for me. Mine is stress/anxiety related rather than diet based.

I've spent years piddling about with my diet for this. So far low-carbing has helped, eating carbs for breakfast then gradually eating more protein at the end of the day. No fruit really ever. Porridge is good. Raw peppers are the work of the devil, but grilled peppers with the skin off are fine. Mineral water helps.

It's a literal PITA though. What works some weeks doesn't always work the next.

My GP has been really helpful, I've had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, abdominal scan, various blood tests and seen a dietician a few times. All clear and healthy. It all comes down to stress.

Stop guessing and self-diagnosing is my advice, and go and get the GP to refer you to a dietician - my practice has one, they aren't that fancy, but a proper dietician not a self-styled nutritionist. Mine made me do a food diary. In the end it turned out not to be wheat or dairy or anything trendy but fat which was puffing me up like a painful flatulent balloon...I'd never have thought that.