Dodgy stomach and guts but drinking 3 bottles of diet coke a day

[voluptuagoodshag]

The diet coke doesn't help right????
Not me btw, but a friend who continually goes on about problems with her innards whilst continuing her diet coke habit.
After listening to this for a number of years and suggesting that she might want to give up the fizzy drinks, I get a bit of an attitude reply.
She's also a dietician

I can't think of much worse! Diet drinks are poison chemical water imo.

How is she a dietician? Sorry, this is really hard to believe.

She's a dietician?
Bloody hell, I'm not judging, just baffled that she can't work out for herself what the problem might be

Diet drinks contain sweetener which will irritate the bladder, making you wee more, so you get dehydrated, dry mouth etc

It's basically a toxin

as is caffeine, which coke is filled with, which is also a stimulant, and promotes the production of adrenalin, which in turn stimulates the gut making you want to poo.

It's pretty caustic on top of that.

This is for the benefit of anyone who might be interested. Your friend doesn't sound like she would be.

Is she a qualified dietician? Surely not!
All that phosphoric acid and caffeine cannot be good!

Yup, she is!!!!

That's why I've got 'that' expression on my face. I've even replied with the comment "well you're the dietician, you should know".
I get hit with but I don't drink tea or coffee so I'm justified in drinking this as my only vice so I can get a caffeine hit. Says her stomach is bad even if she doesn't take it but still find it hard to be sympathetic sometimes.
At a recent girlie weekend she even had one at breakfast FFS.
After dinner on the Saturday she came over all funny and had to rush off to the room to deal with her gut problems. Takes oprexamole (sp??) to counter it. Spent at least an hour in the bath then got to bed and tossed, turned, burped and farted for the next two hours until she fell asleep.
Similar when she came to stay with me over summer. Arrived with a massive bloated gut, burped and farted her way through the house, threw up her dinner. I mean if it's that problematic surely you'd be doing anything possible to try to make a difference.

Sounds like she's on a self destruct for some reason.

Cutting out caffeine and alcohol got rid of my ibs, then I reintroduced them slowly. Don't see a problem with sweetener myself.

Fucking hell, that is really odd.
I have IBS and know my triggers, I will sometimes eat things I know will set me off as I enjoy the food/drink, but never in company, and never to the point of being sick.
That sounds really mentally unhealthy.

She won't hear what she needs to hear, and always seems to have an 'issue' to moan about. When we (her pals) try to be sympathetic and offer solutions and thoughts as to how a situation could be improved (mostly glaringly obvious like the diet coke one), she just rants on about how it can't be done.
She is under a lot of stress but never implements anything to make the necessary changes in her life. I'm sorry she feels like this because she is a life long pal but at the same time I'm fed up with our precious time together (live far apart so only see each other occasionally) being taken up going over the same issues - for the last fifteen years!!! So something more than just the food methinks but what? How do I get her to help herself and make herself happy?

She's not coming across as a pleasant person to be around, for many reasons. There is something going on and yes as someone said it sounds self destructive, and very sad for her but also for everyone around her.

Sometimes you just cannot help. Also sometimes when you have had enough it is best to end it quietly, without announcing it, just avoid and make excuses - before it causes a big blow up.

Omeprazole I think

If she won't get some counselling then there is nothing you can actually do.

That sounds harsh but it's just how it is.

She sounds very unhappy. I bet there are some deep seated issues going on there. Poor woman. But I stand by what I said. You have tried your best - if you cannot get along with her as she is then you know what to do.

You can't keep trying to change her. If she asks why you are being distant then tell her you find it painful to see her hurting herself, and it's too painful to sit by and watch, and you need a break from that. And that you care about her and hope she can access some help. But you are not able to do it for her.

She has a tendency to over dramatise things. For example, recently she said "oh and wait until I tell you about my run in with my MIL" and built it up over an entire morning. When we were finally sat down she told me, basically, that there was a slight misunderstanding over something said during a phone conversation. That was it but the detail was gone over in minutiae for the best part of an hour. I'm sure there is a need in her to over dramatise every aspect of her life, but why??? It's like she's only happy if she's moaning. To anyone meeting her for the first time, she sounds like she's got a chip on her shoulder against the entire world but once she was funny, happy, great company and we've had so many great times together. I guess I'm wanting her old self back, even though it's been missing for years.