Has anyone overcome or completely controlled their IBS symptoms?

[Friedbluetomatoes]

Just that really.
After suffering for 21 years from bloating, pain, excessive wind, grumbling/gurgling/growling guts, nausea, indigestion etc, I’ve had enough.
I’ve had a clear colonoscopy, gastroscope with biopsies, ultra sound scan of upper digestive organs and a ct scan. After that the gastroenterologist wasn’t interested and discharged me.
I’ve tried endless diets (tried low fodmap under hospital 3 times), cut out and added in various food groups etc with no lasting relief from symptoms.
Tried various off the shelf and prescribed meds, again with no lasting help.
I’m looking to see if I’ve missed something, if there is something (anything) which someone has tried with success and I haven’t yet tried.
I’m 47 and have wasted the last 21 years of my life with this awful condition.

Fully agree with peri making it worse as well as my normal mental problems during my 10/12 days of PMT I feel like my digestive system packs a suitcase and disappears during that time for all the good it is

I have got mine from catastrophically not under control to broadly under control and mainly don't need meds any more.

I have serious issues with basically all legumes: beans, lentils, chickpeas etc. I have to avoid those completely. Also soya. Chilli also disagrees.

Then I have to limit quantities of fibrous vegetables, but can have some. Same with red meat, or really mainly beef - I can have a bit, but not a whole steak's worth.

I don't avoid dairy or wheat. I'm not convinced it makes that much difference, but because they're in everything you can think it does when actually it's other stuff that's causing the problems.

If it's a less good day I definitely have to keep to the "bland things". If I have a really stressful period at work, then I might end up taking omeprazole and mebeverine. Simethicone (windeze) is a good OTC med for if your abdomen is hard and painful.

I also got myself a vastly less stressful job and that helped a lot too...

That sounds like a lot of things but it means 98% of the time I'm basically okay, compared to spending significant proportions of my time in so much pain I used to sit at my desk with tears rolling down my face, so it's a pretty major improvement.

I have.

I follow a super basic low fodmap diet - you need to know triggers though.

Remember portion size is important too.

Also, avoiding insoluble fibre, and having lots of soluble fibre.

My current diet is so basic (consists of under ten items which are literally the same every day) I’m worried I’m malnourished 😑 but I’m happy as I don’t feel Ill all the time like I used to.

The absolutely biggest triggers are onion/garlic.

Eating regularly
Exercise
Meditation
Antidepressants
Gluten free
No caffeine

All of the above for me.

Yes, by working out my triggers, which are gluten, caffeine and bananas.

Also LCHF works really well for me.

I think the only thing that cures it is a gut bacteria transplant?

@Elieza that's a fecal transport right?

A friend of mine suffered for years with IBS.

He started replacing meals with Huel. Google it for all the details. Basically...meal replacement, vegan, nutritionally complete etc.

He had it for 3 meals a day for 3 months...which although palatable must have been pretty soul destroying.

He claims his symptoms have 90% disappeared.

Hes now slowly introducing actual food back in for one meal a day.

Low carb vastly improved mine but it didn’t totally go. I’m back to carbs but don’t eat pasta or bread as they are much worse for my Ibs than potato or rice. Keto made my hair fall out, that was worse than the ibs!

Mine all but disappeared when I did low carbing for weight loss. You don't have to eat dairy, in fact for some people it seems to inhibit weight loss.

I also had a negative test for coeliac but I definitely have a flare up every time I eat wheat so I guess I have an intolerance.

31/05/2020 19:41kingkuta

I treated negative for coeliac but cutting out wheat has all but eliminated my symptoms of pain, bloating, gas, constipation and nausea

This for me too.

Going gluten free changed my life (despite also testing negative for coeliac). I'm really strict and don't eat anything with gluten at all. If I've been accidentally glutened I really suffer and am really I'll again almost instantly.

Yes. I had the most horrible cluster of boils on my leg a year or so ago, and I had to go on some seriously strong antibiotics for about a fortnight to clear them up.

My IBS disappeared completely along with the infection, and hasn't come back.

@Wallywobbles yeah! That’s what I was on about, fecal transplant.

Anyone tried that? I don’t even know if they do that in the U.K. let alone on the NHS.

Have you read 'Delay Don't Deny' about intermittent fasting? If not, I recommend it. Overnight during the fast period a lot of antiinflammatory healing takes place (see Dr Jason Fung, Obesity Code).
Regarding keto. It's a choice. You can continue as you are, or switch to fish (eggs?) veg, avocado, nuts, berries, no alcohol, no sugar or processed foods, definitely no artificial sweeteners. Give it a month and keep a food and symptoms diary. See how it goes.

Interesting reading this thread, lots of people mention caffeine as a trigger, I hadn't thought about eliminating that!

@Wearywithteens what kind of foods do you eat?
Like toast or mashed potato?