New to FODMAP, books, apps, sites?

[IamEarthymama]

I have been diagnosed with IBS and my GP recommended I investigate FODMAP diet
I don't eat meat, mostly vegetarian diet, I don't eat gluten at all,

Can anyone suggest any resources?

I can't go on as I am so any help you can give will be mightily appreciated

Oh I also have GERD to add to the fun

Try the FODMAP by FM app. I think you might have to pay for it but if I remember correctly it has a barcode scanner on it.
DH was told to follow it by his dietitian a couple of years ago, he's had ibs for around 10 years. He found it far too restrictive though and only managed a couple of weeks.

The whole point of the FODMAP is that your GP sends you to a dietician who is trained in it to support you. You need to ask for that.

(I'm a health writer and talked to some of the first specialists in the UK when the FODMAP was launched here a few years ago.)

You can try it yourself but it's not supposed to be used that way.

I know that there are trained dieticians in the UK so ask your GP for a referral.

You can find more info here. This is the kind of person you need.

www.wisediet.co.uk/

@jingling my DH had to wait 9 months to see a dietitian on the NHS and that was 3 years ago, I can only imagine the wait is a lot longer now and that this is why the GP is probably recommending their patient looks into it now. My DH was only given a leaflet by his dietician, you can get this online anyway.

@mummyh2016 I appreciate that but there are plenty of dieticians working privately too and not as expensive as you might think. The link I left shows one and I think her fee is about £90.

Your DHs treatment sounds very poor actually. You are supposed to have regular check ins with the dietician- weekly, fortnightly- to assess how you respond, what you can add in or take out of the diet. It's only supposed to be for 8 weeks anyway to find your trigger foods, then they come up with a long term plan.

He needs a dietetic referral.

I managed it myself after a fair bit of research and a cheat sheet from the GP. The point of it is that you restrict yourself for a few weeks then add the groups back in one at a time to find out which one you're sensitive too.

It's hugely restrictive (and therefore a bit costly) but I took it as a challenge to see what the tastiest thing I could make was.

I did it for several weeks (happened to be the whole of lent!) and my issues cleared up. I found I was sensitive to gluten. I haven't cut gluten out entirely but reduced the amount of bread I eat and if I feel my symptoms flaring up I'll take a look at my diet and add more variety in place of bread and pasta etc.

I have only been as bad as I was then and then was when I moved house and job and there were a lot of big emotions. I didn't do it long term but it was well worth it!

My sister did this with a private dietician by Zoom. She had fortnightly feedback calls when her progress was monitored. For example, wheat and dairy are not necessarily excluded in the Fodmap but a dietician will possibly suggest that they are on a trial basis.

All the evidence out there says you need to do it under supervision as some people react to foods a few days after eating them, others within hours, and it can be very hard to monitor your own reactions. Not impossible, but hard.

The same goes for reintroducing the foods- you do it very very slowly and monitor your response.