Has anyone successfully controlled their IBS (diarrhoea type)

[MoanyMcMoanington]

I have had IBS for decades but it's getting worse as I age.

I have had many tests (cameras up and down, scans, biopsies etc) and all ok. Gastro says it's 'just' IBS and sadly it's something I have to learn to live with (I don't know what she thinks I've been trying to do these last 25 years but ok).

No amount of low fodmapping, carefully avoiding my trigger foods, not touching alcohol or caffeine and leading aa healthy a lifestyle as I can seems to help to control my gurgling and unsettled gut. I experience loose stool every day (some days looser than others and no idea why that happens). Medication hasn't helped and I've tried many including Imodium which seems to be the only given advice for loose stool but that doesn't help me at all it just slows everything down yet I still have loose stool.

It's really depressing to think all these years trying to live with this and that this is my life, always watching what I eat, urgency every damn morning, never knowing when I might need to suddenly go, hardly socialising as a result. I know it's not seen as a serious issue by most health professionals but it's really depressing, I've had to give up work recently as a result.

Has anyone successfully controlled or even eliminated their gut problems?

Buscopan helps when the spasms are very painful and on days when i just have to get on. Stress definitely makes it worse. I've found gut bacteria pills mildly helpful, and avoiding chocolate and most beans and brassica.

Other than that I think it's a case of living with it.

Really feel for you, it's just awful

Only through taking Aimovig and Ajovy injections for my migraine.... No IBS in five years!

In all seriousness though, nothing worked for me either except removing wheat, yeast and peas(!) from my diet. Even then I'd get the occasional bout.

What difference are the dietary changes actually making for you? What happens if your sack off all the things that make you miserable? Is your IBS worse or the same?

Yes, try gut directed hypnotherapy. It has changed my life after 20 plus years of IBSD. I used the Nerva app and it has been transformational. If you've tried everything else (I had) then it's worth a try to see if it helps.
I don't suffer any longer and I can barely believe it!

I'm so sorry you're suffering.
Fodmap and avoiding triggering foods solved mine.

What worked for me was intermittent fasting. Since I started 16:8 a couple of years ago I haven't had any flare ups. I started the process with taking a scoop of Complete Gut Repair once a day for 3 months (from Mammoth) and since then I have had no issues. My gut really likes the 16 hours of rest/healing a day and it's known to reduce inflammation in your body general.

A 5 day course of steroids for a chest infection stopped mine completely. I can only presume that my gut was inflamed and these sorted it. 6 months later and all is still working as it should.

Have you tried low dose amitriptyline 10-20mg taken at night. Recent studies show benefits for IBS-d and it’s made a massive difference for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not cured, still use Imodium as needed too but in all the 20+ years it’s the only improvement I’ve seen. I can lead an (almost) normal life.

I really don't know, in all honesty I am quite wary of food in general now, I feel I could live on a diet of dust and still get symptoms every day. On the odd day I have fallen off the wagon and eaten foods that I know are not great for me I will feel a million times worse.

I am at a complete loss when it comes to food. I am under a hospital dietitian and even he know longer knows what to suggest.

This is going to sound really weird, but I accidentally cured mine with WeightWatchers. I needed to lose some weight and started WW last June. Saw a dramatic improvement in my gut and bowel habits. Came off it over Christmas and everything flared up again.

Mine isn’t as bad as yours but it has been pretty bad at points in my life.

WW had me eating high protein, low fat, very low sugar, lots of fruit and veg. I’ve concluded that for me, high fat and sugar is the problem.

I do already practice gut directed hypnotherapy. I have tried the Michael Mahoney Audio IBS programme, the Nerva app and I have had face to face gut directed hypnotherapy from which I was given a personalised plan and download, I still listen to it each day as I do find it relaxing but sadly it has had no impact on my symptoms.

When I remember to take them these help, as does live natural yoghurt every day. Nothing else works.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0089B8I7E?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I already IF (eat around 11am then stop at 7am) as I can't face food first thing.

I have read some good reviews on Happy Mammoth products, I will look into that, thanks.

I got utterly fed up with medics saying it is "just IBS" - try living with it mate! - it is not "just" anything! What they mean is you don't have cancer or raging inflammatory disease, and that is used as a reason to dismiss it and not look into the causes and treatments so diligently.

I found being pregnant was a temporary cure!

I'm with you - it's so hard to explain to people how limiting having IBS is - the fear of being out and about (my symptoms come on stupidly quickly if I'm doing anything energetic, like being on a walk) is huge and really impacts on what I want to do - always having to know where the nearest loo is.

I'm Coeliac with lactose intolerance, so limited in what I can eat anyway, and I'm slowly working out that onions/red onions/peas are really bad for me.

I've noticed in the last couple of weeks that making fruit smoothies seems to have helped though - frozen fruit, LF greek yoghurt and chopped dates blended together. I don't know if it's the fruit or the dates, but maybe I needed more roughage? So, I'm going to carry on making and drinking 1 x glass a day and hope that it's not just a phase!

Swapping around lunch and dinner so I had my main meal at lunchtime and just soup and sandwich in the evening helped me with flare ups in the past.

I really want to try this but my GP advised me not to as there are some studies that it can cause dementia and this put me off as my mum has Alzheimer's.

However, I am trying to weight up if it's worth taking the risk, even though I am terrified of dementia since mum's diagnosis because frankly, I currently don't have much quality of life and even more so since leaving my job and now having to rely on one income.

Yea, that's my schedule too. I can definitely recommend Happy Mammoth but it probably took a month or 6 weeks before I noticed any noticable improvement so stick with it.

I control my IBS by diet for the most part. I can’t have dairy at all, I avoid takeaways as they can be a trigger.

I take Mebeverine and Loperamide (Imodium) every morning.

I’m under the colorectal team as I have a birth injury but they tell me it’s a rollercoaster and I will have good and bad times while it’s true.

Stress is a huge factor. If you’re anxious about having a flare up when you’re out then it’s likely to make you worse.

I don't need to lose weight but my friend dropped her carbs and increased her protein and found that alongside losing the weight she reduced her IBS symptoms. She fell off the wagon at Christmas and had an awful few days with her stomach.
I do need to look into this, thanks.

It boils my blood. My gastro told me that half of her patient load are IBS sufferers, you would think they would have more empathy.

When I was pregnant with my first dc I went a whole year without symptoms, could eat whatever I wanted, it was pure bliss, I have never been so happy.

I would ask to see the colorectal team as they have clinics for bowel function which includes this and constipation.

I’m so sorry you are having such a terrible time. it’s miserable having this to deal with.

You say you have had lots of scans but I’m wondering if you have had the capsule and scans which look for Bile Acid Diarrhoea AKA Bile Acid Malabsorption? You could look up this condition and see if it might be relevant for you? For me it involved burning yellow diarrhoea day and night which burnt sensitive skin nearby causing anal fissures. This developed after my appendectomy, mysteriously. There is so much which doctors can only guess at and so much suffering blamed on IBS. The good thing about this BAD/ BAM condition is that the medicine works quite well. It has to be recommended by the gastroenterologist but then can be on repeat prescription via your GP. The tablets are much easier than the powder option. The tablets firm everything up, make your poo brown (not yellow, orange or green!) and not so burningly acidic. Reduces frequency from twenty times a day to once or twice, mercifully. The tablets stop anything else from being absorbed for hours before and after so the timing of taking them can be tricky, but manageable. There is an informative Bile Acid Diarrhoea website. This might be part of your problem?

I hope you feel better soon.

I really feel for you, I had the sudden urgency, I often get it when stuck in traffic, sends me into a complete panic.

I do wonder if I need to bulk things out somehow, my dietitian did suggest psyllium husk but whenever I google that it says it's for constipation, I most certainly don't need a laxative!

My gastro did refer me about 3 years ago but it got rejected.