IBS PLEASE HELP!!

[tailormade]

I have suffered with IBS on and off for years, and feel I know everything there is to know about it!

I have periods when I'm fine, some when I'm terrible and have found that doctors are normally pretty naff.

I eat healthily and emjoy range of foods, I exercise daily, sleep well, don't smoke, enjoy the occasional drink(ing session!) and am not overweight. However, these IBS flare ups are becoming more frequent and starting to ruin my life.

For eg - this week for some reason, I've felt utterly and painfully bloated to the extent that my waist line measures 3 inches more than normal, I'm alterating between diaoreha(SP)and constipation,my left side back and front is painful (like burning thens stabbing feeling) and I'm full of gas.

I know there are lots of things that might cause this and that different people have different triggers, but it would be wonderful to hear of some successful ways of treating. I'm reluctant to go back to my GP because I feel the treatment offered is very vague and the general diagnosis of IBS does little to actually address the problem.

Serious advice needed pls from fellow IBS sufferers.

I got this book from the library. It really helped me, along with peppermint oil tablets when I have a flare-up, and milled flax seed in my cereal every day.

Thanks spotty dog
I have heard the milled flax seed idea - does it really work?!

It works for me, I have 4 spoonfuls in porridge every morning and I no longer have the constipation and bloating that I had for 10 years.
In the book, it tells you how to identify what kind of IBS you have and then how best to manage it. I really can recommend it, it showed me that some of the remedies I had been prescribed before (fybogel etc), were in fact making my IBS symptoms worse.

My gp has prescribed buscopan, not sure if it is working or not as have only taken it for 2 days.

I went into the health food shop and they told me to take a probiotic at bedtime which I am going to try aswell.