Yet again IBS sabotages me

[MortyFide]

I've been making an effort with LCHF - also upped my exercise. So far so good, lost half a stone. I do suffer with IBS and dietary changes can often trigger attacks - I have to be careful with some fruits, some nuts (cashews, oh dear me no) and go easy on the fibre. None of that necessarily a problem on this style of eating, and for the first couple of weeks I haven't had any troubles despite increasing my fibre intake.

Last week I had my first attack in ages - had a few nuts and some cheese as a snack, and it set off a load of gurgling and a sudden surge. Strange, been eating that snack once a day for 2 weeks, don't know why it should set me off out of the blue (although I think there is such a thing as trigger stacking in IBS, like there is in dog training!!!).

Usually I go straight back to safe foods when this happens, as I work in the field and having an attack of the gurgles and being on the bog for an hour groaning in pain, just isn't an option when in client meetings on their premises.

But I determinedly stuck with it. Fine for a couple of days, then had nuts and cheese snack yesterday morning and once again, gurgling and a big surge, ended up sweating in pain in the bathroom for 40 mins with dreadful cramps. All I'd had the night before was a chicken casserole with squash - squash is a new addition for me, haven't eaten it before so maybe that's the culprit.

I'm now nervous of eating anything really, but I'm craving dry safe foods like bread and crackers. It feels like this happens whenever I try to eat well, my gut just kicks off and I end going back to old habits because I'm so nervous of having a lengthy and painful attack at a client meeting.

Does anyone else manage IBS on a low carb high fat diet? I have no gallbladder so maybe the fat is causing me a problem as well.

Could you try the lactose free cheddar and see if that helps? I can only have about 5 nuts per day or I get very bloated. Nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter etc) might be easier for your guts to digest and you would still get all the nutritional benefits from the nuts.
Do you ever take buscopan? When I’m having an ibs flare up it always helps to calm my stomach down

Hmm doubt it's lactose as milk and butter is always OK. And nut butters strike me as being concentrated nuts, so they might be worse than the nuts themselves!

Buscopan is reasonably good for pain, I get oesophageal spasms and it works for that - but immodium is the only thing that slows down the intestinal speed.

I've certainly considered taking one immodium a day when making dietary changes!

I would say that the fat is your main problem OP. Focus on that for now and things should settle.

I feel your pains. I had to do 7 boxes of imodium in a week for a while. Now it's 4 in one go which lasts a day. A huge improvement.

I have no experience with LCHF diets, but just reading what you’ve been eating makes me feel like my IBS is flaring up, so you have my sympathy

I’d second trying out some lactose free dairy, unless you are absolutely certain that dairy is not a trigger for you. If nuts are a problem, how about some seeds? (pumpkin or sunflower). They can be easier to digest.

Are there any other factors at play? For example, my IBS is extremely sensitive to stress. If I’m stressed, foods that are normally fine can still cause a problem.

I’ve found peppermint oil capsules to be very effective for avoiding the worst symptoms, and Buscopan for flare ups

Not sure if any of that is helpful, but just thought I’d share

Ooh 4 in one day would keep the pipes quiet, I'm sure gamerchick! It'd be a bloody miracle haha. It's really frustrating, for the few weeks that my eating went crazy, I was eating aaaaaallllll the sugar and cake and bread and chocolate because I was miserable and stressed and piled on a stone - but my guts were just fine, never better.

The minute I get a grip of my eating to lose some weight (and reverse some early signs of fatty liver), my lower intestine has a tantrum. Every. Time.

I've just had bloods redone and my cholesterol and sugars are all within normal range to low. My blood pressure is low. I'm not sure if they re-did the liver test, there's something in the results referring to urea (I thought that related to kidney function?) but the levels were normal anyway. I had a dodgy result last year and was sent for a scan, and I have "fatty infiltrates" - I am currently just over 14 stone and 5'3" so I need to lose a big chunk of weight.

Its just that most healthy low calorie foods involve IBS triggers. I've been yo-yo dieting all my life and it never changes, I always fail because I can't diet without shitting my pants!!

I tried the peppermint capsules but forgot to take them with food and my arse stung 🤣

I have to admit I take 2/3 Imodium on weekdays just to be sure I can get to work and back. I’ve done this for coming up to 15 years now. I used to take between 6-8 a day before realising it was mostly a crutch

Could it perhaps not be related to the food you eat (as you say you sometimes eat certain things and are fine) but to do with your monthly cycle and stress levels?
I track my symptoms and they always flare up at similar times of the month when I’m ovulating, just before my period and the week after it when my hormone levels are on the rise again. If I don’t sleep well or have stress going on I’ll suddenly bloat up and be stuck on the loo no matter what I eat

Blimey will bear that in mind about the peppermint! I've never tried them, because pain and cramping is actually relatively unusual for me - it's usually just sudden urgency, gurgling and, er, velocity. The cramps yesterday were not standard, but the rate at which I had to get my arse up the stairs was normal.

I didn't realise so many people took so many immodium - at a very stressful time donkeys years ago when I hadn't seen a solid poo for months (sorry), a GP did prescribe some but limited me to one day for a maximum of 30 days, in case of blockage. It did the trick so I do have some around in case of lengthy work meetings, and I did use them when I commuted to London daily. Only once did I have to exit the train at speed at a random rural station.

There could be some connection with cycle, but as I have a mirena coil all sense of a meaningful cycle has gone out of the window as I don't have periods. I have tried keeping track of symptoms but rarely remember to record them! I'm menopausal though - seeing doc for mirena change and oestrogen patches, pretty please tomorrow.