Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Brand New To This: Severity Question

Thanks to everyone for all your help. I just went to the store and bought a lot of starches. I kind of chuckle at the irony of being forced to eat foods I felt forced NOT to eat before because of the stigma attached to high glycemic carbs. Although, when I note both of my parents are diabetics, well, it's not that funny, but rather scary.

I'm a bit bummed to hear that people who have been dealing with this for awhile and are following the diet correctly are still having symptoms.

I likely have anxiety, but related to this condition, not an external factor. I got really stressed at work the week this started and now knowing what I know (that I caused this condition by my stress) I wish I had just taken the dang week off.

I have some more questions though, if that is ok: One of the symptoms I did not have in the beginning (the three weeks that started with D and where I was eating whatever) was gas and bloating, and now I have that. I have changed a few things though. I use Align (today was day 8), I take a teaspoon of berry blast metamucil every afternoon with about 12 oz of water (same time as the Align) and of course I have begun to eat more in line with this diet. I'm wondering if the gas and bloating isn't being caused by my condition, but by one of the "solutions."

Also, I know chocolate is out, but what about gummi candies? How about goldfish crackers? They supposedly have cheese, but if you look at the nutrition panel they seem not so fatty and with no insoluble fiber. I also got an "extra fiber" oatmeal today that was a trade off. Regular oatmeal has 3g fiber 2 insol 1 sol. This has 10, with 8 being sol, so it seems perfect, buy they didn't have plain, so I got cinnamon swirl, which has more sugar, and some sucralose (splenda, I think), but it's way down the ingredient list and plain natural sugar is much higher. Was that a good choice or a bad one?

I'm thinking of buying the Acacia and the peppermint caps (since peppermint tea seems to hurt more than help me) to support this site and community. The peppermint caps say they have fennel in them, too. Does that mean I don't need the fennel tea? Heck, even the hypnosis tapes sound awesome, but I'm going to save that for later down the line if nothing else works.

Also, a coworker told me today (male, late 30's) that he was diagnosed with digestive symptoms indicative of IBS (his physician told him there was no technical IBS, but a whole bunch of similar digestive problems where the brain failed to communicate correctly with the gut that fit under the umbrella of the term IBS) and his physician prescribed a low dose (75mg) of an anti-depressant called Nortriptyline. He claimed it was non addictive and virtually side-effect free, and was intended for sufferers of severe depression but had an off label use in a number of cases, one being IBS. Anyway. this co-worker, after three months of abdominal pain and discomfort, began taking it and said he was symptom free in a month, and though he has a very strict diet these days, it's not as strict as the IBS diet (he's vegetarian, but he does consume dairy and he drinks a cup of coffee in the morning and black/green tea in the afternoon). He has been cool for two years now, and is requesting to lower his dosage from 75-50mg. Has anyone here tried this and had success/no success with it? I'm a bit nervous to take a drug intended for severe depression when I don't even have minor depression, but he didn't either and it worked like a miracle for him. I'm going to ask my GI specialist, but figured you all are battle scarred veterans and have likely tried everything.

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