Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | how frequent are frequent small meals? Also pep caps?

According to my food journal, I tend to eat a little something every 2 hours, but sometimes I go as long as 4.

However, I never go as long as 12. I had to fast night before last -- so that I could have lab work done yesterday morning. I stopped eating at 8:00 that night, and by 8:00 yesterday morning, I was pretty hungry, but I couldn't eat; instead I headed out to the lab. Frankly, I wasn't feeling well, my tummy was rumbling something terrible. I had the lab work done and left, heading down the highway to the new property to check out the contractors' progress, all the while my tummy screaming up at me, "Hey, what's the delay? Send it DOWN!" The rumbling got worse, so I reached into my purse for my private stash, and gobbled down a Luna Bar.

Within 5 minutes, the rumbling completely disappeared and I was able to function normally again.

12 hours is too long for me!

This morning, I had the same problem. The last bit of food I had last night was around 7:00 p.m. This morning I woke up around 7:00 -- 12 hours later -- and I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat until 3 hours later -- that's 15 hours! Oh dear -- and the inevitable occurred: first the rumbling, and then Big D, and pretty soon severe cramping, a full-fledged attack. ARGGGH!

I wasn't hungry, so I curled up with a heating pad on my tummy. Tummy tried to calm down, but it was screaming for food. Why eat when I'm not hungry, right?

WRONG! I forced a slice of toast down me, and the minute the first bite hit my tummy, it immediately calmed down.

I don't really have meals, not what most people think of as meals anyway. I have one thing on my plate, only one, never any more than that. If I have a salad, I chomp down some plain saltines as I'm making the salad. But that's my meal, nothing more. If I have an ear of corn, I have the saltines first, then the corn. But that ear of corn is my entire meal, nothing more.

Ditto with my turkey meatloaf. Just the meatloaf, nothing more.

What I recommend is to keep a food journal. Enter the time you eat the item, what the item is and how much, and leave a column for "comments" in which you can later insert reactions that your body had to that food. Then, have your little mini-meals throughout the day as your tummy wants. You'll see a pattern develop and pretty soon you'll know how often to chomp down on a rice cake.

I took the peppermint caps once a day, but they quickly caused indigestion, so I had to give them up. If I could take them, though, I think I'd opt to take them only as needed, whenever I had an attack, as an antispasmodic, as I do my heavy-duty meds (Hyoscyamine and Donnatal).

Bev

--------------------
<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator