Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Tim, it looks like from what you mentioned, that you may be eating wheat foods fairly regularly. You might want to consider a gluten-free diet (after consulting with your doctor) to see if that helps. You could even get the blood test for gliadin antibodies first if you like. But I would try the GF diet even if the test is negative. It can't hurt (if the remaining diet is well-balanced) and it could help. Even better than only avoiding gluten and dairy would be a planned, systematic elimination diet (with oversight from your doctor) that removes common intolerance and allergy trigger foods and then cautiously reintroduces them one at a time, to find out what if any are causing problems.

I also had...

IBS-C
intestinal spasms
intermittent pains in the abdomen, lower and upper back, and groin
acid reflux, with occasional night vomiting
occasional hoarseness and loss of voice
anxiety
depression
bloating
etc., etc., etc.

I also tried...

flaxseed oil tablets, flaxseed liquid and ground flaxseed powder
"IBS Support I and II"
Metamucil, Citrucel, Milk of Magnesia, etc.
various herbal teas
slippery elm
Prilosec
etc., etc., etc.

I also saw a psychiatrist and doctors was prescribed Lorazepam, Paxil, prescription strength Famotidine, Lexapro and other medications (and directions to take Metamucil, eat cooked vegetables and whole grains for fiber, drink lots of water, etc.). I saw a nutritionist who recommended even more fiber, including adding more soy foods and powders to the whole grain foods I was eating (mostly whole wheat), as well as beans, corn chips, lentils, limit animal protein, take fish oil tablets, etc. None of this stuff helped much, if at all, and I continued to get gradually worse. Over the decades of illness and getting poked and prodded, time and time again I was told to eat more whole grains by doctors, a nutritionist and many articles I read and news items I saw on tv or heard on the radio. Little did I know that it was the grains (especially wheat) that were triggering my illness to begin with and making it gradually worse and worse.

At the time I was prescribed Lexapro (with my 40th birthday approaching) I also asked my doctor if I should get tested for lactose and gluten intolerance (I had read about them on the Net), as a last-ditch attempt at trying to figure out what was causing my health issues, or at least rule out some possibilities. This Web site helped spur my interest in the gluten direction, in that one of my symptoms (floating stools) didn't seem to be reported by anyone in this IBS forum (or other IBS fora and articles). When I searched the net for the illnesses related to that symptom, gluten intolerance and celiac disease (a.k.a. celiac sprue) came up frequently. My doctor said the test he recommends his patients try is to eliminate dairy and then gluten for 2 week periods and see if there is any improvement.

So after taking Lexapro for a couple of weeks and only seeing mild improvement, I decided to try the dairy and gluten elimination tests. Eliminating dairy seemed to help a little bit, but not much. Then I eliminated the gluten, and quickly saw some gradual improvements that were better than with Lexapro and dairy elimination. Within 3 and a half weeks I saw dramatic improvements. It seems that gluten is the biggest culprit in my health problems, and the combination of a gluten-free and dairy-free diet with Lexapro has allowed my system to begin the healing process. I definitely recommend looking into gluten intolerance in particular.

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator