What do you suggest for someone with IBS?
My sister has IBS so bad that she developed agoraphobia(?) –she ‘fears’ going out to public places because she doesn’t want to get embarrassed with ‘uncontrolled’ episodes. I don’t know what to suggest to her. I told her perhaps it may be a side effect of one or more of her meds, but don’t know for sure. She’s on a couple of meds for the IBS, but they don’t seem to help much. Any suggestions?????
I found some good info on this site, including…
My IBS symptoms went away when I started experimenting with anti-Candida (anti-yeast) type diets. Since I’ve changed my diet I noticed that there is a lot of overlap between diets often recommended to prevent yeast overgrowth and diets recommended for people with IBS. I think it is more than a coincidence. It has made me wonder if other people besides myself with IBS symptoms may also have intestinal yeast or bacteria overgrowth as a causative factor in their digestive upsets, too.
Many of the conditions covered in this web site such as migraines, mitral valve prolapse, fibromyalgia and related conditions have been linked to both irritable bowel syndrome and to Candidiasis (or related yeast-type infections). I believe there are logical reasons why these conditions often all tend to occur together. At least in my case, I think an overgrowth of putrefactive yeast and bacteria in my GI tract caused poor digestion which lead to nutritional deficiencies and tiredness. The tiredness lead me to crave carbohydrates for energy boosts. The carbs worked to boost energy in the short run, but in the long run they just contributed to more yeast overgrowth, causing imbalanced intestinal flora in my GI tract, thereby creating a vicious cycle as illustrated below:
High carbohydrate diet
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Feeds yeast in the GI tract, which crowds out helpful bacteria
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Causes poor digestion which in turn causes
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Nutritional deficiencies which in turn cause
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Tiredness, insomnia which in turn cause
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Carb cravings for energy boost
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Cycle repeats
This illustrates my version of the
IBS – Fungus Infection Link
Here a couple of web sites I highly recommend that address the connections between IBS and yeast or bacteria overgrowths:
Fermentation May Be At Root Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome – "About half of patients with IBS report that certain foods make their symptoms worse. Why this might be so is unknown, but one theory is that these foods contain substances easily fermented by the bacteria normally found in the colon."
The Fungal Etiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease – a good article from Dr. Mercola’s site. He is the author of the popular No Grain diet book. His ideas seem a bit extreme at times, but there is a lot of common sense in this article and others on his site.
For more information on what I personally found helpful in Alleviating my IBS, please see the next section on IBS Diet.
I would suggest she try pepto bismol. I had too had IBS and believe it or not Pepto worked. I have retired and I no longer have IBS. I believe the stress of my job caused it with me.
Get some Maylocks and have her seen by a dr. and you might get the pills a higher dosage.
can u tell me what medications she use?
diet is so important. beans and their family could be the source. another source is milk and diary. anxiety can lead to aerophagia-swallowing air.
I have Crohn’s disease for 13 yrs. so I know exactly how she feels. I know where every bathroom in every store is in town. I found that if I was going out, stop eating or even drinking a hour before I would leave nothing in, nothing out. I would stay away from juices even though they say they’re good for you they don’t realize the acid and sugars in them reak havack on our stomachs. I also started taking a change of clothes with me just in case. I have had to have an Ileostomy so I don’t have that problem anymore but I was going about 40 times a day so this is much better. Tell her not to give up things will get better. Good luck to you and her.