Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Support Group

I have just started to add golden linseeds to my diet, so far so good. I have got to the stage where I am afraid to eat anything for fear of extreme pain, have lost 2.5 stones since beginning of the year, am now 7.5 stone and 5 foot 8 inches tall and have had many people comment to me recently that I look "anorexic" charming!!!

Anyway I am now trying to eat just porridge, yogurts, bananas and linseeds to hopefully try and heal everything inside. If this works for me I shall continue on this route, at least I will find shopping easy!

Dont' know if you will be able to find these easily in Australia, possibly a health food store might keep them or be able to get them for you, they are also known as flax seeds.

Thanks Stash :)

I really feel for you - I have been ill for 4 years and I lost massive amounts of weight in the first 6 months of being ill and I could see all my ribs way too clearly! I have managed to stabalize a bit but my weight does fluctuate.

We do have flaxseeds redily available, however, I have read they can be a touch tough on your gut - but I am always willing to try things in small amounts.

I don't know if this helps, but some things that have helped me in terms of stabalizing my weight:

Lowering salycilates, removing dairy, removing gluten, eating fruit cooked only. Drinking lots of cups of warm filtered water and using a heatbag alot! - Some easily digestible gluten free grains that might help to widen your diet are:

Millet (really low allegenic - given to babies for its super digestibility - it can be bought as flour, grain and meal)
Rice (I know its a bit obvious but it doesn't seem to cause me too much harm! (can use rice flour to bake with)
Buckwheat (flour and grain)

You do need to eat your veggies too, otherwise you will just keep getting skinnier! - I know how hard it is but limiting your diet too much will not help you to put the weight back on. Try cooking you veg first (that makes them a bit easier to eat) - Vegies like, carrot, celery, parseley, sweet potato/pumpkin (little bits) I find I can usually manage.

Steamed chicken or shallow water white fish is pretty easy on the gut too and it helps you to keep up your protein (if your not veg).

If your worried about getting your good bacteria (i.e. eating loads of yoghurt) try a probiotic supplement that contains bifobacterium (probably spelt wrong)! - Bifobacterium is the only good bacteria that has been 'researched' and has had relative sucess in treating IBS.

Hope I haven't overloaded you with info (I am a research junkie - anything so that I am not in pain all the time!) But I get where you are *sympathy* :) - Take care :)

thanks Ozchick, the yogurts I eat have prebiotics and probiotics in them, as regards fruit and veg whether I eat them cooked or raw they still cause me bad problems, also chicken and rice are no go areas too (have tried both white and brown, blows me up bigtime!)baked potatoes, no way.

Believe me you name it I have tried it!

I have suffered with this problem intermittently since my teens but now it is a permanent fixture in my life and I had almost reached the end of my tether. I have been neglecting jobs in the house because I have been so fatigued and have been having to spend a couple of hours in bed each day. Doctor has prescribed me proton pump inhibitors to try and reduce the gastric acid, can't say whether they are helping or not!

So far the linseeds are having a positive effect which is a relief! I am definitely sticking to these few items for the foreseeable future. I have also found a low fat sports nutrition drink which has all the vitamins, minerals, protein, fibre etc which the body needs so have been drinking this too.

The only route I haven't tried is eating baby food, this is always an option!

I Hope the proton pump inhibitors work for you!

I know where you at - I feel like I've tried everything too! - I am at the point of trying things again for the second and third time around! I often feel like I am at the end of my thether as well and then miraculously I have a good day and forget how bad the last 3 months since my last good day were!

Hang in there, the only thing I've learnt about IBS is that as horrible as it is its like a rollercoaster and as sureley as it goes down it does come up again too!

thanks ozchick, linseeds are helping, however I am waiting a call from my GP as I "passed" something rather worrying yesterday and I need his take on it. I was due to see him at the end of next week but don't think I should wait that long.

PPI's not really helping, I know I am going to need further explorations as my symptoms are not entirely linked to IBS, possibly diverticulitis.

Hope you GP can shed some light on whats going on. I have tried PPI's and I have not found them to be useful, I was hoping you would have more luck!