Hi I am new to this section of DS. I can tell you though that it doesn't surprise me that you had a relapse after eating ice cream. Dairy causes IBS. I was diagnosed with IBS and the doc recommended I try various medications - I had pain 100% of the time - every day. I was later told by a nutritionist to stop all dairy immediately and I would be better within a month. I did the best I could and thought I had cut out dairy but there is "hidden" dairy in lots of foods and I was still getting sick. Sodium Casinate and Casein are both derivatives of cows milk. Coffee Mate and all the international creamers that are labeled "non-dairy" actually contain "caseine". All margarine has dairy in it: "I can't believe it's not butter" is loaded with buttermilk! Pesto has parmesan cheese in it, all store bought gravy has dairy in it, tons of soup has non-fat dry milk in it - cookies, donuts, many cakes...the list is endless. After I started reading labels I began to understand why I was still getting sick...and what I could and couldn't eat. Within 2 months I had no pain and another wonderful side effect: I lost 25 lbs. Still, I was very depressed b/c I was a real big cheese, ice cream, butter and cream cheese eater, but I've learned to cope. In the last 10 years many people have developed IBS and many stores are now offering "non-dairy" items especially at places like Trader Joes and Whole Foods. There's a lot of alternatives to dairy that work and many are really, really good. Trader Joes has cheese made from sheeps milk it's called "Basque Sheperds Cheese" and also Earth Balance Organice Margarine is really good. Whole Foods has Soy Delicious "Decadance" ice Cream that's REALLY good. It's a very hard thing to do to stop dairy, but if you can do it, you will find amazing relief. Just see if you can try it for a few weeks. Notice how much you eat throughout the day that has dairy in it and see hou you feel after you eat it. I hope you feel better soon.

Barbara is right that stopping dairy is the first step one should take when things go bad. It's not the sole cause of IBS, but in the north american diet it's right near the top of the list.

thank you
now how do I cope with the after effects? I sometimes take supplements but when I feel this bad, I am afraid to take anything! I sometimes take acidophilus, this other anti-yeast thing called candex, magnesium (which is a natural laxative, I'm already having DH but I want to get cleaned out, so I do not know what to do). Ginger tablets I'm definitely taking b/c they are spec. for upset stomach.
thanks again

Before you call it IBS, you should wait and see if it continues for a couple of days. You may just have an upset stomach from the ice cream that may clear itself out when you're empty. Flush out the bad stuff with lots of water. If it's really started IBS-D again, then you should probably switch to a diet of chicken and rice for a couple of days and see if that helps.