I've suffered from IBS symptoms since my teens, but they'd pretty much stopped in the last year due to being a lot less stressed (and had eased a lot when I first went paleo/low carb). It's very much stress related, though I've also found some foods set it off too e.g. dairy, too muchaspartame.

Anyway, it all started again last Sunday night, and it's still going on. I'm up and down to the loo every night, and not really going at all during the day (if I do it's still watery). I know it's stress related - I handed my notice in at work this week and I was really dreading doing it (I am moving to a new job, but am gong to miss this one loads). However, it's still going on even though I've calmed down a lot now I've done it. This is about the worst bought I ever had.

Does anyone have any advice? I don't seem to be getting dehydrated, though I always drink loads. I'm alcohol free at the moment. I am not being fantastically strict as I'm eating potato now and then, but I still avoid dairy and gluten as much as possible. I don't really want to still be having this problem when I start the new job, though I guess nerves about the new job could be what's keeping it all going.

There was some research done by a Dr Habba - a small research study, admittedly, but he took 300+ people with severe ibs-d and did investigations on. He found the cause in 98% of the people, including celiac, ibd, and in 40+% the reason was actually a gall bladder problem - the same as bile salt diarrhea that people who've had their gall bladder removed get, but in these people the gall bladder's still there but barely functional. What happens is too much bile gets released when they eat. This caused too much water to be absorbed into the large intestine, causing diarrhea. (its been named Habba Syndrome). Habba believes that there is no such thing as ibs-d, its just that people haven't been investigated properly.

Firstly have you been tested for celiac disease and had a colonoscopy to rule out any inflammatory bowel disease?

Secondly, a good test to see if you have too many bile salts being released is to take calcium carbonate every time you eat. Start with half a tablet, if that doesn't stop the diarrhea after a few days, try a whole tablet. It takes a day or two to kick in. You may want to ease up on the fats at the beginning.

I've just had huge success with calcium after having everything I eat go straight through me for weeks. There is a prescription med as well called cholestyramine, but would require a gastroenterologist to prescribe.

If it doesn't work there is a med you can try from your GP which is for IBS called mebeverine hydrochloride and helps with the ibs spasms. You take it 20 mins before you eat. It worked for me for a while, but also takes a few days to work.

Lee

Thanks for this. Having looked up about Habba Syndrome, I'm not sure this is it, as it's not linked to meal times and at the moment it's worst at night (very early morning, say 4am onwards). I will try the calcium though.

It's not something that's ever been properly investigated by a GP - the handful of times I have brought it up over the years, it's then stopped for a bit anyway so they've not been interested. If it keeps up much longer I will have to take it back to the docs, though I can't really afford time off in a new job.

If you have it at night then its much less likely to be ibs and more likely to be something like crohns of other inflammatory bowel disease. I suggest you get some tests and a colonoscopy and not just assume its ibs - stress can make ibd worse as well, and it also comes and goes in flare ups.

Go see your doctor - your health is important.

Lee

I'd like to suggest looking further for more food intolerances. I keep finding them in myself. The latest one I've found is a lot of raw veggies are an issue.

My list is: nuts, seeds, certain raw veggies (cauli, cabbage, etc), chocolate (in large quantities), gluten, dairy (causing C, others cause D).

So, my advice is keep looking and always suspect diet over emotional state. IMHO IBS isn't caused by stress in probably most cases.

Oh I'm pretty certain it was stress induced this time! I have a tendency to psychosomatic symptoms - I also got severe neck and back pain which I get when anxious over a prolonged period (i.e. a couple of days or more). My hayfever and asthma also went really bad for a while. Thankfully the back/neck pain only lasted about 36 hours.

Basically I seem to go very pro-inflammatory - I often suffer from itching and dertmatitis if stressed for example. I guess it's stress hormones.

I will try an elimination diet though, thanks, as stress is likely only exacerbating an underlying problem by raising the baseline of inflammation. I'm also thinking I might have been overdoing it on coffee and diet coke lately.

I have the opposite problem: I have severe constipation. Always have, even as a baby, but for the past 6 yrs, really bad, sometimes I'll go 2 weeks w/o going to the bathroom.

I've tried everything, pharmacy stuff, natural stuff, I eat a lot of fiber and take ground flaxseed, nothing helps.

Has anyone suffered from this as well and found anything to be effective?

All I can suggest alisabe is to find many ways of managing your stress...we can't avoid stress in our lives, but we need to manage it. Lots of people take up some sort of exercise...the more stress you feel, the more vigorously you work out (or for longer). I sincerely hope this clears up for you!

Lilah, have you tried just drinking some vegetable oil? Prune juice always worked well for me (sometimes too well!)

Lilah, my DH's IBS gives him constipation. He finds that as long as he takes regular magnesium, the problem is solved. There are many good reasons to supplement with magnesium, and resolving constipation is a good one!
I do believe that eating fibre can exacerbate the problem. Eat plenty of vegies, yes, but specifically seeking out high fibre stuff can often make constipation worse.

Have you ever tried going dairy free? That really helped me.

Yep, dairy is seriously bad if you have constipation - also any calcium supplements.

Lee

When I get really stressed I get terrible IBS. I end up with spastic bowel and diarrhea and it doesn't matter what I eat, because it just doesn't get digested anyway. IBS is also hormonally related so if you're about to menstruate it will be worst.

Personally I recommend something to help you with your nervous tension, like chamomile or St John's wort tea. It might not be something you're eating at the moment, stress is a bigger factor IMO.

Lilah,

I had severe constipation for a while, it's not cured yet because I still have intolerances affecting me, but the one thing that made a huge huge difference is to start taking digestive enzymes and betaine hcl. I guess I wasn't digesting my food properly - as soon as I started taking these - the hcl in particular - my bowels are very different. Read up on hcl though if you decide to take it - people who've had a stomach ulcer shouldn't take it, and if the problem isn't too little stomach acid you'll get a lot of heartburn when you take it (indicating that you already have enough stomach acid).

i had chronic IBS for 15+ years and the meds used to have nasty side affects, i often would pass mucus

going grain free has cured me Dairy does not seam to impact on it