Posted by Larry Hoover on June 8, 2006, at 22:14:09 [reposted on June 11, 2006, at 18:11:26 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Persistent Stomach Pain-Scared-Advice Please!, posted by Tom Twilight on June 8, 2006, at 15:40:28
> Thanks Lar
>
> Your a star!
>
> Probably is IBS, I'm almost certainly assuming the worst because I'm tired.Simple things first. That's all your doctor was doing, too.
> Probably changing my eating habits would help
> I'm used to eating big meals with vast amounts of chilli based sauces.> Switching to smaller meals might be an idea
Smaller, more frequent meals, so there isn't a big "blob" of food to process. A food diary would probably show if there's something in the chilli sauces that's triggering you. The mere fact you've eaten that way for a while does not preclude your only having recently developed a sensitivity. You can develop food sensitivities or allergies at any time. Life's a bitch, some times. The foods you prefer may be ones you've always had a slight sensitivity towards.
I can't eat tomato-based sauces except intermittently. If I do so three days in a row, for example, I'm guaranteed to be hurting bad, and for a while. It's like I can stand it once, and if I let my gut rest, I can soon withstand another such meal. But if I don't let it rest in between, it gets really upset.
Onions trigger me. Dairy products. Intermittent, I can do, usually.
> How do you manage your IBS if you don't mind me asking?
As I've been saying. There is also, IMHO, a functional malnutrition feedback loop. That's why I mentioned that in my earlier post. I've inferred that something I don't absorb well when my gut is all a mess is also something necessary for my body to heal and/or keep my gut functioning better. There's a vicious circle thing that locks in the cramping. I found that when I stabilized my mood with nutrients, I pretty much stabilized my gut, too. And my asthma, and hayfever, and GERD. And headaches, come to think of it.
If a few days on a blander diet seems to give any sense of relief, you really need to do the diary thing.
I'm presently immune to the IBS, though, due to a high opiate intake for pain. I have quite the opposite problem, just now. I fear rebound effects, when I get off the corker meds. :-/
Sometimes IBS responds to SSRIs, or other antidepressants. The TCAs, via anticholinergic effects (usually seen as a side effect in others without diarrhea-predominant IBS). It could be caused by them, too (paradoxical effects). The rhythmic contractions of the smooth muscle of the gut wall, that propel food through your gut, are under serotonergic regulation. It all depends on what 5-HT receptor types your mama and papa gave you, just how the whole thing balances out, with respect to serotonergic/cholinergic meds. It gives new meaning to the old saying about gut feelings, doesn't it?
I wish I had the patience and attention to collect a really good diary myself. I think I've missed at least one trigger, all along. It's the "thrice provoked" thing that can make it really hard to sort out. What if it's e.g. black pepper that triggers you? How would you ever figure that out?
Best of luck with the detective work. I feel for you. And, do press your doctors to see if you can get that Dicetel stuff. I'd have lost at least one job without it.
I'd try to stay away from Pepto-Bismol or Maalox or the like, except for acute symptomatic treatment. I think you can easily over-use them.
There are a number of common trigger foods listed in this article, and it has some pretty good advice, all around:
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/86/99279.htm
I personally disagree with the reliance on medications, though, unless you can't manage it with changes in your behaviour. I only use the Dicetel for acute treatment. Like, I've got an important business engagement, and it doesn't look like I can leave the house. In 45 minutes, I'm golden. But it doesn't fix the problem, ya know?
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:655627
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20060610/msgs/655631.html