I need help controlling IBS ???????!

I need help controlling IBS ???????

I suffer with IBS (the diarrhoea kind) and was wondering if anybody had any ideas to help keep it under control? I have read that Colostrum may help? Are there any other remedies out there that will help?

Geoff,

First off, I too suffered from your symptoms for many years. Before I offer my advice, here is the caveat: IBS is merely an absence of a true diagnosis. People can you advice, but because there are multiple causes, potential remedies often conflict, leaving you with no real solution. In the process of jumping from solution to solution, you can easily exacerbate the underlying problem.

Speaking from experience - you need to do everything you can to find the actual cause of your symptoms. Don't settle for an "IBS" diagnosis. In my case, I found, after three years of misery, that I have "fructose malabsorption." This can be detected with a simple and inexpensive hydrogen breath test.

Thus, in my case, I needed to cut out sources of fructose - especially fruit juices and anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

Unfortunately, because I had initially been "diagnosed" with IBS, I was told to replace sugary, fatty snacks with fruit. Over time, my condition worsened to the point that I developed a plethora of other problems. Once I cut the fructose, I started to do better, but I am still recovering after three years. Also, I am on a low dose of Nortriptyline, which greatly controls my nausea.

I had to seriously fight to get a doctor to look past the IBS diagnosis. It took too much time and too much money, but the alternative is far worse. Sorry for being "preachy," but people need to know to keep digging for a solution - an IBS diagnosis just isn't enough.

Best of luck!

With regard to other answers:

1. I disagree with the advice from "old know all" - it is very uncommon for people to have trouble digesting sucrose, as it is broken down in the body to fructose and glucose. Now, if you have a fructose intolerance, as I do, sucrose can be a problem, but only because it is partially broken down into fructose.

2. Celiac Srpue is definitely something to be tested for, though its occurance is rare - only about 1 in 3,000 in the US (for an article, see http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic308.ht... ). 1 in 133 seems to be grossly misstated.