Focus on food intolerance causes of IBS
Cat is a busy mother of three young children, who works part time as a school dinner lady.
She complained of daily bloating. This bloating was extremely uncomfortable as her tummy swelled a lot, so that on some days she looked six months pregnant. Flatulence was a major problem for Cat, particularly later in the day. Her stools were mostly loose, though sometimes constipated, and occasionally she suffered diarrhoea. When she had diarrhoea, it was preceded by pain, and associated with a very urgent need to get to the toilet. She was tired ALL THE TIME.
Cat had been to see her GP several times since her symptoms worsened after the birth of her youngest daughter. A blood test had confirmed that nothing horrible was wrong with Cat, and she had been reassured that her problem was IBS, nothing serious, and advised her to exclude foods one by one to see if her symptoms lessened. Poor Cat was not sure where to start, so on recommendation from a friend, came to see me for a test.
On testing Cat her problems were cow’s milk products and peppermint tea. She had been drinking 8 or so cups of peppermint tea to try to settle her tummy. She was having several actimels a day in case the telly adverts were correct, and loved cheese and ice cream both of which she was consuming on most days.
She felt very headachy for the first few days, but by the end of the first week her tummy was comfortable, and her stools normal. Constipation was a thing of the past, and on the rare occasion that it came back, then a couple of tablespoons of linseeds sorted her out.
Cat’s fatigue and lethargy disappeared. All of the original symptoms returned when she tried out some feta cheese [made from sheep’s milk] so after an email conversation we assumed that all animal milk products were not good for her.
Three months later Cat no longer got symptoms from cow’s milk products or peppermint. She agreed to keep some restriction, and now only has cow’s milk products twice a day. Peppermint she has occasionally, but never really liked, and was only using it because she had read on the internet that it would help her tummy symptoms .
For those with IBS whose symptoms are not completely better on a change of diet, I have been suggesting that they take some supplements, with good effect. If you saw improvement on diet alone, but still had lingering problems with your gut, you may like to consider following this protocol.
- Probiotics help if the bugs in your gut have become unbalanced and there is a proliferation of unhelpful ones down there. Adding probiotics put the good bugs back in. The products that I suggest below contain higher doses than you would obtain from the yogurt probiotic drinks that are advertised at present. And anyway these yogurt products are not suitable for anyone with an intolerance to milk, yeast or sweet artificial flavours.
- Digestive Enzymes help digestion…simple!
- A good multi vitamin helps the enzymes to work even better
- Aloe Vera has not been yet proven to help IBS, but a lot of people swear by it.
- Digestive Enzymes Use Biocare Bio–enzyme capsules [formerly Digestaid]
- Solgar Vegan Digestive Enzyme Tablets
Both these products are free from yeast, dairy, soya wheat, but do contain maltodextrin, which is a problem for some of you.
- G and G Digestive Complex
- Probiotics Solgar Advanced Acidophilus capsules [contains maltodextrin] Biocare Bio-acidophilus
- A strong multivitamin, multi mineral. Pay at least £15 to get decent dosages.
- Aloe vera Good’nNatural High Strength Aloe Vera tablets
These are all a bit pricey, I am afraid. If you try them one by one for that reason, please could you let me know which one seems to help most? Thanks!
A REMINDER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY HAD A TEST WITH ME.
FIRST TIME OF TELLING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT HAD A TEST
The foods or drinks which are most likely to cause you symptoms are ones which you consume frequently…for most of you at least twice a day. And these foods commonly are dairy products, yeast, tea or coffee, but you could be reacting to anything.
Even foods or drinks which are considered so healthy at the moment. Take green tea or coconut as an example. Many people who have bought in to their health benefits could be using these items more than twice daily.
Foods which can cause symptoms even if not used more than twice a day are cocoa and orange. Cocoa [in all chocolate products] is likely to be one of your problem foods even if you eat it just once daily. Orange can be your problem even if you use it infrequently.
What is it that you eat or drink more than twice daily?
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FROM EATING A FOOD TO WHEN YOU START GETTING SYMPTOMS?
Reactions to foods can occur within minutes of eating or drinking something or can take up to three days to affect you.
Typically, tummy symptoms, and behaviour problems in children are quick, but joint aches or pains, depression and sometimes anxiety can take a few days to show up.
This is why I advise that when reintroducing foods after a three month exclusion, you should allow four days to pass before deciding that you are no longer reacting to that food.
I hope you are all enjoying the early summer weather.
Be healthy and happy!
Mary Roe
Nurse specialist in food intolerance