Thoroughly p****d off!!

I don't think it is gluten intolerance kitty and my bouts usually last two weeks or so. I am always slightly better when I am on holiday in France because I don't have milk in tea or coffee but I don't think it is lactose intolerance either. The Doctor says it is probably just diet and lifestyle, which I would dispute, and ageing body not coping as well as it used to.

Is it IBS harri. I though I had IBS until I heard someone talking about gluten intolerance and thought I'd try avoiding it for a while. It was like the sun coming out. Every now and again I succumb to lovely bread or a sausage but mostly I manage to keep it in check. I now know that if I have something 'illicit' I pay for up to three days. I do miss nice bread and maltesers.

I get terrible bloating, nausea and other gut symptoms and it makes me feel thoroughly miserable. Peppermint oil capsules usually help but I have not yet discovered what sets the problem off.

Thanks Mice (Mouse?). GN is teaching me so much today. I now know what a trillion is too!

Just a thought about bread. Commercial bread is mostly made by the Chorleywood process. It's a bit complicated to explain, but it really means that the bread is massively speeded up and doesn't rise or prove properly. The consequence is that this part of the process takes place in your gut after you have eaten it. If you make the bread yourself, preferably not in a breadmaker, and allow the dough to rise and prove slowly and naturally, it's probable that you will not have the awful problems of bloating.

I'm not sure if it's still in print, but Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Baking is the very best and most comprehensive guide to follow and it thoroughly explains why commercial bread is so horrid and not good for the gut.

It's good to know someone else bloats after eating bread. (With me it's bread and garlic too, and I sooo love garlic bread!) I blow up like a balloon with accompanying nausea followed by sickness. If I stick to our little local baker who makes bread which goes stale after a couple of days, I fine.

I really feel for anyone with IBS. Two people in our family suffer badly, it's not nice (British understatement)

I can't believe so many of you have so many gut problems. Makes me realise how lucky I am. Had terrible trouble after strong anti biotics a few years ago but once got that sorted, no bother. Had 'mild' cystitis.....if that is mild god help those who get it badly and lots. Never had a clue about that either.

I get bloating from eating too much bread so I limit the commercial pap...much as I love it really.

Has any one tried Acidophilus on a regular basis for a while....good gut flora in capsules. It has sorted quite a few of my clients and friends out over the years and I always take it for a while if feeling gassy

Those dried ready to eat figs are good, If apricots dont agree have you tried the dark ones that are not treated with sulphur dioxide. Its just a thought that the sulphur dioxide might be the problem.

DD says she ate dried figs and prunes with breakfast thorughout pregnancy which cured constipation completely. But all our insides work differently.

After my C. sections and hysterectomy wind was a great problem,I remember by some peppermint from the off license and taking it in warm water the relief was almost spontaneous ,the trapped wind is so painful isn't it.when desparate you try anything once but it did work.

I've just caught up with the threads as I have been on the missing list most of the week,mr.glamma has suffered with IBS for years and one time when we where at a loss as to how to ease his discomfort DD gave him two large spoonfuls of Woodwards Gripe Mixture as a last resort and it worked wonders it took those horrible pains away in half an hour it never stopped the problem but at least he was pain free.
Mishap I do hope you feel a bit brighter to-day

Kiwi-fruit help too. When I'm on holiday I can hardly 'go' at all - and many of my friends are the same. I think it tends to be a 'woman thing'. We get embarrassed about it, and it's mind over matter (in more ways than one) !

Dried apricots give me horrible wind anno, which seems to get worse as I get older. I remember one of my Mum's friends who farted every time she moved and it used to make my brother and me get attacks of the giggles. I live in dread of becoming like this myself

thanks anno I like prunes as well...and the apricots but I fear no joy,peanuts and chocolate help seriously and fresh veg also what a diet

Yes allie - how is it going?

I have had IBS all my life - I used to have to "go" up to 10 times a day and the children vividly recall me driving them to school white-knuckled clinging to the steering wheel every day - and sometimes having to stop and jump over a hedge! Absolute misery - I have no idea how I brought up 3 children and held down a career while all this was going on! I suppose I was young!

I did eventually see a consultant in Oxford and had some weird tests involving swallowing radio-active pills (!) which showed that I had a problem with absorbing bile salts and they put me on something called Questran which did the trick. I have been off that and fine for years until I fell and everything seems to be turned upside down now. So I do think that it is not just the bile salt thing but also IBS.

Mor research needed into the "gut brain" and how it works and what goes wrong with it.

Smoluski-nellie chew a handful of dried apricots. Best laxative I know of. Or fresh ones if in season, of course.

allie how's the UC going now?

I get holiday constipation all year round,and live in dread if we go to stay at someone's house of a weeks worth wanting to make an appearance...with accompanying sound effects.

Interesting, Jess.
Stress doesn't help U. Colitis either....main stress when being diagnosed was travelling to hospital and waiting around for hours for many appintments!

You are right about the gut having a mind of its own crimson - it has a neural net that is, in terms of numbers of cells, about the size of a cats brain. (i got that off the telly btw). Big subdivision of the unconscious mind is another way we could look at it.
Some people get the opposite effect when travelling crimson I know someone who had "holiday constipation" for a whole week. A classic example of the gut having a mind of its own.

I found that aloe vera and pro biotics helped. Still have to take imodium if I'm travelling though . Aspartamine should be a banned substance.

I think it's because it's not just a physical problem. I believe the gut has kind of got a mind of it's own; you can say to yourself 'I'm fine' but your gut goes 'oh no you're not'. I also wonder if it's because it's more prevalent in women; one of those things that if men suffered from it more would be done to find a cure. I must have suffered with it for years before realising that I wasn't the only person who had it. It was only when I was in quite a lot of pain that I eventually went to see a doctor about it. Wish I could turn back the clock and get those years back.

It is interesting that IBS is so common and yet so little understood. I always say that they will understand it when I am dead and gone and I will have missed the boat.

Nice GP prescribed Fybogel which I then discovered is full of aspartame which gives me the jitters/squits; so that is a non-starter. Back to square one!

I am sure that life will improve soon.

Have just read your thread Mishap and totally sympathise. IBS combined with urgent need to get to the loo is bad enough without the added stress of a broken foot, and add an unsympathetic GP and a grump husband to the mix and no wonder you are feeling a bit down!!!

Trying to get out and have some sort of normality is the best thing you can do. I know what you mean about immodium, relief comes at a price!!!

Glad you feel a bit brigher.

Re "OH in a foul mood "- another good reason to get out to village hall (or indeed anywhere)!! Maybe a change of company will also be good! Hope the new drugs make a diffrence

Have just read this thread and didn't realise how difficult it is for you Mishap. You have taken time out to give me support and advice when you yourself needed support. Thank you so much