IBS/Cutting out Dairy

[spatch]

Hi i am new here but really need advice

I have suffered from Ibs since i was about 14 - no offical test only blood taken to rule out other things

It is getting steadily worse. I suffer mailnly with nausea, indigestion, adominal pain, weak bladder, urgency to poo, Diarreah(mainly very loose) never feel empty, headaches etc - the list goes on

I had a intolerance test done at a chinese shop via my hair which has come back with intolereance to ALL dairy. So since Monday i have complety cut out all dairy.

However i feel worse - is this normal?? I have had one very serve attack which included shaking and hot flushes and pain. I have also had a bad headache for two days now??

I am eating for wheat so could it be that i am wheat intolerant. Some times i cannot even get through a meal with out an urgency to use the toilet so am expecting food is the problem

Any advice greatly received thanks xx

[eddiejohnson]

We hope that we are able to offer some help for you, however small, but I think it would be helpful to us if you filled in one or two blanks

"since you were 14"...how old are you now? male or female?
"blood taken to rule out other things?...advised by your GP? what were the "other things"?
"Intolerance test done by a Chinese shop"...why chinese shop? what about your GP?
Lots of people have certain intolerances they live with but we hear many times of 'intolerance to dairy'.. in my humble opinion, lumping the diagnosis into 'dairy' is inadequate. Dairy is a general description and needs to be qualified a bit more.
For example many of us are intolerant to [b]lactose[/b] but not to eggs or chicken or meat!.
So when you say you since Monday cut out all dairy...what exactly have you cut out? Do you know how many foods contain Lactose?etc.etc.

I hope you have reported all these symptoms to your GP!
Eddie Johnson

[spatch]

Thanks for your reply. I am 25 now and female.
Gp has taken blood just to rule out diabetes,etc
Gp has always said IBS so didnt realise they would do intolerance tests - hence chinese shop.
I have cut out just the obvious - milk butter choc cream cheese anything containing these like soups - should i have cut out more

Havent spoken to GP as he is on holiday for three weeks!!

Thankfully headache has passed but still no let up on the nausea.

Is GP where i should start again? Thanks

[eddiejohnson]

OK
Intolerance tests [b]are[/b]available on the NHS but it takes a little pushing by the patient

Unfortunately, whenever a GP diagnoses "IBS" , it really means that he /she doesn't really know what it is you have and therefore the "broad" IBS mostly means could be one or more of several different possibilities.
In order to know whether you are lactose intolerant, for example, it is necessary to exclude all lactose containing foods from your diet....and who knows which foods contain lactose?...well, there are more than meets the eye and the best way to find out is to look on the label of the product you buy and look for any of the items listed in
http://www.foodreactions.org/articles/hidden_milk.html

It is a fairly lengthy process to cut out lactose but worth while for a couple of weeks . If after this time you are improving, then LI may be one of your problems.
There are lots of other possibilities of course but lactose intolerance and Gluten intolerance are the major instigators of nausea and diarrhoea.
Gluten is found in wheat, barley and rye and possibly oats (via contamination with the three others)
But you should eliminate the causes one by one...i.e don't try to avoid both gluten AND lactose to begin with or you won't know which one could be causing your problems.

Both lactose intolerance and gluten intolerance can come to anyone at any age.


I hope this has helped.
Please keep us informed of your progress.
cheers
Eddie

[spatch]

Hi thanks for the past help.
I have now been lactose & gluten free for about 2-3 weeks.
Havent felt "better" yet but most days i now have a normal brown poo (before yellow/loose) however the last few days have been back to normal.
I was keeping a food dairy and the only thing that i havent cut out that i think could be a problem is coke and mint.
I have a lot of mint as i get bad indigestion and chew gum when nervous and when having a bad attack (calms me). i also suck mints use rennies and have mint toothpaste.
When i think back to the chinese shop test toothpaste was on my list of reactions??
Any ideas - should i be feeling better??
Thanks

[eddiejohnson]

I know it can be difficult at first to get organised BUT I think you forgot my advice which was to eliminate Lactose and gluten SEPARATELY !
You must separate these and eliminate only one at a time.......the trouble now is that you don't know which elimination caused the slight improvement !!
As for your enormous amounts of mint!!! I think that perhaps you are causing another problem by eating so much!
Remember that indigestion can be caused by too much alkali as well as too much acid!
However, Because you have mentioned an improvement in the condition of your stools, it's beginning to sound as if Lactose is definitely a problem

cheers
Eddie Johnson

[HVanVorous]

Hi, I am new here, but I think I may be able to have some good advice for you, Spatch. It seems to me that you may need some more tests done just to make sure you don't have something other than Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Being tested with IBS is tricky because as a rule, all possible physical, structural, and infectious abnormalities of the GI tract need to be unquestionably eliminated before you agree to an IBS diagnosis. I would definitely keep trying to find a good GI doctor to help you with this. I found some great information at http://www.helpforibs.com/ on the diagnosis of IBS. This site also has great advice on dietary needs specifically for those who have IBS. I would check out their diet page: http://www.helpforibs.com/diet/

I really hope this helps! It sounds like you may be eating some of the trigger foods and that is what is causing more IBS attacks.

I'm sorry this response is so late, but I just found this message board! I hope you still find it!

Best of Luck!

[jimmmarks]

There are lots of other possibilities of course but lactose intolerance and Gluten intolerance are the major instigators of nausea and diarrhoea.

[thad99]

I would think you should visit an allergy Dr and get tested for food allergies. My wife has IBS and I know that it is no fun and most would do anything to find out why. As for your bladder I would talk to a urologist. I know my wife had the some trouble and we found out she did not completely empty. That was causing a lot of other trouble. The put in a bladder stimulator and that has helped a lot. Just an idea for you.