1870's IBS story & folk remedies

Hi, I'm new to this forum...I've had IBS for a couple of decades. (with some embarrassing episodes where I didn't make it in time) I saw a comment farther down the list asking if this condition has been around a long time. I wanted to make a comment about that because I have been doing genealogy and have been having old German letters from my ancestors translated into English. One of the oldest, from the 1870's, mentions an "accident". My ancestor and his friend were staying at a private home. The friend had an "accident" after consuming some beer which he was unaccustomed to...unfortunately the outhouse door was locked and he left a deposit on the floor. Needless to say, the home owners were quite upset and accused them of being drunk. They were asked to leave. Strangely enough, I find beer soothing to my stomach (maybe it is the hops). It doesn't solve the problem, but unlike other alcoholic beverages, it does seem to make me feel better. When I travelled in India many years ago and contracted Delhi Belly, I was advised by the locals to drink coconut milk to halt the D, and to relieve pain, have a beer. It was effective, temporarily. The beer supposedly caused high-acid levels in the stomach which killed off some discomfort causing bacteria. The beer did not prevent another D attack although the coconut milk seemed to slow me down. I've heard that some people swear by macaroons as a preventative....but I have never tried that. Calcium seem to have no effect on me. This just shows how variable our systems are!