HI. I'm new to this forum. I have had IBS-D symptoms for as many years as I can remember. My mother would have told you I cried my whole first 8 months. I was bottle-fed. How much you want to guess whatever was in that formula was making me sick? I was only sick intermittently in my childhood, but the symptoms of IBS started showing up at around age 19. I had just had my son, then divorced and was living with my Mom. I was under a LOT of stress. I had an upper GI series then that was negative. The doctor basically dismissed me as some kind of hysterical female and tried to prescribe me Lithium. Never filled it, of course. I continued to have increasing symptoms through the years. Eventually I went to nursing school and once I studied it, it was really obvious that I fit the whole profile of IBS. From then on, not really wanting to be on meds, I just tweaked my diet until I figured out, mostly, what bothered me and wha didn't I quit drinking milk almost as the first thing, The last time I had milk and cookies in my life, it was to study for a nursing exam. Lets just say, I was in a lot of pain for the exam. I've been out of school for 28 years, btw. I
I mostly have it controlled in the sense that I know, for the most part, what makes the horrible cramps and pain. However, actually getting the diarrhea under control has been a lot harder. I never had the incontinence other than some "hash marks" in my underwear, but I also always had diarrhea as a baseline. I know what it's like to have to cut an event or conversation short to go running for a bathroom. I also know what it's like to scope out the nearest bathroom wherever you go..just in case. I avoid eating out, too. These days, it's more because low carb is hard to find.
I had the IBS fixed completely, not even any diarrhea for 3.5 months by going low carb and eliminating literally all bread, pasta, cereal and sweets and other carbs. Not even a peep from my belly, until last week!! Turns out erithritol sweetener can be added to my list big time! I ended up in the ER with cramps so bad they gave me a diagnosis of gallstones and they think that is what the pain is, but I am suspecting that all of the pain was related to the erithritol and the gallstones are incidental findings that, barring any findings on the CT otherwise, they attributed to my pain. The pain was more consistent with my IBS and not consistent with typical gallbladder pain. Seeing a GI dr this week. Btw, this Bentyl seems to be working quite well. I think I'm going to ask for a refill.
One thing I have learned through the years is to really pay attention to how my body is feeling with a new food. It's almost as if I can feel that I am going to have a reaction with just a few bites. Another thing I know is, it's just not worth it to cheat and have a little bit, if you know you are going to suffer. Speaking of, milk is my enemy! It is my number one thing to have me laying in the bed moaning with even a little. Ice cream makes me hurt just looking at it. I'm sure a lot of IBS sufferers know about dairy being a common problem.
I find that a lot of sugar substitutes are evil too and they are in so much of the food. I used to think it was just the fake ones like nutrasweet and sweet and low, but the above experience just goes to show that even "natural" ones can be a problem for me. I also find that if it is processed, it has a high chance of being a trigger. If it is a whole food, it is usually ok, or at the very least, it is ok in moderation. For instance fruit, most fruits are fine, but a lot of fruit will make me ill. One cup of coffee is fine, Two makes me ill. Two cups of tea in a day are fine, any more and I am sick. Water is my friend. The more water I drink the less likely I am to be sick and the faster I poop out whatever it is that bothers me, so my belly will calm down. I do recommend trying low carb. Barring this whole erithritol situation, it really, really has calmed my gut down for 3.5 whole months! Maybe I also have a gluten intolerance and that's why the low carb diet has helped so much. I found this site mainly looking to see what kinds of misdiagnoses people have gotten, since I suspect this gallbladder thing isn't the real problem. But I am glad to have found a community who knows my issues.