Knowing whats best

Hi Jane.I'm in the UK too. I had IBS for 10 years before figuring out why. I know I posted on your other thread, but I am sure that this may well help you too.Have a look at the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). I started off realising that gluten carbs were an issue for me, so stopped eating those and I also removed dairy from my diet as I knew I was intolerant of that. Within hours the D stopped and the awful pain, every time I ate, went away.I was still very restricted though in what I could eat which is when I started the diet. It is not a weight-loss diet, it is a healing diet. It works by removing all the hard-to-digest foods from the diet, the grains, starches, sugars and dairy.Yes, it sounds restrictive, but as it seems you are already on a very restricted diet then it won't be too much of a challenge. What it does focus on is good, wholesome natural foods - fish, meat, poultry, eggs, nuts, fruit, vegetables, a little honey and plain probiotic yoghurt.Some people, like I was, can't even cope with some of the 'allowed' foods at first because their gut damage is so bad, but gradually it heals and you are able to reintroduce more foods.I do believe that dehydration is an issue for a lot of us - it certainly was for me, and that diarrhoea is actually an extension of constipation. The mucous is an indication that your gut is having to produce a lot of it to try and protect itself from some pathogenic activity down there. Unfortunately, many pathogenic microbes love carbohydrates and sugars - if we eat them, we are feeding the problem.In cutting the carbs and drinking more water I am killing two birds with one stone. I am depriving them of their food source and also rehydrating my gut which gets the food through my digestive tract faster so they don't have the opportunity to feed on it. It also gets them out of the gut faster tone thing you may wish to investigate. Has your GP considered that you may be dealing with parasites? They are a bigger problem than most realise - Doctors have little or no training in Parasitology. It is considered a 'tropical' issue and therefore tends to be a 'Specialist' subject. They are stuck in the belief that you can only catch them from 'abroad'. However, we have plenty of home-grown parasites in this country and after all, these days we are such a cosmopolitan World that many of the more tropical parasites are being brought to us.When I mentioned the fact that I believe I have parasites my Doctor looked at me as if I had two heads! He has at least now referred me to a Consultant who I hope will be better-versed in this issue.My IBS has gone and my digestive issues but I am still battling with the beasties............