[crystalclear34]

Hello, My name is Christina but I prefer Chris. In 2008 I had a total abdominal hysterectomy, after surgery that's when my ibs-c symptoms started. at first my surgeon told me he had to mess with my intestines to get to my uterus and ovaries to remove them, he said the pain,bloating and constipation was a combination of the pain meds from surgery and my intestines settling back into place and to give myself time to heal. Well, I think I have given myself ample time to heal. I am a veteran so was going through the VA system, recently I started going to a civilian doctor because the VA system was basically ignoring everything I was saying. Last week I saw the civilian doctor for the first time and told her all my symptoms, the horrible abdominal pain, bloating, feeling full, nausea, vomiting, the weird thing is with the bm's is, not to be gross here, but I have diarrhea, but it's hard to get out if that makes sense. However when I am finally able to go, it's pretty much all liquid barely any stool at all. Ok sorry that was gross,. Anyway the doctor said I most likely had ibs-c and put my on amitiza, so I took that evil little pill, and was sicker than a dog for about 3 hours. I saw the doctor again today for a follow up and was told I must have a sensitivity to the amitiza and not to take it anymore, I have now been referred to a GI specialist for further testing I guess. I'm waiting for the appointment to the GI specialist. Now the doctor is wondering if I might have diverticulitis, since it runs in my family.Ok, now for the questions, my symptoms are always tied to meals. After I eat certain meals I have symptoms sometimes for days, so I avoid certain things now, for example beef is not my friend, neither are fried foods, dairy products or certain vegetables like broccoli or cabbage and such. Do you guys seem to have symptoms after meals, can you tie your symptoms to anything in particular?Thanks for reading my rambling post, sorry it was so long. Chris

 

[Kathleen M.]

Symptoms after meals is common.The colon is more active shortly after meals so many IBSers have pain, diarrhea or other symptoms shortly after meals.Fatty meals tend to cause more problems than lean meals and some vegetables like cabbage and broccoli are known to have compounds in them (like beans, the musical fruit from the kids song, the more you eat the more you toot) that increase gas.So beef, fried foods, dairy (as many people don't digest lactose) cabbage family veggies are often problems.You might try this low flatus diet for a week or so and see if that tends to help. Some people do well with probioitcs. Some people need to be on a lower starch diet, but others do well on a diet with a lot of soluble fiber. Depends on how well you tolerate certain foods. Some people find probiotics reduce the gas level by a lot (they stop the carbohydrate digestive process before it is broken down all the way to gas. So the acids that make yogurt tart is where they stop rather than making gases like the bacteria in swiss cheese that make the holes.http://www.endowsec.com/pated/edtgs12.htm is the low flatus diet. The having to strain even to pass liquid stools may indicate you should see if you can get the pelvic floor tested. It may have gotten tweaked during the surgery and you may not be relaxing when you want to pass stool.

 

[severeibs]

There's a site that can help you figure what to eat just type in help for ibs in the google search engine and then you find Heather Van Vorus's site. She explains how soluble fiber is key. I have major problems too. A hardly eat them since my gas and cramps are so severe. I hardly eat them. I avoid dairy, eggs and meats ( they contain hormones, pus, blood, antibiotics , feces so that makes IBS worse for most people). There's a lot of websites on that. Hope you feel better.