[tsuben]

I've just joined this forum yesterday. I am so glad to have found it!The pain gets so bad, especially after dinner and through the night. It is lower abdominal pain. I am so confused right now with what to do. I am constipated for the most part, but sometimes in the morning I have diarrhea. What can I do?

 

[Kathleen M.]

Is your dinner meal larger than other meals? If so ou miht break it up and have two smaller meals a few hours apart rather than one large dinner.Larger meals (as well as fattier/heavier ones) cause more colon activity than smaller lighter meals and a lot of IBSers do better with 4-5 small meals a day rather than 2-3 large ones.Also you could try drinking peppermint tea or taking an antispasmodic 20-30 minutes before a meal you believe tends to set it off.For some people eating less starch throughout the day will reduce gas volume in the evening and that can sometimes reduce pain.If those sorts of things don't work then usually the next step is a low dose antidepressant to make the nerves less likely to screech in pain for stimuli that shouldn't be painful.