IBS-D Gone In 5 Days!!!
Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 9:58 amI have had IBS-D since I was 13 and I'm now 50. I have gone from doctor to doctor and not ONE told me to change my diet. All they did was prescribe fiber like Metamucil which only made things worse. When I was in my early 20s I was diagnosed with PTSD so after that, the IBS was in my head according to the psychiatrists and nutritionists because, I was told, IBS is directly related to Anxiety Disorders. So, they stopped recommending Metamucil and started sending me to hypnotherapists. Apparently, if I could just get my head "right" again, and stop having panic attacks, my gut would also calm down. Maybe there's some truth to that but three hypnotherapists later, I still had IBS. Nothing seemed to be working. It got to the point where I was afraid to leave the house because I didn't know when I'd need to literally run to the bathroom. I became somewhat agoraphobic. I would never stray too far from home for fear of needing to use the bathroom NOW!! And I have a problem using public restrooms so I always had to be close to MY bathroom.
After seeing Dr. Fuhrman on public television, I purchased the products he was offering. I read his book cover to cover, joined his message board, followed his diet to the letter. The IBS got worse. I ended up with explosive diarrhea and for the first time in my life I had an accident, if you know what I mean. Thank God I was home when it happened! I felt much worse on his diet, much much worse. I was told by the "nutritarians" that the fact that I was getting worse was GOOD! It meant my body was HEALING. They said my body was detoxing. Detoxing from what, I wondered? I wasn't vegetarian but I had been eating what at the time I thought was a very healthy Mediterranian diet. Lots of fruits and vegetables, very little meat. I wasn't eating the SAD diet. And I have friends detoxing from a serious drug addiction that didn't go through their detox half as bad as what I was experiencing. So I stopped and went back to the way I used to eat. At least I wasn't having EXPLOSIVE diarrhea in my pants eating how I used to!
Then I stumbled upon Dr. McDougall's books and thought, why not try this? I've tried everything else. It took several months to do an elimination diet of sorts to figure out what I could and couldn't tolerate. Turns out I cannot have ANY whole grains of any kind, so I have white rice and white pasta instead (loaded with vegetables). I can have white potatoes as long as I peel them BEFORE I cook them. If I eat the skin or peel the skin off after they're cooked, I get diarrhea. Maybe whatever's in the skin that my body doesn't like gets cooked into the flesh of the potato? I can eat sweet potatoes with the skin. I can eat all kinds of squash and pumpkin, even beans as long as I soak them for 12 hours before cooking. And I can eat raw vegetables (like a salad) but only as a side dish - not as the main meal. I can also have raw fruit, as long as I eat it alone, so I usually have fruit for breakfast. If I have a fruit after a meal, I have diarrhea. I can even eat and digest corn now! I never could before - it would go right through me undigested. But since McDougalling, I've found that I can eat and digest corn perfectly - it no longer goes through me. So basically, I can eat A LOT of food, even some foods I couldn't before, as long as I know when to eat and what to combine. I hope that makes sense.
Long story short, since I've been seriously doing the McDougall way of eating (after figuring out what I can and can't eat), ALL IBS SYMPTOMS ARE GONE - in 5 short days! The diarrhea is gone, the cramps and weird abdominal pains and sensations are gone, nausea is gone - it's all gone! It's been a week now that I've been having ONE (count it - ONE!!!) normal, properly formed bowel movement a day.... AND my colon doesn't feel irriatated anymore after I go and I no longer feel like I still have to go right after. I just feel the need, I walk S-L-O-W-L-Y to the bathroom instead of making a mad dash, and I go.... easy peasy! I feel so much better overall, probably because I don't have so much anxiety around my bowel movements anymore. Poop isn't a pleasant subject, but when you can't have a normal healthy bowel movement, it affects every area of your life. At least that was the case with me. I never thought I'd be so happy about being able to poop once a day like a normal person!
Oh and I lost 5 pounds in one week without feeling hungry or deprived.
Why doesn't every doctor know this??? Why doesn't every doctor recommend this way of eating??? I could have been saved literally YEARS of pain and suffering and embarrassment and anxiety and depression if ONE of the MANY doctors and therapists had told me to eat a starch-based vegetarian diet!
Thank you sooo much Dr. McDougall! I thought I'd be chained to the toilet for the rest of my life.
After seeing Dr. Fuhrman on public television, I purchased the products he was offering. I read his book cover to cover, joined his message board, followed his diet to the letter. The IBS got worse. I ended up with explosive diarrhea and for the first time in my life I had an accident, if you know what I mean. Thank God I was home when it happened! I felt much worse on his diet, much much worse. I was told by the "nutritarians" that the fact that I was getting worse was GOOD! It meant my body was HEALING. They said my body was detoxing. Detoxing from what, I wondered? I wasn't vegetarian but I had been eating what at the time I thought was a very healthy Mediterranian diet. Lots of fruits and vegetables, very little meat. I wasn't eating the SAD diet. And I have friends detoxing from a serious drug addiction that didn't go through their detox half as bad as what I was experiencing. So I stopped and went back to the way I used to eat. At least I wasn't having EXPLOSIVE diarrhea in my pants eating how I used to!
Then I stumbled upon Dr. McDougall's books and thought, why not try this? I've tried everything else. It took several months to do an elimination diet of sorts to figure out what I could and couldn't tolerate. Turns out I cannot have ANY whole grains of any kind, so I have white rice and white pasta instead (loaded with vegetables). I can have white potatoes as long as I peel them BEFORE I cook them. If I eat the skin or peel the skin off after they're cooked, I get diarrhea. Maybe whatever's in the skin that my body doesn't like gets cooked into the flesh of the potato? I can eat sweet potatoes with the skin. I can eat all kinds of squash and pumpkin, even beans as long as I soak them for 12 hours before cooking. And I can eat raw vegetables (like a salad) but only as a side dish - not as the main meal. I can also have raw fruit, as long as I eat it alone, so I usually have fruit for breakfast. If I have a fruit after a meal, I have diarrhea. I can even eat and digest corn now! I never could before - it would go right through me undigested. But since McDougalling, I've found that I can eat and digest corn perfectly - it no longer goes through me. So basically, I can eat A LOT of food, even some foods I couldn't before, as long as I know when to eat and what to combine. I hope that makes sense.
Long story short, since I've been seriously doing the McDougall way of eating (after figuring out what I can and can't eat), ALL IBS SYMPTOMS ARE GONE - in 5 short days! The diarrhea is gone, the cramps and weird abdominal pains and sensations are gone, nausea is gone - it's all gone! It's been a week now that I've been having ONE (count it - ONE!!!) normal, properly formed bowel movement a day.... AND my colon doesn't feel irriatated anymore after I go and I no longer feel like I still have to go right after. I just feel the need, I walk S-L-O-W-L-Y to the bathroom instead of making a mad dash, and I go.... easy peasy! I feel so much better overall, probably because I don't have so much anxiety around my bowel movements anymore. Poop isn't a pleasant subject, but when you can't have a normal healthy bowel movement, it affects every area of your life. At least that was the case with me. I never thought I'd be so happy about being able to poop once a day like a normal person!
Oh and I lost 5 pounds in one week without feeling hungry or deprived.
Why doesn't every doctor know this??? Why doesn't every doctor recommend this way of eating??? I could have been saved literally YEARS of pain and suffering and embarrassment and anxiety and depression if ONE of the MANY doctors and therapists had told me to eat a starch-based vegetarian diet!
Thank you sooo much Dr. McDougall! I thought I'd be chained to the toilet for the rest of my life.
