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I have not written articles recently, except for those that decry the claims made by Dannon Activia.
I do pay attention to anyone who writes a comment for this blog, and answer as soon as possible.
In about a month, I hope to start reviewing IBS books and new blogs. If you have found an interesting and helpful book, please let me know about it, or write a review for this blog. If we publish it, you would get publication credit in lieu of payment.
In the meantime, please feel free to look around and to comment on those posts you find interesting. There is a lot of basic information here.
June 3rd, 2008
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Blog, general, IBS |
no comments
Introduction
Every once in while I read a post on another blog that is so good that I don’t just sit back and think, “Now there’s a good post.” No, I sit back and think, “What an admirable, original post! I wish I had written something like that.” Sophie, who runs the IBS Tales blog, has just written that kind of post, on “Why self-diagnosis is so crazy.”
Listing Reasons
From time to time I see lists of IBS symptoms on web sites and blogs. Without giving it much thought, I say to myself “Perhaps For My Tummy should do something like that,” and then never write it. Of course I’m a procrastinator; that’s a perfectly good reason for not setting up a page with common symptoms of IBS. A second reason is wanting to think that readers come to this blog with some knowledge of what Irritable Bowel Syndrome is (or isn’t) and what the symptom picture is likely to be. A third rationale is not particularly wanting to specialize in either IBS-C (predominantly constipation) or IBS-D (predominantly diarrhea) or IBS-A (C and D are Alternating), nor discuss the specific forms that IBS takes–so I don’t discuss the typing of IBS according to current or historical symptom. It’s just IBS, and you know what kind you have, presumably.
Deepest Concern
AND the deep underlying ultimate reason is that I don’t want you, the reader, to diagnose yourself based on this web site. Use a lot of self-help measures, yes. Avoid things that don’t help, yes. Diagnose yourself, no. If that means you go get that colonoscopy your doctor says you need to have for a diagnosis, then this site will cheer you on and provide moral support–mostly metaphorical, it’s true. And for more encouragement on that path, of getting a real medical IBS diagnosis, read Sophie’s post.
Discuss
Do you have a strong reaction to this policy? See the “No Comment” link below–or if there’s been a comment, the link will have the number of comments? Click on that and a window will open that allows you to disguise your identity and tell us what you think.
January 17th, 2008
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Blog, Medical, general, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Symptoms |
no comments
You know you are having a bad IBS day when
You start talking unkindly to the button you are trying to sew onto that winter coat that it’s cold enough for, when it’s really all the fault of the needle.
You know you are having a stressful and bad IBS Day when
You drop and break a perfectly balanced, grooved, weighted glass that knows better than to leap out of your hand and crash to the floor.
So the stress catches up with you, and you know you are having a really stressful and bad IBS Day when
Your IBS-C turns into IBS-D.
November 12th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Blog, humor, general, IBS, IBS-C, IBS-D |
no comments
The social impact of disease names is variable, and sometimes immense. If you have one “pariah” or outcast disease, like athlete’s foot, suggests the following article excerpt, you just don’t rate.
What if illnesses, ailments and diseases were brands? You’d have your embarrassing, awkward ones like irritable bowel syndrome and athlete’s foot. Your once well-known, but obscure ones that you find only in history books or Delmas, like diptheria and typhoid and polio. The diseases that everyone’s heard of but nobody knows much about, like multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis (hey, that rhymes). There are the ones that fill us with dread, like Alzheimer’s. The cancers are in a category of their own. And there are the truly terrifying, faintly exotic ones like Ebola or mad cow disease, diseases you never want to catch but which have a certain dark glamour nonetheless.
See more of Sarah Britten’s musings, on the light side of disease names, at http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/britten/2007/10/24/if-diseases-were-brands-part-i/
If IBS had a different name, like Arugula — which always did sound like a disease name to me — we would still have to answer questions of “what does it mean?” Still, we might get away with using words like “tummy” in the definition, rather than “bowel.” I’m not a fan of baby words like tummy, most of the time, but “Irritable Bowel Syndrome?” Come ON! Can’t we say “I have been diagnosed with “Chronic Pain in the Tummy” (CPIT) or “Continual Runs, usually Diarrhea” (CRUD).
What difference would a change of name make in your life? Let us know with a comment.
October 26th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Blog, humor, IBS |
2 comments
Food and Environmental Impact
Somehow the slogan “food is a weapon” makes me think of food fights. We are familiar with some kinds of food fights, the kind when someone tries to make you eat something you know is going to cause IBS symptoms like diarrhea, gas, cramps, constipation.
This arresting poster
comes from World War II. The poster is a reminder that all kinds of environmental actions took place in order to assist the United States in the war effort.
Blog Action Day
As you know if you visit this blog repeatedly, I have a column devoted to public service ads, including a “tree in a widget.” That’s a low-key reminder to people not to slack off on environmental activism. Today, though, is “Blog Action Day,” a simple call to all bloggers to post something about the environment.
Behavior Change
Thus, this post. The source for the poster is the “No Impact Man” web site. He blogs about living a life that has no impact on the environment–and he lives in New York City! With a restaurant-loving wife and one child! Check out the noimpactman.typepad.com post on “Changing our Behavior.”
For My Tummy is a blog that’s dedicate to helping ourselves to change behavior about the food we eat. Can we parlay that expertise we’ve gained into reducing our impact on the environment? Does it take a War Office or similar governmental organization to push us into the kind of change that will avert disaster? What are your thoughts?
October 16th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Blog, general, IBS |
no comments
reminder: In addition to using the following probiotic, I also follow a diet free of known triggers for IBS (except caffeine in small amounts), exercise, and especially important, take 20 grams/day of Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™ and another 20-25 grams of fiber/day, most of it soluble fiber. This fiber is “prebiotic”–it supplies a suitable growing medium for the “probiotic” that is the subject of this report.
Second Week on Digestive Advantage-IBS
During the second week on Digestive Advantage-IBS, I got adventurous. As you may recall, I had had an upset stomach late one day in the first week, and discovered that if I took another DA-IBS caplet, I soon felt fine–translated into IBS-speak, that means my tummy was soon mellow.
So in the second week, because I felt more control over symptoms, I tried adding more fruit to my diet. That is, more than the ever-present bananas. Kiwis worked well; I came a cropper on a new fruit called “pluot,” a cross between a plum and an apricot. I skinned it, and sliced the fruit into bits that were a cross between a slice and a chunk. Pluot pie might be interesting, but the raw fruit–not so much. That was also a night I took a second caplet of DA-IBS. I don’t know for sure that my body wouldn’t have handled the pluot by morning, but I really did not want to wake up with an aching gut. Other fruits that worked: watermelon, raspberries, and seedless grapes!
Third Week on Digestive Advantage-IBS
The second week on Digestive Advantage-IBS had gone well in exploring fruits, basically. For the third week on DA-IBS I decided to try more vegetables. The problem with vegetables is, often, that I buy them fresh and then don’t want to take the time to prepare them. So they go bad and have to be thrown away. But this week I got enough that there was always something I could fix.
The vegetables that were easy successes were summer squash and tiny tiny carrots, both steamed. I also steamed broccoli florets, right in the bag, and they were soft and delicious and great! I steamed carrot chips (Bolthouse Farms); a big bag gave me enough for several days of carrot snacks and carrot side dishes. With carrots, be sure to chew thoroughly any carrot pieces or tiny carrots that are still pretty firm, not almost mushy.
Coming Up Next
I have not yet done the packaging, delivery, and convenience kinds of commentary for Digestive Advantage-IBS that I did in the reviews for Align. So one of the next posts will be a review of that aspect of the Digestive Advantage-IBS experience.
Also, look for me to switch, and spend the second 32 day period reviewing a slightly different DA-IBS product, the chewable tablets that are what you would frequently find on the shelves of your friendly neighborhood large chain drugstore, like CVS or Walgreens.
Comments Wanted
And, just below this post, there’s a link to a comment form, if you would like to tell us about your experience with DA-IBS. Click on the “No Comments” part of the tags to be the first to add your comment. If someone else is weighing in, the tag will say “1 comment” or “2 comments” and so forth. Shall we try for “5 comments” on this post?
October 9th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Probiotics, Food for IBS, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Digestive Advantage - IBS |
3 comments
In reviewing the questions that people ask search engines, and then get direct to this site, I am seeing a lot of “is it ok to take xyz every day.” The answers are sprinkled through this site, so I wonder whether people find what they are looking for.
In this post I review some of the queries and try out some answers. Feel free to comment by clicking on the “no comment” link, which opens the comment box:
Is it okay to take laxatives every day?
- a. By laxative do you mean anything in the laxative aisle of the drugstore? Then read beyond this question for information on Soluble Fiber Supplements, also called “prebiotics.”
- b. Generally it is not good practice to do this. Over a long space of time you become dependent on laxatives, and you need a larger and larger dose to get the same effect. A diet that avoids IBS triggers, and the simultaneous building up of your intake of soluble fiber supplements (SFS) to the recommended levels will relieve constipation over time. You do not need to have a bowel movement every day; fewer than three per week is a cause for concern. “Cause for concern” is code for “talk to your doctor about this.”
Is Benefiber okay? Review of Benefiber?
- When the major ingredient of Benefiber was guar gum, it was okay. At that point Benefiber was a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS), which is the kind that helps IBS. Now it is not an SFS, because the makers (Novartis, makers of Zelnorm) changed the main ingredient to maltodextrin.
What about Fibersure? Review? Take it every day?
- Fibersure is an SFS, made from chicory root fiber, also called “inulin.” Anything similar that is all inulin–for example, a Walmart store brand, or a Canadian, Indian, Australian, or British product–would act similarly. This is the kind of product in the “laxatives” aisle that you should take every day. In fact, you should take several doses throughout the day to build up to 20 to 30 grams of soluble fiber every day.
- I don’t receive the queries about Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, which is the other brand name Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS). Like FiberSure, it should be taken every day. Like FiberSure, unlike senokot and similar laxatives, you should gradually build up to a base level of 20 to 30 grams of SFS per day.
Take Metamucil ™ every day?
- There are two answers here. First, unless you have a free year’s supply of Metamucil ™ without any additives, don’t take Metamucil ™ for IBS. It has several ways of irritating a sensitive tummy. Second, if you have an otherwise nice doctor who insists that you take a psyllium fiber supplement (PFS), try bargaining with her to take Original Konsyl ™, which is a PFS with absolutely no sugar, sugar substitute, orange coloring, orange flavoring, etc–no additives at all.
- So the short answer? Don’t take Metamucil ™ every day; don’t take Metamucil ™ at all! If you take Original Konsyl ™ every day, preferably add it to a base of 20 to 30 grams of SFS.
Look for a further post on “every day IBS care.”
September 30th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
fiber, general, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS-D, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics |
4 comments
Is there any kind of pizza that a person with IBS can have?
I can answer this, I think, but you have to read to the end of the post. These are the suggested rules for pizza:
- I don’t believe you can eat the whole thing. Eat pizza only when you are sharing it with someone else.
- Order a pizza without cheese.
- Most pizza makers are used to such order, from people who keep kosher, and from people who are lactose intolerant, so it’s unlikely that they’ll question your order.
- Pizza is not for breakfast
- Pizza is for one day a week, not four, five, or seven!
- Mushrooms are a safe topping; if you must, order a vegetarian pizza and pick and choose your toppings.
So you *can* have pizza, within limits.
Bottom Line
Order a mushroom pizza without cheese, and with extra mushrooms.
September 28th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Food for IBS, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS food |
no comments
An Eventful Week
The first week of Ganeden’s Digestive Advantage-IBS (DA-IBS) has been eventful, including the frantic repair of this web site, so this post is a bit late in coming.
On one day, I wound up at the end of the day with a classic upset stomach. From something I ate? I’m not sure. I didn’t have anything else on hand, the stores were all closed, and I was curious about how it would work, so I took an extra caplet. I was very surprised that within forty-five minutes my tummy was feeling mellow once more.
Overall Impressions
Overall, the two days of more gas when starting DA-IBS were shorter than adapting to Align. The tummy-mellowing effect of DA-IBS seems, subjectively, to be stronger. That is, as I got more DA-IBS in my system over the week, my tummy felt better than it has for a long long time. I call that feeling “mellow.”
I do have enough gas that I am reminding myself to have some of Heather’s Organic Tummy Tea ™ - Fennel, which has always seemed to me to break up gas into smaller, quieter bits than simethicone capsules or drops or chewable tablets.
September 27th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Probiotics, IBS, Align, Digestive Advantage - IBS |
no comments
Puroast is one of a few brands of low acid coffee. Since coffee is my “Essential Food Group” and since my tummy is now pretty stable, I ordered it and tried it a couple of times, using 1/2 measure Puroast and 3/2 measure Rocamojo Soy Coffee. Both were in mocha flavor, and the resulting chocolate flavor was nice. No adverse effects on my stable tummy with one 12 oz. cup, each five days apart. I haven’t tested the “second-day rule” with this, though, so beware.
I’d welcome a guest review for this product; no freebies, but here is an announcement of their sale, with a promo code, that I received in the mail. So, for me and sixty of my good friends or so, here’s the sale:
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25% Off All Items Until
September 27th, 2007
Click Here or www.puroast.com
All Shipping in the USA is Free with FedEx GROUND
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Type in “09132007″ where is asks for the the promotion code at Check Out -
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September 20th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
coffee, general, IBS, IBS-C, Soy Coffee, IBS Diet |
no comments
Naturally Controlling IBS
Amid a group of generally excellent suggestions for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) from Andrew Weil, M.D., there comes the following classic description of how the “Food Diary” suggestion from your doctor is supposed to work.
How a Food Journal Works
A food journal: Most people with IBS say their symptoms worsen after eating certain foods. Write down what, when, and how much you eat in a notebook. Check it for patterns that indicate food-related triggers. In a British study, people with IBS were sensitive to wheat, beef, pork, and lamb. Alcohol, caffeine, and fatty foods are other common culprits; if any seem to bother you, eliminate each for a week or two to see if you improve.
Food-Diary Problems
There are a couple of problems with the food diary–beyond the fact that I’ve only ever been willing to do a food diary for IBS just once.
Logical?
For one thing, Weil makes this suggestion:
Alcohol, caffeine, and fatty foods are other common culprits; if any seem to bother you, eliminate each for a week or two to see if you improve.
So you eliminate one food that’s a trigger and keep on eating all the others? To be a little bit silly here, because of course our bodies don’t act in a logical fashion, but the thinking seems a little bit off. If you have ten triggers for IBS, and eliminate one, won’t your IBS still be triggered by triggers two through ten?
Grouped Triggers
At least that’s more or less what I found: I was already a vegetarian; stopped the somewhat possible things containing lactose and switched to soy milk, stopped soda, caffeine, egg yolks,
For me, I eliminated everything on the triggers list except artificial sweeteners, and still had symptoms–about half of what they were before, but still . . . I really didn’t think artificial sweeteners belonged, particularly Splenda ™. Besides, what would I use to satisfy my sweet tooth if I gave them up? I tried switching out artificial sweeteners, as Weil suggests, and did notice some difference between them.
So I stopped artificial sweeteners, too. And my IBS was under control at last.
The Point Is
What I am suggesting here is that many, many of us think we have tried the dietary approach and it hasn’t worked. We have eliminated each food in turn, and sometimes noticed a difference. So there are maybe two foods that we think we can’t eat, that are triggers for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Yet actually, there are four or five or eight or ten. We just never stopped enough of the foods all at once to notice the difference.
Elimination Diet
Yes. I am advocating the total elimination of all the foods on the “IBS Triggers” page. After a couple of weeks on an elimination diet, then cautiously add back one food, one of the “essential food groups” as one blogger has called them, sardonically. Add something back that you miss. Take it slowly, because you have reached an IBS-free (or almost) equilibrium, a platform on which to build.
Just One More Thing!
Sometimes there is “just one more thing!”
For me, wheat, only about 10% of a normal diet–it comes under the IBS second-day rule. For some people, plain wheat doesn’t work, but sourdough does.
Conclusion
Do not stop taking your Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS), or your probiotic. Also remember the two life rules for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: “Never eat on an empty stomach,” and “Never drink anything with ice in it.”
You’ll do fine!
September 16th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Sweetener, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS Diet |
no comments
I have been fixing up the inner workings of For My Tummy. This involved going back over two months of posts, and that gave me the chance to notice that I had posted once on two rules for IBS, here. And then, ten days or so before that, I had posted on the one rule for IBS.
The rules in reverse order are:
-
Never Drink Ice Water
- Never Eat on an Empty Stomach
- The Second-Day Rule<
“The Second-Day Rule” needs a little explaining. If you try a new food and have no problems with it on the first day, don’t scarf it up on the second day, thinking “Oh, boy. Now it’s okay to eat xyz!” It will come back to bite you. In other words, some foods–like the IBS triggers–are ok for one day at a time, but not for day-in, day-out use.
Taken together, the three rules make life sound like hard work for people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. That’s true! I don’t want to coat it with Stevia to make it easier to swallow–actually Stevia would taste bitter if you used it in that way! What I want to do is to give you some sign posts so that what is happening in terms of Irritable Bowel Symptoms, whether constipation or diarrhea or cramps or alternating stuff–so that these symptoms make some kind of sense and potentially can be controlled.
September 12th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Gastrocolic Reflex, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS Diet, IBS Symptoms |
no comments
