This is very much a sample size of 1 finding, but for me the biggest intervention was being put on broad-spectrum antibiotics to deal with an infection after some unrelated surgery. I was fully expecting the antibiotics to make things worse, but it did the opposite. It turns out there is a thing called SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) and it’s likely I had that.

Over six years later and I’ve only had the rare IBS flare-up once or twice, and they don’t last as long as they used to. It’s been a huge improvement to my pain levels and quality of life.

Ask your doctor about SIBO.

In my case stress level is the most influential factor. Certain foods make it worse of course, but nothing has an impact that comes close to stress levels.

So for me the issue shifted from diet management to stress management.

My gastroenterologist has prescribed me Cholestyramine Resin. My main symptom is defecation urgency. It’s not a miraculous medicine, but it does improve some of my issues.

Mostly it’s just treating the symptoms because the gastroenterologist just says everything is “healthy”. What symptoms are you having specifically?

Reducing dairy helped for me. I switched to almond or oat milk wherever possible and when I can’t, I keep lactaid on hand including in my purse.

I also take a stool softener once a week and stay hydrated to make sure I stay regular. I take Adderall for the ADHD side of the AuDHD, so hydration is always difficult because then I pee a lot. But the Adderall means I dont need as much coffee, which is an irritant for me.

For the reflux that didn’t get resolved by reducing dairy and coffee, I make sure not to eat or drink anything, including water, near bedtime and if I still have some feeling like it’s going to come up I take supplements with alginic acid recommend by my vocal therapist. And I take pantoprazole prescribed by my gastro.

Psylium fiber, lots of leafy greens, and limiting dairy and wheat. I shit a lot at the beginning when I started psylium with lots of leafy greens, but as the inflammation got better I ended up on a pretty regular once a day schedule.

Fibre feeds the gut microbiome, that are responsible for digesting your food and such. Vegetables, fruits, beans lentils and legumes.

A doctor explained to me, Some laxatives use caffeine as the active ingredient, best to avoid those, they only work for a brief period of time. Laxatives like osmolax draw the liquid into the poop. Make sure you’re drinking adequately during the day, and take a Laxative regularly, you are constipated, as constipation leads to polyps and stretching of the bowel and heaps of nasty side effects.

How to use fodmap: Essentially fodmap is a map of foods that have a high or low digestive impact on the gut.

So if you’re having digestive issues, sometimes giving your stomach a break from high fodmap foods can be enough to alleviate symptoms.

Although staying on a low fodmap foods diet can cause some nutritional deficiencies, so it is recommended to not extend too long. How long is too long? Not sure, the specialists i saw didn’t tell me that.

How do I have this knowledge: I had some serious digestive issues, and went to specialists to help figure it all out. I had asked to pursue an allergy diagnosis, but my doctor suggested starting with a dietician to guide me through the process, because sometimes the foods giving you trouble won’t show up on allergy tests and vice versa.

The dietician suggested a low fodmap diet, with no gluten and no dairy for one month and then just add one thing back in at a time, give it a few days to see how you react, if you have a bad reaction wait a few weeks and try again, just to be sure, to eliminate things that do give you trouble. I found i couldn’t tolerate gluten, and after having 2 months of gluten free, so many symptoms had alleviated for me. Bumpy skin on my arms and forehead, bloating and pain, and I found i could add back in other foods I previously couldn’t tolerate, after just taking a break from gluten (that’s just me though, different for everyone).

I’ve been told it’s about balancing. When you have a flare up, reduce down to low fodmap, for a time, a month seems like the usual time suggested. To give your stomach a break to heal, but don’t stay down on the low fodmap, as it’s not nutritionally complete.

There’s a fodmap app from the Monash university, for easy mapping and tracking of your foods as well as recipes.

I have had a lot of success with upping my fibre and liquid intake, and reducing my refined sugar intake. My gut will tolerate so much more now. I found little tins of beans with salad dressing on them, lemon, lime and vinegarettes etc. beans in a tin are cooked ready to eat, they just need rinsing (if no sauces or flavourings) and heating slightly (30 seconds in the microwave) to improve the taste. I add them to various dips, add frozen peas and corn (reheated in microwave, too) and have a chunky salsa, it’s amazing. I’m time poor, so i need quick and easy.

Like others, medical stuff has revealed everything ‘looks fine’ for me but I’ve basically gone down the road of eliminating everything from the diet and bringing in safe foods one at a time to see how you react. I realised for me certain things are a no no, cut out most dairy, onions etc. Then just make a routine diet out of the stuff you know works, making sure you’re getting enough protein, fat, carb, fibre etc.

Marijuana.

If you haven’t already, I would suggest looking into FODMAP. It’s not necessarily a diet, but more focuses on different molecules/carbohydrates that our bodies may be sensitive to that are in a lot of the foods we eat. It took me a few months of super focusing on what I ate and how I felt after to identify that I was sensitive to very common foods/ingredients (e.g. garlic, onions). If you eat something and feel gross, bloated, cramping, etc, you’re probably sensitive to something in that food. Fortunately, you can work around some of them by cooking/preparing an ingredient to breakdown wherever you’re sensitive too!

I found I should only do coffee 1-2 times a week. I switched to chai in the morning.

Also tomato sauce kept to a minimum (pizza, spaghetti, etc).

If you’re on the constipation side, try adding magnesium supplements.

A friend of mine has had success with a DIY fecal transplant.

Activa yoghurt from Danone does wonders.

A mostly strict Keto-Carn diet seems to do the best for my gut healing. … Which then of course knocks on to many other ailments clearing up too.

Tried wean to broader diet again in recent months. Now feeling the need to go back to more strict.

So much for my decade trying to be vegetarian/vegan.

GAPS diet seems savvy too. Basic focus is on eating just “fats and ferments”. Fatty foods and fermented foods.

Always more to explore.

Really surprised me that toilet visits went so smoothly when I wasn’t eating any fiber. Was eating ample butter and ghee, for the butyrate, rather than relying on my hampered gut biome. Adding more fiber to a depleted and imbalanced microbe based digestive system just adds more of what it already cannot deal with, contributing to scouring further down.

Main thing, if there’s only one thing, is avoid all those over-processed, rancid, chemical-treated, PUFA, omega-6 heavy, “vegetable” (seed) oils, most especially sunflower oil. Only hempseed oil and olive oil okay.

If going to do wheat flour, find a traditional grain, like spelt, instead, and organic and not dried with glyphosate.

Fermenting fruit juices with probiotics (like lacto reuteri, and 35 strain probiotics, and water kefir granules), as well as making my own kimchi, has proven a substantial benefit too. Though, careful on the kimchi, as too much too quick can be quite the explosive gassy bloat.

Low “FODMAP”(? I forget what), and avoiding/reducing nutrient uptake inhibitors, can help me a lot too. So no oxalates, phytates, salicylates, tannins, lectins, etc.

At least for a couple months or so.

And, more fish! (I need to remind myself.)