IBS Information Page (do not sign up) - PAGE 1

About Our Group and IBS*

Welcome to IBS Support Canada. If you have been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), you will find this group invaluable for information and support.

What is IBS?

IBS (also referred to as spastic colon and sometimes incorrectly as spastic colitis) is a devastating, potentially debilitating, condition that affects up to 20 per cent of the world’s population.

It’s not a disease. It's a functional disorder, which means the bowel simply does not work as it should.

The main symptoms of IBS are continuous or recurring lower abdominal pain or cramping (from mild to excruciating), along with bloating, gas, diarrhea (IBS-D), constipation (IBS-C) or alternating diarrhea and constipation (IBS-A).

IBS is usually first triggered by an “assault” to the digestive system such as a stomach flu, food poisoning, travellers' diarrhea or sometimes even diet pills. Once a person has developed IBS, it becomes a lifelong condition of which there is no effective medication or cure.

But don't panic! IBS can be controlled through diet and lifestyle.

Cause

It’s believed IBS is caused by a “brain-gut dysfunction”. This means IBS symptoms result from a hypersensitivity of the gut’s nervous system, along with misinterpretations of the nervous system messages from the gut by the central nervous system and the brain.

Basically, this circuit (from gut-to-brain and brain-to-gut) appears to be abnormal in IBS sufferers although the precise abnormalities are unclear.

For some reason, IBS affects three times as many women as it does men. This is most likely because IBS is affected by hormonal fluctuations. In fact, many women find their IBS worsens around their menstrual period when their body is undergoing many hormonal fluctuations.

Diagnosis of IBS is generally done through a process of exclusion. In other words, once a doctor has ruled out other possible illnesses, he or she may diagnose the person as having IBS. Illnesses that need to be ruled out before IBS can be diagnosed, include:

• Colon and carcinoid cancer
• Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis)
• Bowel obstructions
• Diverticulosis / Diverticulitis
• Gallstones
• Food allergies, intolerances, and malabsorptions (fructose, lactose, etc.)
• Celiac (a genetic, autoimmune disorder resulting in gluten intolerance)
• Bacterial infections and small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
• Intestinal parasites
• Endometriosis
• Ovarian cancer

Diet

Many people are bewildered about what to eat and what not to eat when they're diagnosed with IBS. A number of diets claim to help IBS, but the truth is many of them will make your IBS worse rather than better.

The best diet in the world for controlling IBS symptoms is one developed by Heather Van Vorous, an American woman who suffers from IBS herself. Heather outlines her diet on her website at http://www.eatingforibs.com and in two published books:

• Eating For IBS
• The First Year IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome): An Essential Guide For the Newly Diagnosed.

Trigger Foods

Foods that are most likely to trigger an IBS attack are as follows:

• Red Meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.): high in fat and difficult to digest
• Poultry (dark meat and skin): high in fat and difficult to digest. Skinless white poultry meat is fine.
• All Dairy Products (milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, yoghurt): high in fat and difficult to digest. Be careful about substituting margarine for butter because most margarine contains milk products!
• Egg Yolks: high in fat and difficult to digest
• Fried Foods: high in fat and difficult to digest
• Coconut milk: high in fat and difficult to digest
• Oils, shortening, fats, butter, margarine: All high in fat and potential IBS triggers
• Solid chocolate: high fat content
• Coffee, regular and decaffeinated: all coffee contains caffeine which is an IBS trigger
• Alcohol: a powerful irritant to both the digestive tract and major organs
• Carbonated beverages: carbonation can cause bloating and cramps
• Artificial sweeteners: all can cause cramps. Sorbitol is the worst
• Glucose-fructose