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men with ibs-d page seven
The tale of...Serge (8 January 2011)
I have had IBS for about two years now, with symptoms such as mild and dull pain throughout the body, irregular bowel movements and severe heartburn just to name a few. By far the two best natural remedies for my IBS are organic chicken vegetable soup and yoga. I ate organic chicken vegetable soup for a week accompanied by a light diet of IBS safe foods and Bigelow peppermint tea. The diet sent my IBS into remission for three to four months, until I reverted back to my junk food diet, but I believe if I had stuck to my diet the remission would have lasted much longer.
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This is the organic chicken vegetable soup recipe. Every ingredient must be 100% organic. First, put bottled water in a saucepan, a third of the volume, and put on max heat. Add whole organic chicken, and as soon as it starts boiling decrease heat. When you see some grey foam starting to develop, just remove it with a suitable tool. Do this a few times until it is mostly gone; this will take a few minutes. Add salt (kosher or sea salt, avoid regular salt) and pepper and let the chicken slightly boil for 30 min. Test by putting a knife or fork through the chicken - it has to be soft.
After you put the water on the heat you can start cutting vegetables (do this in advance to save time). The vegetables are: one or two carrots, two celery sticks (organic, as regular celery has a lot of pesticides and other chemicals), one mid-sized onion, two mid-sized zucchini, one mid-sized yellow squash (if you have it), one tomato or one tablespoon of tomato paste, and one potato (take the skin off and cut into cubes).
After 30 minutes boiling the chicken add all the vegetables (don't cut them too small) and cook on low to medium heat so everything is slightly boiling for 10 minutes. You can add other herbs if you want - Italian seasoning, parsley, dill etc. The soup is ready when you try a piece of potato and it's soft. Turn everything off and let it stand and cool for one hour.
Yoga does incredible wonders for IBS. My father had mild to severe IBS when he was younger. He started doing yoga (consistently - on a daily basis) and his IBS went away completely in seven years. He started when he was 24 and he is now 54, and has had very few symptoms over the years (mainly due to certain foods that irritate his stomach).
Yoga also does wonders for stress and anxiety (my anxiety and stress went away just after two weeks of breathing exercises, which in turn got rid of many of my IBS symptoms). I would recommend this excellent book to get you started: Yoga: Mastering the Basics. A healthy diet of IBS safe foods is highly recommended to help speed up the healing process.
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The tale of...John (15 July 2011)
I have been suffering from irritable bowel for years and it has sometimes been debilitating. After numerous doctor visits and tests and numerous treatment options (some which helped a bit like Paxil and a change of diet) I found that the best results were obtained from assuming that the basis for my problem was small bowel bacterial overgrowth, even though the hydrogen breath test was negative. My gastroenterologist still felt that this was my problem, along with possible microscopic colitis.
Here is what helps me tremendously: little or no sugar and limited fruits, especially very sweet ones. Plenty of fluids (of course). Plain oat meal for breakfast with an egg or banana and tea. No coffee or very weak and limited coffee. No snacking on junk like potato chips; if I must snack I have a small sandwich with cheese or something.
No milk or ice cream (cheese is OK and maybe a little milk in tea of coffee if tolerated). Pepto-bismol every day: I started with one pill three times a day and cut back. I currently take two every morning and that's all I need, but when the IBS was out of control I gulped from a bottle. I initially kept Imodium (or a prescription drug) around.
The result of the above is no cramping, no gas (unless I cheat), no running to the bathroom four-plus times a day (I am down to one or two max now). The emotional benefits are that over time I felt that I was actually normal again and could plan and enjoy my life... and I do. Hope this helps.