Day 3

A slightly more successful day today! I got up early and took my dog over to some nearby fields for a run, and then came back and had a good breakfast of fresh pineapple, a hot cross bun, and a mug of peppermint tea. So far so good!

Then lunch was a sandwich (white bread = not so good) but I had a glass of juice and a glass of water.

Then I met up with a friend from school which was lovely - I went for a peppermint tea and a smoothie, so lots of liquid, and the fact I walked 20 minutes there and back at a brisk pace, should only have benefits, no negative effects from what was a lovely afternoon catch up!!

Dinner was good today, sweet and sour pork (homemade) with rice and salad, with 2 tsp linseed mixed in. Had a cheeky mini roll afterwards, and an alpro soya chocolate pudding later in the evening, which are the only negatives from today.

No bowel movements (sorry if this is too much detail), but I'm hopeful for the next few days! We shall wait and see, fingers crossed!

Louisa :)

Day 2

So today was a bit up and down generally - I had my driving test which I was super nervous enough which has 2 consequences:
1) I find my appetite goes completely and I can't eat very much at all.
2) I find it easier to have a bowel movement (like normal people get the runs when they're nervous, I just get normal bowel movements instead).

So on the plus side I haven't eaten anything bad today, but I haven't eaten enough to be able to get my 5 a day in at all, and lack of energy has meant my ability to do exercise was practically nil. Another good point though is that I have been drinking plenty of water, and have also had my linseed today.

Day 1

So here's how things went on the first day of my 7 days of sticking to the rules! It's definitely hard to make sure I eat the right things (such as I was supposed to have bran flakes for breakfast but really couldn't stomach it this morning), but onwards and upwards!

Breakfast:
Ginger tea (It was supposed to be peppermint, but I woke up feeling particularly nauseous).
Wholemeal toast with goat's butter.
Kiwi

Snack
2 glasses of water
3 chocolate biscuits (told you they are my weakness!).

Lunch:
Pork and kale soup with 3 tsp linseed mixed in.
2 glasses of water
Glass of orange juice

Chewed gum on my way to work this afternoon.

Supper:
Ravioli (probably not the best...) in a tomato sauce with a full green salad.
Glass of water.

I have also drunk 3 mugs of peppermint tea today (although I do drink it very weak!).

In terms of exercise, I took my dog for a half hour run/walk in the local fields, and had a very brisk 15 minute walk to work (when I walk I make the most of it and do tend to almost speed-walk).


So overall, not a great start: I remembered the linseed and have done some exercise, but not enough, and I'm still perhaps eating too many white carbs in the biscuits and pasta. It's harder than I thought to follow all the rules, and it's no wonder perhaps that they often don't seem to have enough of an effect. Hopefully tomorrow and over the weekend things will improve, I shall keep at it!!

Louisa :) xx

My plan for the next 7 days

So it's all very well posting all of my hints and tips below, but it's hard to actually remember to follow them all, especially living as a student. But I'm home now for the Easter vacation and so I'm going to try and have a whole week actually sticking to all of the rules, and see if culmitavely they have more of an effect that just sticking to the odd rule or two when I remember. So I'm going to do as much as I can to follow my plan, and I'll post every day letting you know how I'm getting on, whether I've been able to stick to it, and any effects that it is having.

I think the hardest one for me is going to be to reduce the amount of sugar I eat - I have a really sweet tooth and biscuits in particular are my weakness!! It's easy at uni because I tend not to buy them but they are always in the cupboard at home, so it's going to take willpower to simply ignore them when they are there!

So, here are the rules I am going to try and stick to for the next 7 days:

• Have 2 tsp of linseed mixed into my food every day.
• Do an hour of exercise every day.
• Have 3 pieces of fruit every day.
• Make sure I have my 5 a day every day.
• Really reduce the amount of processed sugar I eat (i.e. sugar from biscuits/cakes as opposed to fruit).
• Have bran flakes for breakfast rather than toast.
• Drink peppermint tea several times a day (although I do this already).
• Avoid anything with cow's dairy in (this tends to be a trigger food for me).
• Chew gum once a day.
• Drink a lot more water (at least 6 cups a day).
• Make a conscious effort to work my bowel muscles every day by at least trying for a bowel movement (I don't get any natural urges to have one ever).

On top of this, I'm going to avoid taking any medication. I'm not taking any regularly anyway at the moment because my heart palpatations have been returning with the movicol.  

So...that's the plan, we shall see how it goes!

Louisa :)

Chewing Gum

So I thought I'd write a blogpost about something I've recently discovered: apparently chewing gum has a laxative effect. I think this is fairly common knowledge but not something I knew because I've never liked chewing gum at all, it just made me want to gag when I kept something in my mouth that long, and I found it disgusting after it lost its taste (which seemed to happen fairly quickly).

However, once I heard from someone that it had a laxative effect I thought I'd give chewing gum a second chance and I honestly can't begin to explain how glad I am that I did! I don't have any evidence specifically of a laxative effect, but apparently the constant chewing stimulates muscle movement in your bowels, and I can kind of see how this might work, so it could be one of the factors that have meant my bowels are better recently.

I only chew once or twice a day though so maybe you'd have to chew more to get a laxative effect! The way in which it has really helped me is in getting rid of the halitosis that comes from being pretty much permanently constipated. No matter how much mouthwash/floss etc I use, within an hour so that horrible smell returns, simply because it is not an oral hygiene problem, and having gum ready for when I find myself caught in a social situation works perfectly for me!!

It's also supposed to be really good for your teeth if you chew sugar free gum after eating so the sugars from your food don't linger on your teeth.

I've solved the problem of the taste disappearing quickly by chewing extra peppermint ice, it seems to be the best flavour wise! And having something in my mouth for long periods of time is something I'm getting used to, I just have to do it my own way! 

Dulcolax

My IBS has been really bad recently and no medications were really doing the job (except Movicol but the extreme heart palpitations meant that's a no-go again at the moment) :(
Normally for short term relief I use senakot (or senna tablets) but over the years these have become less and less effective - to the point where I have to take it for several days before they have any effect at all, and even then the effect is minimal.

But when I was in Sainsburys the other day doing my grocery shop, I just (in a moment of desperation) picked up a pack of dulcolax. I (wrongly) assumed this was just another brand of senna tablets, but wanted to try them just in case there was something different about them that would be able to prompt a bowel movement.

So I took 2 tablets last night, not really expecting much of an effect, yet today I was able to CLEAR MY BOWELS (not completely, but mostly). They worked very well, it was all very natural, no urgent rush or anything (thank goodness), but I was so impressed that they worked over one night!

So I went back to check what they contain - these tablets aren't senna tablets, but have bisacodyl as their active ingredient. Wikipedia tells me it is an organic compound used as a laxative and sold under the names: Dulcolax/Durolax, Fleet, Nourilax, Alophen, Correctol, and Carter's Little Pills.

It is worth noting that the recommendation is to take one tablet if it is your first time, and for other people to take two, but I took two because my IBS was in such a bad way, and I can't be sure that one would have done the job.

But I'm intrigued that no doctor or specialist has ever recommended this to me, when I have tried pretty much every other laxative going (see previous post for a mahusive list of all the drugs I've taken, and all the new trial drugs I've tried that haven't worked), Whilst they were putting me on all these weird new drugs, there was an over-the-counter-remedy capable of providing me with short term relief needed to keep me comfortable! Next time I go to the doctors I'm going to take them with me and ask about it.

But it shows that sometimes your body likes trying something new, keep it guessing if the old routine things aren't working (but probably best to check what you are taking first rather than just assuming it's a similar medication to something you have taken before!)

New Year, New Me!

So 2015 is here! 

I want 2015 to be the best year, I can do this! I've got great things planned with friends an family for the year including a couple of balls at university and a trip to Morocco in the Summer, as well as applying for internships, really hope I get one!

So the question is then is how I'm going to tackle my IBS this year? The last few years have been about trying all these crazy diets and lots of new meds to see what does and  doesn't help, but now I feel like I want to settle down and find a routine that works that I can stick to, and I kind of hope my IBS-C won't be so up and down if it's able to adjust and get used to what I'm putting in my gut.

So what is my plan at the moment?

• Exercise - going to go for this as much as possible (within reason, I'm not supposed to be losing weight, supposed to be gaining it!) - zumba once a fortnight and my plan is to go the gym twice a week, probably just to run on the treadmill rather than do any weights stuff (I'm not built for weights!). This should (as my mum says) 'get stuff moving' although obviously have to keep any eye on my weight, and I won't be able to exercise when my IBS is really really bad, I'll be too uncomfortable, and when it stops me eating I get too weak to do much exercise.
• Food - Aiming to actually eat all 5 portions of fruit or veg each day. Plus cutting back on white carbs. I find I can digest rice better than pasta, so more rice this year!
• Water - Oh my goodness I need to drink more water. Movicol makes me dehydrated so this has become even more important, and it's something I'm so bad at! Drinking loads means I need to stop and wee every 15 mins or so which is so annoying, but it's definitely worth it in the long run! I find drinking water in conjunction with taking movicol really works best for me: this is my magic formula! One doesn't work so well without the other! My holiday is Spain in 2013 was so good IBS-wise , unbelievably so, and I put it down to my good diet out there, drinking loads and movicol!

So that's my plan at the moment, but would be keen to hear any other ideas I can include!

Louisa xx