ibs/constipation/colonic... weight gain?
 

Not a problem for me, even when I was pregnant. I guess I drink so much water and eat so much fiber that I go at least once a day.

And no, never had a colonic.

Have you tried increasing your probiotics for the IBS? My mom suffered from IBS most of her life. She now takes a probiotic supplement AND eats yogurt daily. SInce she's been on the supplement, her IBS is nearly non-existent.

Thats an incorrect statement...
I am not overweight and drink a gallon of water everyday plus I get lots of fiber in my veggies and at times i wouldn't go but once a week YIKES! talk about bloating and uncomfortable.
I wasn't constipated thou just wasn't ready till it was ready... So im training to be a figure competitor and was talking to a lot of competitors and they had the same issues and told me to take Psyllium Husks (i recommend finding it in a capsule form cause this s*#t is nasty to drink) but i must say it works for me I went three days in a row and thats how long I have been taking it. Thats a record for me.

Good luck with everything.

I wouldn't know about the thinner vs fatter thing, but I used to have IBS and my life changed significantly by just eating yogurt every morning. I feel for you IBS sucks. I remember never being about to eat much when im out at restaurants because you just never know when you are gonna need to go! Avoiding public transportation, concerts, ugh everything! Such a relief to not have to worry about that anymore. Its worth a try.

heavy vs. thin or dieting vs. not
 

For lots of us one of the consequences of a reduced calorie diet (even when you get a fair amount of fiber in food) is constipation. My doctor warned me about this as I was starting a 1200 calorie diet. And I definitely experience some nasty bloaty days until I got some releif.

But back to you comment: I wonder if your observation that thinner girls tend to be more regular is related to the fact that lots of heavier girls are trying to lose weight by some sort of diet modification (in some cases so not too healthy modifications). And therefore subject to more intestinal irregularity. It's the scientist in me... can't help it.

Anyway, I do not recommend colonics, especially for folks with IBS. I know some celebrities swear by it for everything from weight loss to acne cures, but if you already are having IBS issues scrubbing the instestines of what microflora you have isn't going to improve the situation. Probiotics do seem to help some people, but unless you have recently had a serious antibiotic course you already have as much microflora as you need. But it is worth a try if you can find a non-yogurt source since yogurt is so unappealing to you.

Metamucil is good treatment for the constipation, it also can help lower the bad cholesterol if you take it in the evening before bed. Another suggestion is "stool softeners". They are much easier on your body than full-on laxitives, which probably don't want to take with the IBS. They can be found in the same aisle as the regular laxitives.

For most people these symptoms do ease with time, so I hope that will be the case for you

---Pam

I wasn't generalizing for everyone, just commenting on my own experience. Sorry if you misunderstood.

My youngest daughter is sensitive to lactose, if she drinks too much milk she has trouble with it. We bought probiotic capsules at the local health food store for her. It helped a lot. The probiotic my mom takes is also in capsule form. She couldn't believe the difference it made for her. The only caveat with them, is that they need to stay refrigerated and fresh. Her IBS is worse with stress so she's also learned to try to deal with stress with yoga and exercise. But the probiotics really helped her a lot. It's unfortunate that so much about IBS is unknown medically. I hope you get some relief soon!

Hi all, I'm new here but I thought I would chime in because this has always affected me. I'm lactose intolerant and while I find probiotics beneficial, they didn't make me more regular. Any slight change in my routine throws me off balance. What did help was regular exercise and Triphala. I don't know why these three little Indian Ayurvedic herbs worked for me, but they did. I only take them when I know I have a routine change coming up like a vacation, a big food-oriented celebration or right before my monthly cycles.