IBS and raw, anyone?

[Sparklie]

I believe I have IBS, at least, I have all the symptoms I've read about. Who knows, I've been trying to figure out what I have for years. Dr.'s can't figure it out. Anyway, can anyone else relate. If so, what did you do. Sometimes, too much roughage gives me pains. Constipation gives me acne cysts. I'm about to live on water and even that can give me heartburn. Help!!:(

[Vaclare79]

If water is giving you heartburn you may have an ulcer.. I remember when water was giving me heartburn, I don't know if I had an ulcer or what but try the raw foods it will definitely help!!

[Coconutcutie]

I think you read about my experience with this in the other section of the forum, but I thought I would check in and say something anyway. I can definitely relate, and doing the parasite cleanse helped immensely. I also need to take hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes with every meal until my body is at the point where it can effectively digest food on its own. Green smoothies are supposed to help boost HCL production in the stomach and I consider myself a work in progress with this. I drink two large GS per day, having just added the second one to my routine last week.

As far as the acne goes, I have suffered with cystic acne for many years and have recently seen it pretty much disappear, hopefully for good. I still break out (rarely), but the pimples are very small and go away within a day or two, definitely not cystic in nature. Anything you can do to ensure that you do not remain constipated will most likely help you. I would suggest that you look into some of the oxygen colon cleansers such as Oxypowder (which has been described on here). I have had good results with them. Also, if you are comfortable with them, enemas can help a lot. I started doing an enema before bed every night when I got into these cleansing rituals and that is when my skin really started to clear up. I used to wake up with huge cystic pimples every morning and now I don't - coincidence? I am glad to get everything out of my colon so that it isn't sitting in there overnight. And no, I haven't developed any dependency on them - I still can "go" on my own several times per day - unless of course you count me as being dependent on having better skin ;)

Good luck with finding what works for you

[Sparklie]

Wow, coconutcutie!! Finally, someone who knows what I'm talking about. I am doing an acacia fiber, slippery elm, enzymes, probiotics and ordered some FOS. Oh, and I also ordered those parasite cleanse you did. Humaworm, I believe. Well, I will do the enemas too. I've done them in the past and I know what you mean. They work. I've just been afraid of the things you hear about dependence.

I, too, wake up in the morning with large cysts. Lately, it's been really bad. I get rid of 2 and I get 3 more. Ugghhhh!! It never dawned on me that all of this could be related to IBS. If I think about it, I have suffered from all of this for longer than I realized. I did not make a connection, between all the symptoms.

Thank you, thank you for all of your help.

[Draginvry]

Sometimes, too much roughage gives me pains.

Juice, juice, and more juice!

Seriously, fiber doesn't do anything except for slow down the rate of absorption of everything else. Get rid of the fiber, keep the nutrients, and you are in a win-win situation.

[rayofsunshine]

Hi Sparklie,

I have IBS too.

As for roughage... I do best with greens if they have been blended in smoothies or soups.

If I have a salad, I need fat to help digest it. I have an avocado or a dressing made with soaked nuts on my salad. The ranch dressing in "Raw Food Made Easy" works well for me. If I have a green salad with just a vinegar dressing, it comes out of me close to the form it went in with lots of contractions and gas pain along the way. Don't know why, but this makes eating salads easier for me. I only use a few salad ingredients in one sitting.

The dried fruit and nut recipes are very hard on me, so I am avoiding them while I heal. I do better with nuts that have been soaked.

I recently developed Gerd too, and decided to take a med recommended by my md. Have only been on it a couple of months, but for me, pain had taken over and I felt I needed it to feel good enough to start this process. I have been feeling much better and plan to start weaning myself off of the med. The meds were my person path and I don't necessarily recommend them for everyone else. I was just overwhelmed.

If you are very anxious about your symptoms, you may want to find an alternative health care person you feel comfortable with to help diagnose your symptoms. I found a homeopath that helped diagnose my IBS and sent me to an internist who was sympathetic to patients turning to alternative ways to treat themselves My homeopath felt comfortable with the tests the md had me do to rule out other diseases that could be causing my symptoms. The homeopath took so much time with me to figure out what was going on. My first visit was over an hour and he asked so many questions to look at what was happening to me from many different angles.

I feel sticking to the raw food diet is the only way for me to heal from my symptoms instead of just trying to control them.

Good luck on your path!!! Feel better!!