Eating everything in sight! Arrgghh! Stressy rant :(

[SlimmerGem]

I am craving chocolate and crisps so bad! It's driving me mad! I've blown my syns. I was sick on Saturday (thanks to laxatives prescribed by my GP), I am in so much pain because of it. My poor ribs and muscles are all so sore! Ouch! Yesterday I just ate whatever stuck as I was still feeling off, so bread, crisps, chocolates etc. It just seems to have carried on into today. I'm still feeling rough & stressy. My Dr has prescribed me new laxatives.. Ugh, getting so SOO fed up of laxatives now :'( SO FED UP!! I want to stick to plan, but it's making me sick & I am craving things that I shouldn't be having. I'm so tired & I just don't know what to do now. My Mum keeps telling me to text my consultant, but she's not much use really. Don't get me wrong, she's lovely.. But on the support side, she's pretty bad. She normally doesn't reply to texts & if she does, it's just some generic rubbish that isn't much help. The last time, it took her a few days to get back to me & by that point the bad day had happened! I keep contemplating WW instead, but I feel so restricted on it & I am starving all the time on it. I love SW, but I am sick of the same thing all the time. Tried new foods, tried an original day, but it made me physically sick! I'm only 11 weeks into the diet, but I am just really struggling right now. Being so constipated really isn't helping me either, I feel physically unwell & so drained mentally now as well.

 

[lougalx]

Have you been feeling like this the whole time or just recently? I have to say I've had a few dodgy moments myself but I think its just my body getting used to fresh fruit and veg instead of chocolate and coke. Only my first week so I'm hoping that will pass. I'm no expert but if its only a recent thing I would maybe just take a few days off plan and get yourself right, have some more fibre etc and then pick it back up again. If it has been going on for weeks you might be better speaking to your consultant or even post a typical days food on here, there are plenty of people more knowledgable than me that could probably help you out. Try not to beat yourself up about it though, you can always get back on it in a few days. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[sweetierufus]

I would try increasing your fibre with healthy B options and vegetables. I would think about changing groups as your consultant should reply to your texts quicker. Although I understand they have a life outside of sw.

Don't beat yourself up when you're feeling low we crave food that's bad for us. I know I do.

Drink plenty of water. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[SlimmerGem]

Unfortunately too much fibre upsets my IBS I can't seem to get the balance right. I've had to use some form of laxative since starting & it's really starting to get to me as I constantly don't feel well I feel sick again now as I've just downed another glass of laxido. I don't think I can carry on like this for much longer. At least when I ate rubbish, my IBS was normal and I rarely had an upset stomach. Everyone at group says how much more energy they all have since losing weight, and there I am just feeling really frumpy & gross My Drs aren't much help really, this is the 3rd laxative now & I just want to cry. My OH comes with me to group, which is a massive help, but he doesn't want to go to another group as he finds it really daunting. The group is lovely, but not much help for me with my IBS. They all just keep telling me to draw a line under the bad days and carry on.. Which is great advice if I'd just fallen off the wagon, but I sometimes have to stop eating to plan to get my stomach moving again, which means I gain some of the weight I've lost & that ruins my motivation really. My consultant tries to help in group, but really she's no idea & I just feel a bit fobbed off really. I know she has quite a few groups.. The other day she sent my Mum a message congratulating her for something she'd not even achieved! Wrong person! It's just not very helpful at all. My old consultant was lovely & she'd call at the weekend to discuss food diaries and she'd always be ready to reply to emails, texts, you name it! I think she's left now. My OH didn't want to go to that group anyway as it's the one in our village and he doesn't want to be around people he knows really.

I'm feeling so deflated about everything & honestly, the thought of eating to plan tomorrow makes me feel so sick I am just so fed up of everything now. I need a good cry and a good poop! (Sorry, tmi!)

 

[sweetierufus]

Sorry I didn't realise fibre affected you I that way. I know very little about IBS. Just checked nhs website and didn't even know there was a difference between soluble and insoluble fibre. So I probably won't be able to give you any advice you haven't had already in regard to diet.

Hopefully you will get better soon as nothing worse than feeling bunged up.

 

[prettykins]

Unfortunately too much fibre upsets my IBS I can't seem to get the balance right. I've had to use some form of laxative since starting & it's really starting to get to me as I constantly don't feel well I feel sick again now as I've just downed another glass of laxido. I don't think I can carry on like this for much longer. At least when I ate rubbish, my IBS was normal and I rarely had an upset stomach. Everyone at group says how much more energy they all have since losing weight, and there I am just feeling really frumpy & gross My Drs aren't much help really, this is the 3rd laxative now & I just want to cry. My OH comes with me to group, which is a massive help, but he doesn't want to go to another group as he finds it really daunting. The group is lovely, but not much help for me with my IBS. They all just keep telling me to draw a line under the bad days and carry on.. Which is great advice if I'd just fallen off the wagon, but I sometimes have to stop eating to plan to get my stomach moving again, which means I gain some of the weight I've lost & that ruins my motivation really. My consultant tries to help in group, but really she's no idea & I just feel a bit fobbed off really. I know she has quite a few groups.. The other day she sent my Mum a message congratulating her for something she'd not even achieved! Wrong person! It's just not very helpful at all. My old consultant was lovely & she'd call at the weekend to discuss food diaries and she'd always be ready to reply to emails, texts, you name it! I think she's left now. My OH didn't want to go to that group anyway as it's the one in our village and he doesn't want to be around people he knows really. I'm feeling so deflated about everything & honestly, the thought of eating to plan tomorrow makes me feel so sick I am just so fed up of everything now. I need a good cry and a good poop! (Sorry, tmi!)

Hi slimmergem,

I know exactly how you feel my latest ibs flare up has just started to wear off after 2 weeks. That was usually the point where I just give up and go back to eating rubbish full time, but I've decided to keep trying.
I'm taking buscopan, and digestive enzymes, occasionally lactulose ( I have the constipation too, not the other kind of ibs). It really is horrible though isn't it. I'm sure slimming world brings on flare ups with me, usually after a few weeks.
I've wondered myself about asking my dr for diet advice instead of Sw.
One thing that helped with my last episode was juicing. I had been in pain for days, and decided to get a juicer. I was in the queue in Argos, in extreme pain and willing them to go faster so I could get home and juice, and it actually worked! The pain went after an hour or so.
I started replacing one meal a day with juice, anything with ginger in is good for your stomach, also apples and cucumber ( w/o skin).
Maybe that's worth a try?
I haven't used the juicer in ages but I'm thinking of juicing one meal a day again as it's so healthy and beneficial etc.
X

 

[Elvisfan4life]

Try natural things first

orange juice
prunes
licorice

i have had similar problems and had emergency abdominal surgery on my small intestine 18mths ago...you need to experiment a d see what works for you..ask your doctor or specialist.

 

[Gwella]

Ooh that sounds like a rubbish position to be in - trying to improve your health leading to you feeling worse

I have a tiny bit of IBS but nowhere near as bad as yours... I struggled with constipation in the first couple of weeks but after that my system adjusted and I found I now rarely get any symptoms at all. I think ensuring I drank loads more water to push through all the extra fibre helped.

How helpful has your dr been regarding what you should be eating? Are they actually giving you advice or just fobbing you off with the laxatives? Could you ask to see an IBS specialist or nutritionist to discuss things like what types of fibre you should have, how much water, how much fat, that sort of thing? Maybe you could make some adjustments to SW based on that, or explain why even following Original didn't seem to help you. It might be helpful to know more about it, like for example whether your body is ever likely to adjust after a hellish period of 'weaning' off the high-fat foods etc.

Your consultant doesn't sound that great - I've never tried texting ours but she does respond quickly on our facebook group, as do loads of other supportive group members. To be honest I've found minimins more useful from the support front and there are so many people here with wider experience/knowledge than consultants! You may find the odd bit of advice isn't quite correct but people are very helpful very quickly.

hope you find something that works.

 

[Elvisfan4life]

Ooh that sounds like a rubbish position to be in - trying to improve your health leading to you feeling worse

I have a tiny bit of IBS but nowhere near as bad as yours... I struggled with constipation in the first couple of weeks but after that my system adjusted and I found I now rarely get any symptoms at all. I think ensuring I drank loads more water to push through all the extra fibre helped.

How helpful has your dr been regarding what you should be eating? Are they actually giving you advice or just fobbing you off with the laxatives? Could you ask to see an IBS specialist or nutritionist to discuss things like what types of fibre you should have, how much water, how much fat, that sort of thing? Maybe you could make some adjustments to SW based on that, or explain why even following Original didn't seem to help you. It might be helpful to know more about it, like for example whether your body is ever likely to adjust after a hellish period of 'weaning' off the high-fat foods etc.

Your consultant doesn't sound that great - I've never tried texting ours but she does respond quickly on our facebook group, as do loads of other supportive group members. To be honest I've found minimins more useful from the support front and there are so many people here with wider experience/knowledge than consultants! You may find the odd bit of advice isn't quite correct but people are very helpful very quickly.

hope you find something that works.

I agree my old gp fobbed me off with IBS and 18mths ago i had to have emergency abdominal surgery for a blocked small intestine...the full open surgery which took months to recover from..so alwaysmgo back and ask for more tests

 

[Elvisfan4life]

Lots of water really helps now post surgery i drink 2 litres a day and touch wood its been loads better...i find all the fruit and veg on SW really helps

 

[SlimmerGem]

My Drs have all been pretty poor when advising about my diet. The last time I tried SW, a few years back, it made me constipated & my GP said that I had ibs that was made worse by fibre. He said stop the diet & do whatever it takes to get my body working again. I ended up putting on another stone! I really wanted to push through it this time so I've been taking the laxatives & trying my best to get my body to adjust. I'm still binging on rubbish because I'm just so fed up

I'm currently drinking around 2.5 litres of water a day, sometimes there's a bit of cordial, but mostly it's just water. I walk for a couple of hours every day too.

I really don't know what to do anymore. My GPs just tell me to keep trying & this laxative should help. I don't want to end up being sick again. This current laxative still hasn't taken effect! I honestly just want to cry now. Should I just stop SW? I don't know how to lose weight if I can't tolerate eating healthily. It's not like I'm even eating lots of processed foods.. It's just good, clean food & my body hates it! argh.

I desperately want to lose weight to conceive & I've just recently been told I have arthritis & losing weight will help with that too.

I don't know what other tests would be useful, I know it's ibs, I've had it for years. But it would be nice to know what my body can tolerate & what it can't. Would that only be done by a dietician with some sort of exclusion diet though? As I can't see that helping much either. The last dietician I saw was awful & treated me like I was a complete idiot!

I'm really at a total loss now. I just want to give in. My poor oh is trying to be supportive but I know he's getting annoyed with the flip flopping

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[Elvisfan4life]

Bless your heart...i had 20 years of docs doing the same and fobbing me off with laxatives. Since my op i have no IBS symptoms at all...and rarely use,laxatives after 20 years regular use...don't get upset go back to your docs and demand some more practical help in mamaging your issues..could you see a practise nurse practitioner who will actually listen and try and sort out a food diary for you...esp important for you if you are trying to conceive .or ask to be referred to a specialist? My surgeon told me with proper care my op cpuld have been prevented ad was furious....good luck hun

 

[Barbette]

I have ibs that is made worse by certain fibres, if it's playing up I change the kind of fibre I'm eating. I also know what other foods trigger mine and I either reduce them or avoid them altogether.
Have you tried peppermint? You have it in different forms, tea, capsules or tablets I take the tablets when I have a flare up that sort me out. Laxatives don't work on me and I've tried loads, I think you need to find out which foods are your triggers and leave them out. You can do this yourself by stopping one food at a time and seeing how it effects you. Funnily enough I've been a whole lot better since being veggie and I find it better when I have very little or no dairy.
I would go back to the good and ask about how to control it through change of diet. Hooe you manage to get it sorted x

 

[SlimmerGem]

Elvisfan4life - if these laxatives don't help then I will have to go back. I am getting so fed up of this. I try to get myself healthy and this is the thanks I get! I'm at my wits end. I don't know how a food diary will help as the problem is so delayed that it's impossible to link it to one thing. My normal ibs flare up is a reaction to oily or fatty foods, and coffee normally. And it gives me the runs. Being constipated is not normal for me at all I'm actually tempted to have an Indian tonight just to see if that makes me go! I'm not even following the plan anymore. I've lost all faith in it & I just want to go to the toilet. But even eating normally isn't getting me moving at this point! And of course, I'm putting on all of the weight that I have lost! I feel like screaming! I don't want to go to group tomorrow, only for them to tell me that I've gained weight & to patronize me about it. Sigh. I will give it until next week to see whether I feel any better, if not I'll be back to the GP.

I hope a dietician can help, but I worry about elimination diets to find triggers as the constipation is so delayed and lasts for so long. I can't have my stomach being like this as I'd end up having to stop working because of it! This whole thing is so frustrating. I'm inhaling chocolate as it's the only thing that's even remotely helping me to go right now. And apparently that's wrong, according to medical professionals. Chocolate should do the opposite. Sigh.

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[Gwella]

Is it perhaps the caffeine in the chocolate that is helping? I generally find caffeine has that effect...

 

[Elvisfan4life]

Elvisfan4life - if these laxatives don't help then I will have to go back. I am getting so fed up of this. I try to get myself healthy and this is the thanks I get! I'm at my wits end. I don't know how a food diary will help as the problem is so delayed that it's impossible to link it to one thing. My normal ibs flare up is a reaction to oily or fatty foods, and coffee normally. And it gives me the runs. Being constipated is not normal for me at all I'm actually tempted to have an Indian tonight just to see if that makes me go! I'm not even following the plan anymore. I've lost all faith in it & I just want to go to the toilet. But even eating normally isn't getting me moving at this point! And of course, I'm putting on all of the weight that I have lost! I feel like screaming! I don't want to go to group tomorrow, only for them to tell me that I've gained weight & to patronize me about it. Sigh. I will give it until next week to see whether I feel any better, if not I'll be back to the GP.

I hope a dietician can help, but I worry about elimination diets to find triggers as the constipation is so delayed and lasts for so long. I can't have my stomach being like this as I'd end up having to stop working because of it! This whole thing is so frustrating. I'm inhaling chocolate as it's the only thing that's even remotely helping me to go right now. And apparently that's wrong, according to medical professionals. Chocolate should do the opposite. Sigh.

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Dont let yourself ,get into to much pain...your phatrmacist can give you an emergency treatment if you need it..not pleasant but effective...i know how crippling the pain can be if you let it go too long....so feel for you hun

 

[SlimmerGem]

Is it perhaps the caffeine in the chocolate that is helping? I generally find caffeine has that effect...

Possibly.. I'm wondering if a strong coffee will help. Starbucks coffees always used to give me an ibs attack, but last time it didn't touch me They tend to last all day as well, which I just can't afford at the moment! Maybe at the weekend. It's my birthday as well..

Elvisfan4life - what will they do? Our pharmacists are pretty rubbish I think I'm just going to give up on SW. I am so tired of this. I might write to them as well & complain about my consultant as she's been no help whatsoever. I'm fact, I don't want to go tomorrow as she'll just make me feel worse by telling me to draw a line under it and move on. I can't, because I'm still not pooping! I don't want to gain all of the weight back :'( Am I just going to be this weight for the rest of my life?!

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[Gwella]

It does sound like you need help to find a more specific eating plan that works for you in terms of IBS and weight loss and general health.

I wouldn't stress too much about following Slimming World specifically but just trying to gradually introduce as many healthier choices as you can that work for you - even if it's just going for a slightly lower-calorie, lower-sugar version of what you might have or switching from saturated to non-saturated fats, for example.

Then maybe one day when you have figured out what does and doesn't work you can think more about actually losing weight.

I think you are justified in wanting to let SW know your concerns about the consultant, though at the same time I think they're not properly equipped to deal with everyone's specific needs, illnesses etc. Some aren't even that hot on veggie diets!

Oh and a final note, I'm sure you're in lots of pain right now but I wonder if as well as looking for a referral to a better nutritionist or gastroenterologist you might be able to get some help finding exercises that would ease your symptoms? I find that things are a lot better for me when I've been more active.

 

[SlimmerGem]

It does sound like you need help to find a more specific eating plan that works for you in terms of IBS and weight loss and general health.

I wouldn't stress too much about following Slimming World specifically but just trying to gradually introduce as many healthier choices as you can that work for you - even if it's just going for a slightly lower-calorie, lower-sugar version of what you might have or switching from saturated to non-saturated fats, for example.

Then maybe one day when you have figured out what does and doesn't work you can think more about actually losing weight.

I think you are justified in wanting to let SW know your concerns about the consultant, though at the same time I think they're not properly equipped to deal with everyone's specific needs, illnesses etc. Some aren't even that hot on veggie diets!

Oh and a final note, I'm sure you're in lots of pain right now but I wonder if as well as looking for a referral to a better nutritionist or gastroenterologist you might be able to get some help finding exercises that would ease your symptoms? I find that things are a lot better for me when I've been more active.

Thank you Gwella. I'm popping to the Dr this afternoon as half of my face is swollen. I swear, I was healthier when I was bigger & lying around in bed, eating junk food! I will mention seeing a specialist then too. I need to find out what I can & can't eat (or at least eat in moderation).

There's more to it with the consultant unfortunately. I don't really want her to advise on my ibs as everyone with it is so different. But it doesn't take much to text or call during the week to see how I'm getting on, or give me a bit more support in group. I've messaged her about not going in tonight. It was because I'm still struggling with my ibs, but I now have a Drs appointment too. She's not got back to me. She's text my Mum telling her she's only got 2lbs to lose to her next stone award. That's not the case so she's sent my Mum the wrong text. Again. I'm glad she's not sent me a text like that because it would be the last thing I need right now! Especially after a gain last week!

As for being more active.. Lol. I walk between 1-3hrs a day as part of my job. I was swimming as well, but I don't have time atm. I have arthritis in my ankles so can only do gentle exercises xx

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[sweetierufus]

Pleased you going back to doctors.

Your consultant sounds terrible. It's a shame as a good consultant can make a difference.