Lets get personal......

[chadspad]

Yes will try the peppermint oil too. Gonna have to have a good look around the chemists.

I have to say Martin you are the only person so far that says not to go the route of the endoscopy. Everyone else has said its not a problem and seems lots of people have had it done. The doc wanted to explore further after doing the rectoscopy and finding a small, inflammed area. The surgeon when he met me however was a little surprised that I was to have it done saying that at my ages there was no risk of cancer and he thought it was unnecessary. The docs in France do tend to be overly thorough sometimes.

[Martin]

I confess to a deep distrust of hitech medicine, and having found other far better therapies, steer well clear!
I get rather cross with the arrogance of the "medical establishment" as they try to suggest that drugs or surgery are the only answers, and try to dissuade people from trying other therapies.
My personal view is that modern medicine is crude in the extreme, and largely "barking up the wrong tree"......... conventional medics practice on corpses, and as such are fairly good at understanding the "pipework", but haven't a clue as to many of the deeper processes involved - the chinese sensibly decided 6,000 years ago to look at it a different way.
Take ten people with the same symptoms, a conventional medic will prescribe the same treatment for all of them - a traditional chinese therapist would probably give ten different treatments (we're all VERY different - something not taken account of in hitech medicine) -alternative therapies take who you are into account too!
Whilst I'm up here on my soapbox, what is the logic of introducing synthetic chemicals into one's system, in the vague hope it will effect a cure? About the only effective remedies in pharmaceuticals are either naturally derived, or nowadays, a synthetic "clone" (often for no other reason than brand rivalry) - if I need that sort of remedy, herbalism works, if properly prescribed, it is incredibly safe, and remarkably free of side-effects (well, they are natural!) - unlike the chemicals to which one's body will quite reasonably object!

[Thomzo]

Chadspad
I don't want to be alarmist but if there is blood then I recommend you go back to the docs. This can sometimes be a symptom of something more serious. It's probably nothing to worry about but best to get it checked out.

Zoe

[chadspad]

Hi Zoe, I had blood the previous time too hence going to the docs - apparently its pretty normal with colitis.

I did read that there seems to be a link between having given up smoking and getting colitis. They dont know why yet but trials have shown that those using nicotine patches helps with the colitis. I gave up smoking last year, then this came along a few months after. That would be a real blow to give up something for my health and get something else instead!

[Jack]

Gidday

Soory Jack, but can you explain? I'm not sure I know what you mean! thanks

Bonny Girl, what I was talking about was using a pro-biotic sometimes called a pre-biotic.

It is normally in capsule form with about 25 billion good bactreria that should be found in a healthy gut but these days aren't. I could mention brand names but as I am down under the same names will probably not be on the market up there.

The idea is, that through your lifestyle, or the taking of other prescibed drugs, particularly antibiotics, some or most of the good bacteria in your digestion tract get killed off, and as they are an essential part of any animal digestion, need to be replaced.

I had nearly 30 years of the squerty poos and no doctors could help in any way, then after being prescribed antibiotics, I asked the chemist for something to help my guts as they normnally make me worse. He gave me a bottle of pro-biotices and I threw the antibiotics away and took the pro-biotics and my guts was almost normal for about a month. Couldn't get any more cos he would only give it out with prescribed antibiotics.

I then went to a health shop and got some stuff called "Inner Health Plus" and what-da-ya know, my guts is back to normal after 30 years of squerty poos.

And Martin, you are just so right that it is frieghtening.

We just finished watching a TV program which was about an Aussie who has a breakthough in cancer fighting. He had cured a man of cancer, by crushing up a plant and putting it in a capsule, who was then kill by a hospital stuff up. But now they have gone on to make some drug to do a similar job without naming the plant that did the cure cos they caint make billions of dollars out of selling plants but can out of selling drugs.

[Masco&Bongo]

My OH has IBS/Colitis

He was also told to eat 3 tablespoons of bran a day, but it's very difficult to find foods to put it in (e.g yoghurt).

Instead he has an exclusion diet.

He doesn't eat:
Anything fried - this includes minced beef
Anything from a jar - e.g. bolognese sauce
Most sausages
Anything highly spiced (e.g. morroccan food is out, most curries, mexican food)
Onions

He also finds that stress is a major factor. Even the little stresses you get before e.g. going out for the day can set him off.

He has horrible pains and a very pressing need to go to the toilet. When his IBS is bad, he gets "bad-ass" (Apologies to any Pratchett fans) and can be on the toilet upwards of 10 times a day, even if he hasn't eaten anything.

Most of the things that set him off (as mentioned above) we don't eat, e.g. we have quorn or vegetable bolognese, I make my own pasta sauce.

We just have to be very careful when eating out, or at other people's houses, as it is very upsetting and embarassing having to explain why we need to go home now or why he is monopolising the bathroom. We've done many a speeding trip back from a restaurant where an unexpected ingredient has caused an issue

He has anti-spasmodics, which help in "mild" cases, but when he has a full blown attack, the only thing that helps is a bathroom and lots of loo roll.

[pskipper]

Hi Chadspad,

With me it's usually stress or having another ailment that sets it off, peppermint tea works nicely but there are days when I can't get to work in which case I take the medicine! I also find that muesli or porridge for breakfast help as then I know I'm getting the fibre I need in my diet.
Sad to say but the IBS hasn't been so much of a problem since I split up with my (ex)girlfriend in May as she was a bit of a stress queen.

Lots of sympathy

Philip

[chadspad]

See I dont get that so Im steering away from IBS. I dont have to sit on the toilet for ages or get the urge to go desperately. I think colitis is perhaps what I have. Its good to hear of the things that set people off tho - I eat mince beef a lot (with bolognaise jar sauces) so will keep an eye on whether that bloats me or upset my 'poos'.

I do have a horrid feeling that beer is one of things that doesnt help. As I was having a couple yest I could see my stomach bloating. If thats the case and its the yeast would I be alright to drink wine cos thatll have yeast in too wont it?

[chadspad]

Sorry Philip I had overlapped your answer!

[Masco&Bongo]

See I dont get that so Im steering away from IBS. I dont have to sit on the toilet for ages or get the urge to go desperately. I think colitis is perhaps what I have. Its good to hear of the things that set people off tho - I eat mince beef a lot (with bolognaise jar sauces) so will keep an eye on whether that bloats me or upset my 'poos'.

Maybe cut out the jar sauces first - we were told that it was the preservative chemicals in them that set OH off....

[chadspad]

Is there a home test food allegy kit that works? Be hadny little thing to have!

[Jobi1canobi]

Hi,

I'm not an authority on any of your ailments I'm afraid but reading through - it seems that a lot of issues are caused by our eating habits.

Can I recommend a book called 'Slim 4 Life: Freedom From The Food Trap' by Jason Vale.

It's not really about dieting so the first part of the title is slightly misleading - but more about the psychology of why we eat what we eat; what these foods do to us and alternative suggestions on how to get the nutrients we need to cure a lot of ills. It's really easy to read and is completely in layman's terms.

I followed it to get rid of my extreme bouts of eczema and mild depression - which it did fantastically well and as an aside I 'accidentally' lost 3 stone in 4 months.

I only suggest it as it might help you tidy up your diet and help to eliminate any toxins that are causing your ailments whilst helping your body get the nutrients that will help your body heal itself.

Hope that helps.

[chadspad]

Thanks for that Jobi1 - will have a look about for it.

[Millymollymandy]

This is all very interesting, especially knowing there are so many people who suffer from similar problems! My mum has a friend who can't eat onion or garlic because if she does she gets extremely urgent diarrhoea.

I don't get the need to go to the loo with my stomach pain. I do tend to have the 'rush to the loo then explode' type of poo (sorry can't think how to put it politely ) but we put that down to the soft water here, even though we now drink only bottled water, but the soft water is still used in coffee and cooking etc. When I am back in England drinking hard water that's gone through a Brita water filter (what I have been used to for 20 odd years) I poo normally!

[chadspad]

See thats interesting to know M3. OUr water comes from a source and altho we dont drink it we do brush our teeth with it. Does seem theres a lot of people who suffer from some stomach problem or another - whats the causes du think? Is it just more commonly talked about and diagnosed or is there more people than in the olden days?