NEVER GIVE UP HOPE: Avril's Story

Avril

 thanks for your story, i have lived with IBS. ulcerative colitis for over 10 years and it at times has made my life hell. i like you message of never giving up hope. i have had to live with my health problems on my own as i am widiowed and my fmily has moved away

i am at present attending a self help course to teach me to get over things that happened to me 50 years ago. i like psychology and social sciences and from attending various health related courses , seminars and conferences. i am learning to cope and accept that my problems are very minor compared to many people i meet? finding non causing, bloating food for me is a problem due to having stomach and bowel problems. as many foods are too acidic such as bananas

 kind regards Mr Chipps the poet man

Thank you, Mr Chipps, for responding to my story and for sharing yours.  I admire your approach to self help.  And I absolutely sympathise with your problem as to what's best to eat to avoid the symptoms.  Not knowing which foods are OK, or having to avoid a lot of foods, is very difficult.  That used to be one of my main problems, but fortunately I now have a much better idea of which foods are 'safe' and which are not.  I used to think that acid foods were among the worst, but I can now eat clementines and some other fruits, and bananas have never been a problem for me.  It seems that everyone is different when it comes to eating.  The old adage that 'One man's food is another man's poison' is so true.  Keep positive.

Avril

Hi Avril.

 thanks for your reply, i keep trying new foods, but due to acid reflux and other problems caused by my many medications and bowel condition, it can be very hard. But i will keep trying and now that i have cut my alcohol intake, i do not get as much pain or reflux.

 i do many things to keep me occupied and music and singing are a big part of my life, as is some voluntary work.. on my relaxation course which i have just begun, it has reinforced my knowledge of the need to relax and destress more. i have been doing thi for many years and ow do it every night in bed.

sadly i do not have a ladies cooking guidance, to keep me on the straight and narrow. but i do my best not to eat much junk food as to me it is neither healthy or filling.

kind regards Mr Chipps, the singing poet

Bravo, Mr Chipps, for being so positive!

Thanks for your kind words, i sometimes feel like giving in and being alone does not help. take care and have lovely and happy life 

 i have attached one of my poems, that was authourised by the late author. i hope you like it, i often use writing poetry as a way of expressing my feelings and hopes

regards mr chipps

Thank you, Mr Chipps, for your good wishes, and for sharing your poem.  It's a lovely poem that shows a positive attitude that is inspiring.  I find that facing fears and confronting them straight on helps to reduce them.  But I also find it helps to do so by degrees, taking each new step and repeating until comfortable, and then going a step further.  I wish you all the best for the future.  Don't give in.

Avril

i agree with your sentiments about doing things by degrees and for me that is a hard thing to do, as i have always had to things at full pelt and will not rest until they are completed.

i am pleased that you liked the poem, i wrote it when i had my creative head on, but i do not write many new poems now, as i have run out of ideas, this is something i will overcome in time. because i want to want to write songs that may hopefully be sung in the male voice choir i am a member of?

take care ,kind regards keith

Hi Avril and Keith and any others reading this.

I feel for you, I don't have IBS but I did have an irritable bowel for over a year during a period where I had taken several doses of anti biotics over a period of 10 months due to a long term infection in my lungs.  I did have one medicine the doctor gave me to take about 30 mins before food which helped but this did not treat the overall health of the bowel.

I understand that if you've had IBS for so long what helped me, may not work for you or it could help ease your symptoms when you are having a particularly bad time of it.

My brother in law is a chemist who also qualified as a herbalist, his main advice was to take a course of pro biotics, the real ones, not those in yoghurt or yakult  The high strength probiotics you can get from the health food store or a well known chemist in UK also stocks, them, there are so many different ones you can take for different types of irritable bowel and these days I would use them if for any reason I get an irritable bowel or have to take a course of anti biotics.  Medications can upset the bowel, anti biotics is just one of them.

My mother suffered terribly with her bowel after having bowel cancer and the doctor prescribed for her Fibrogel you may know of this already, this is completely natural and you can buy the equivalent in the health food shop, its like husks of seeds and you add to a drink.

What I would do for myself at the time when my bowel was very unhappy is take a months course of the probiotics, (pro biotics put the natural flora / friendly bacteria into the bowel bringing it more into balance.  Forgive me if you already know this, irritable bowel is when the unfriendly bacteria in the bowel is excessive to the friendly bacteria, its out of balance, the pro biotics put more of the friendly bacteria back into the bowel that is why taking a course of the probiotics can help the bowel.  It may be something that can't help your particular problem with IBS but I would say its worth a try if you haven't already done so.

I note probiotics have helped you Avril.  Also there are other alternatives to cows milk and goats milk whenever you fancy a change, Rice Milk, Oats Milk, Soya Milk, Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, also another alternative to dairy that I can't quite remember the name of. I particularly love Almond milk and I like Coconut Milk on my cereal and in desserts, I made a bread pudding once with coconut milk and coconut oil, using the coconut oil spread on the bread instead of butter.  It was delicious and easier on the tummy than cows milk and butter. I find the alternative to dairy koko I think is the brand is very good in tea or coffee and also Rice Milk is quite good in tea or coffee too, most all are fortified with calcium and other nutrients though, where as milk from the animal has these in their natural form..... I digress.....

For me after taking a months course of probiotics my bowel would settle for a time, then a few weeks later it would become irritable again so I would take another months course and again the bowel would settle again, I kept doing that until my bowel came back into balance, as I say for me it took about a year going longer between each treatment, I rarely get irritable bowel now, but as I said mine was bought on by anti biotics and its not something I was born with.  

I hope this may be of help to someone.

Best wishes to you Avril and Keithe

Ely

By the way I find white bread very bloating, some bakers bread worse than others and I do still enjoy a slice of white bread toasted, however its not just white bread I've noticed it can be where bakers use the commercial white flour to bake scones, cakes pastry etc.

I think its ok to have some of these food items but I find if I have too much I get bloating, it makes so much difference to how you feel not having a bloated tummy. Sometimes I can get a bloat if I have wholemeal bread which I find lays heavy on my tummy.

I find malted granary bread non bloating, light on the tummy and is good fresh and toasted. :)

What is thi Avril?

I do qigong, tai chi type moves which I find very relaxing and calming, its like meditation to movement and if you can get your chi flowing smoothly it is of course good for health.  I attend a class once a week and do medical qigong workshops occasionally, I start with doing the shortly video practises on you tube, you can try it for 10 mins 7 mins, 15 mins, 20 mins etc.  the names I would recommend on you tube, are Don Fiore and Lee Holden, they are very good at explaining, Don Fiore is a more risk free instructor, Lee Holden is a bit more challenging and in any case, its always best to check with your doc first of course if you haven't done any exercise for some time.

Just listening to relaxing music can de stress or one of your tube videos with music, there are some reall good ones, I particularly like Nature by Numbers video by Crystobal Vila with music by Wim Mertens, Often a Bird.

Not sure if video links such as these are permitted,  will try one and if you want the others and its ok can post or send you pm with links.

Nature by numbers  (best watched on full screen on you tube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKPzDFDnmuw

Dear Ely,

Thank you so much for all the advice that you have posted.  It's extremely thoughtful of you. 

Yes, some of what you have written is familiar territory for me, such as regarding probiotics and Fibrogel.  However, it's interesting what you say about needing to top up with the probiotics, as I wasn't sure whether one course of probiotics was sufficient to get things back into balance.  The fact that you found you needed to top up from time to time and then eventually things returned more to normal gives me confidence to do the same.  So I've ordered another month's worth of probiotics, will see how things go, and repeat from time to time in the hope that one day I will find I'm more or less back to normal.  Meanwhile, I am much improved these days on how I was formerly, so it's a case of my aiming to maintain that and possibly make even further improvements.

I will have a look with interest at the videos you mentioned. 

My best wishes to you, and thank you again for your kind contribution here.

Avril