I just finish week 5 on adkins, I lost 33lbs with 17lbs left to meet goal. However for the last week I've been suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. Any advice? I figure I'll just let it run it's caurse for a bit more before I try to medicate it.

Wow yendoo! Congrats on your weight lost. Amazing!


What is irritable bowel syndrome?

red

Hi yendoo, congrats on your success so far!

I had the same thing happening at the beginning while my body adjusted to the new way of eating. It did stop pretty quickly though, so just hang in there. If you need to take an immodium or something, it helps! Just drink plenty of water.

I have always had IBS and no matter what I did, I couldn't stop it, I always just had to medicate it. Almost everything I ate caused problems. It was getting to the point where I never wanted to leave the house! But a lowcarb diet does wonders for me! I almost never have to take medication now. And on the rare occasions when I ingested some sugar or other concentrated carbs, I had instant intestinal problems. My body just can't handle high carbs.

It makes it easy for me to stick with this WOE when I think of the consequences of scarfing some sugar. Good luck!

Red, IBS is a very common intestinal condition. Docs don't even really know what it is. Basically the symptoms are either chronic diarrhea or chronic constipation. If you go for tests as to what's causing it and the docs can't find anything, they classify it as IBS. For me, high carbs were definitely the culprit. Once I cut those out, no more problems. For others it might be dairy or wheat, etc.

Try psyllium husks.

They are a soluble fibre, and can help both diarrhoea and constipation (by softening and adding bulk to stools).

You can get them in capsule form from health food shops, or just use (as I do) the husks themselves. Take 1 tablespoon in a glass of water daily. Hint: flavouring the water somehow - a squeeze of lemon juice works well - makes the mix somewhat more palatable.

One thing to bear in mine when using a fibre supplement such as psyllium, take an hour after or two hours before any of your supplements as they can interfere with absorption, especially of minerals.

I, too, found my IBS (now actually diagnosed as diverticular disease, but the symptoms are identical) symptoms to have dramatically decreased since low carbing. My partner's constant IBS pain has also gone - except on the occasions when he cheats with starches.

HTH!

Rosebud

I have had Irritable Bowel for 40 years and right now it is not bothering me. The thing that changed is I added flaxomeal cereal to my day for breakfast. My doctor recommended it and was pleased I had already found it. I use a cereal made by Low Carb Success and it is very good. A half cup of dry mixed with hot water and adding in some splenda and cream to taste is very good. I am now regular and no diarrhea or constipation. The only time I have a problem with diarrhea is if I over indulge in the Atkins Endulgence candy or its low carb counterparts. I also use psyllium husks if I seem to be slowing down and the combination is great. I never thought I would have that result. Needless to say, I am very pleased.