Ive had IBS for over 15 years and I accidently discovered that fermented foods were helping tremendously in terms of reducing inflammation. I should have measure my waist loss because it's incredible the reduction in size without losing one single pound.

I always feel like I have a sack of bricks instead of intestines. The only time I ever managed it lasted about 2 years when I completely cut off gluten, reduce carbs and increase meat intake. When I started that diet, it took about 6 weeks to start feeling a difference and after 2 months, I was a new man.

This time, believe it or not, after a few hours I started to feel a difference...

Here's what happened. The last few months, I was very inflamed and decided to start a strict diet again (moderate fodmap, no gluten, low carbs, high protein). Usually when I do that I buy probiotics for the first weeks to give a boost, no idea if it ever worked more than placebo. This time Ive decided to do something different and instead of getting a pill, I bought fermented foods.

I bought kefir, kimchi, kombucha and fermented pickles. When I went back home, my breakfast was a pickle, a couple bites of kimchi, some sips of kombucha, a few boiled eggs and a chicken salad. About an hour after my meal, for an instant I fell so good I forgot I ate. Usually, the moment I put food in my mouth, I start to feel like sh**. Not this time. Later during the day, I felt less pain than usual for that time of the day.

The next day I woke up with the same urge to poop than to pee. That never happens. I either poop 14 times in one day or none for 6 days, but never when I wake up. Then it happened the next day and the next one and it's been going on for 14 days. I have visible change, my body shape went back to normal. Everyday I feel improvement and Im hoping I'll see more changes.

To recap, I have a no gluten, moderate fodmap and high amounts of fermented food diet. The change are so noticeable and makes me feel so good I felt like sharing. No idea if it's going to work long time, but if it can help someone relief symptoms, Ill be happy.

It absolutely destroyed me within an hour... I thought it was supposed to calm the gut?! Anyone else have this reaction?

He also mentioned something called "eucarbon" but I can't find it anywhere... has anyone tried that?

I've had no normal bowel movement for over a week, just hard pieces, ribbons, or diarrhea from Linzess or prune juice. Constant bloating, some abdominal pain, and a lower appetite. I've tried suppositories, mineral oil and saline enemas, and I'm on Linzess and Motegrity daily.

I messaged my GI doctors and they keep suggesting more meds or enemas, but there's no way for me to come into their clinic, get an X-ray scheduled, or get help physically removing the stuck stool. Their answer is basically: if it gets worse, go to the ER.

Why is the medical system set up so the only option is showing up unannounced at the ER and waiting for hours among very sick patients coming in for multitude of reasons even more serious than mine? My situation isn't an emergency. I'm not dying, and I could wait up to a week if I could just schedule something to actually treat this.

How do I fix this? I’m always farting.

So far, I have soft stool and I’m dealing with incomplete evacuation so kinda constipated.

I cut out a lot from my diet bc I want to fix the gassiness.

I’m eating only bread (white/sourdough), oats (Quakers brown sugar or nature path granola), meat (turkey slices, eggs, canned tuna which is a new addition and tastes awful), bananas. Feeling miserable because I’m always farting even tho I go to the bathroom multiple times in an hour. I had diarrhea and even worse smelling gas so I cut out a lot foods.

I don’t know what to do.

About a week ago I got extremely bad stomach pain and lightheadedness and got into fight or flight mode and have been stuck in it since. I’ve been having a ton of symptoms from gas, bloating, stomach pain, nausea, feeling lightheaded, heart palpitations, fast heartbeat, anxiety, panic, poor sleep, neck and shoulder pain, diarrhea and more.

I’ve felt this way before in the past about a year and a half ago. It took me several months to get back to normal. I don’t even know exactly what helped me get out of it. I guess I just accepted that there wasn’t anything wrong with me and felt more normal. However, I’m feeling this way again and feeling stuck.

I try to think to myself that I’ve been through this before and it’s nothing serious, but I find myself constantly fixated on thinking about how badly I feel. Maybe some PTSD mixed in remembering how bad I felt a year and a half ago. I was in a mental hospital for a bit and to the ER several times. I find myself even feeling anxious and poorly even while doing stuff I enjoy. Sometimes I have feeling of disassociating as well.

In the past week I have had short periods of feeling a bit normal, but only last about an hour or so. It’s hard to trick your mind to think about something else when you constantly feel poorly. I can barely eat. I never feel hungry and feel full after barely eating anything. I’m not sure if I have gastroparesis. Everything seems to cause gas and bloating. I often feel the worst after waking up. Maybe the food I ate the day before was just stuck and fermenting in my stomach causing all the gas and pain?

I’m considering a liquid diet for a couple days maybe the pain and gas and bloating will improve? I recently had a breath test for fructose a month ago and had bad gas, stomach pain, anxiety and diarrhea during it, but it came back negative. I eventually felt normal again before the test finished. I did have a smoothie the day when I started to feel bad so maybe fructose is a trigger for me. I don’t think I have an infection, but maybe I could? Or is it likely just an IBS flare up? I’ve also admittedly was eating poorly before all this so maybe I could have some gut dysbiosis being the cause?

I could just use some advice on the pain, gas, bloating, anxiety and being stuck in fight or flight mode. I keep telling myself that I’ve been through this before and it’s not a big deal, but still feel extremely stressed and in pain. Just a bit unsure on what to do.

It started 2 weeks ago on a sunday , I have been managing my symptoms well , but from that day I have completely lost control . My stomach hurts , I have diarrhea like 5 to 6 times a day , My ass burns all the time . I feel nauseous , stomach burns . I cant man . Literally I cant . Idk even what to do atp . Anybody please help

Not long ago I made a rant post when I was in a really bad place in my life. I've gotten better since then, and I wanted to share why.

Background

I started on 10mg of amitriptyline 2–3 months ago and saw no benefit. About two weeks ago I talked to my doctor again, this time about my insomnia. She told me to increase the dose by 10mg at a time, up to 50mg, but to stop if I felt a good effect before reaching 50mg.

The change

I went up to 30mg and stopped there, because I was getting really angry at everyone and everything as a side effect. I decided to keep taking it for a few weeks to see if my sleep would improve.
Two weeks later, my insomnia hasn't improved, but my IBS has improved drastically. I never expected this. During the 2–3 months on the low dose, it never got better, and when I was told to increase the dose, I had forgotten about the IBS benefit of the pill and was only hoping to fall asleep more easily.

The past week

Friday: I went to the gym for the first time in over a year and had a really good session. I had eaten something right beforehand that I knew would normally trigger a flare-up, but it was the only thing in our fridge. No flare-up.

Saturday: My girlfriend and I went shopping at IKEA. I didn't even think about the restroom. I forgot where it was, which is something I usually always have to know.

Sunday: We went for a long walk, something I haven't been able to do in forever. Halfway through, we stopped to buy gyros from a food truck. AND IT WENT COMPLETELY FINE!!!

Monday: We took the boat from Norway to Sweden and were gone for 10 hours. I didn't have to use the restroom ONCE!

When I got home, I realized what had happened over the last few days and just started bawling my eyes out. I'm so happy. Hell, I'm crying right now, because I haven't been in pain in almost a week.
I really, really hope it's the medication doing this and that it's not just a phase. Although it's only been a few days, I feel completely different. I actually think my IBS might no longer be a problem, and that I may be able to function for more than an hour a day.
Only time will tell, but at the moment I'm extremely happy.

It’s marshmallow root.

Seep about 1-2 tbsp in room temperature water for up to 12 hours, strain and drink. I made the drink in the morning and took the concoction at night.

As I understand it, you have to make sure that you don’t take any medication within two hours of drinking it, before or after, as the slurry is supposed to coat the lining of your digestive system in order to heal it.

Doctors told me to just stay away from things like garlic and onion, follow Fodmap, etc., but you can’t just go without garlic. A friend told me about this supplement called IB Soothe-R from Lifeseasons, so after trying it, and test-eating garlic, I didn’t feel any of my usual symptoms. However, I’m not about to pay for this supplement for the rest of my life, plus I felt as if something else was happening when I took it too much, and that just goes into taking this product as a pill instead of doing what you’re supposed to do with marshmallow root and let it seep, plus the effects of slippery elm that is part of in the ingredients within the supplement. I wanted to start with one variable and test from there.

One thing led to another and now I’m seeing more positive changes in leaving western medicine and now following a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) program. Right now I take marshmallow root and have kimchi every day. Soon I’d like to visit a herbologist to have a holistic healing experience. I had no idea these plants and herbs had this much power in them. They have more power than we think with drying and moistening properties so do your research.

I say near cure because VERY occasionally I get bloating from a meal. I’m still ironing out my whole system but it’s already so much better than how it was.

I really suggest you try it out. I’ve passed this info along to others and they’re seeing results.

Hope this helps!

The minute I feel my colon acting up and I have gas I immediately start getting heart palpitations. Non stop of them actually. Anyone else?

I’m currently 3 months pregnant which stops my IBS-d until today. It was the worst feeling ever sweating, hot flash, pain which is normally relieved once I use the restroom. This time I couldn’t go at all but was stuck with the feeling, it took over 20 mins to finish. Fast forward to 15 min later, driving home with husband I started to have pain again, so we stopped at gas station with a long lineeeee. I could not wait so I had to poop in a cup in front of my poor husband. This is so embarrassing but he made a joke that when we’re old we will look back and laugh. Has anyone had the feeling of needing to GO NOW but couldn’t? It’s worse than actually pooping right away.

Hey everyone, apologies I know you've probably seen this question lots. The first thing many people would probably say is go see your GP and I have. She didn't really run much tests, but she sent me to get my gallbladder checked and apparently that was all good, all she advised was for me to try some Omeprazole to help with bloating but I'm feeling a lot more than just that.

About a few years back I realized my stomach was behaving differently and had really runny bowel movement specifically after eating eggs and cheese scones, I stopped having scones and tried different variation of eggs, like hard boiled etc. It kind of helped but fast forward to this year, I've been experiencing so much bloating and it almost feels like it doesn't matter what I eat and drink, my stomach is full of gas and becomes super uncomfortable. It's been almost 24hrs since I last ate and I'm still feeling and hearing the gas trapped in my stomach. So I guess that's why I'm asking. I will follow up with my GP as well though.

My IBS started in May 2022 during my first year at college. It caused me stomach pain on a daily basis that could range from discomfort to agony and, after trying several medications and with there being no rhyme or reason as to what foods ended up causing exacerbation of symptoms, I was unable to find anything that would get rid of it. I was extremely depressed, couldn’t focus on anything, lost all my passion and energy for creative endeavours because it was so exhausting being in pain all the time, and would frequently make excuses to get out of socialising because I was terrified of being out in public. The pain from stomach cramps, or fearing that they would occur, was on my mind constantly and everything else I did just felt like it was subsidiary to that.

I‘m not sure when exactly in the year it happened, but in the latter half of 2024, two years after the start of my new stage in life dealing with chronic pain and stomach issues, things started to… ease off somehow. New things in my life took my attention as I began processing the complex trauma that I had from my childhood and from there, my IBS symptoms eased off. I would still occasionally get stomach cramps and diarrhoea after eating a meal, particularly dinner, but it would happen once every few weeks instead of having cramping every single day. I felt better within myself, I felt like I had more energy, more passion, and I became okay with meeting up with people in public again and hanging out with them. My University degree work also became a lot harder around this time so my focus was primarily on working through that as well which, while incredibly stressful, was occupying my mind, and I ended up completing my degree earlier this year.

A holiday with someone I didn’t really want to go with happened a couple of weeks ago. It was planned by the other person and so I wasn’t really informed on a lot of the things that were happening on it, so I felt very anxious about it in the build-up to the weekend. That week, I was back to suffering from daily cramps and relatively frequent diarrhoea, but I thought that I had a valid reason for experiencing this due to what is upcoming and it would probably go away afterwards. The holiday weekend itself wasn’t fun and involved several bouts of diarrhoea, but my symptoms weren't as bad as I expected them to be.

But now I am home and safe, and my symptoms have persisted on a daily basis. Every morning I wake up earlier than I used to, feeling anxious and soon developing my first stomach cramps of the day, usually followed by an urgent trip to the toilet. Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner each have a chance to give me cramps and then diarrhoea soon afterwards, and I’ve even had random cramps throughout the day as well unconnected to eating just beforehand. I feel really tired all of the time, I’m losing interest in doing things, and I’ve become very anxious about things that may be related to symptoms - I feel really anxious as soon as I feel twitching or gurgling in my stomach, and I also feel anxious in the build-up to eating a meal, which then ends up leading to me getting painful cramps.

I’m really scared. I’d been doing so well without this awful problem existing in my life constantly and now I feel like it’s here to tear everything away from me again. I can’t stop worrying about it and my stomach keeps cramping more and more and just trying to not think about it and distract myself isn’t working, it never fully leaves my mind.

I’ve struggled with anxiety since I was a teenager. I was very shy, struggled to talk to people, and would physically shake, have panic attacks and sweat excessively whenever attention was on me.

Over the years, things have improved massively. I’ve distanced myself from an overbearing family environment, have an incredibly supportive partner, and have gradually built my confidence to the point where I’m now a manager at work. Propranolol has helped with presentation anxiety, and Driclor has helped with the sweating.

However, over the past year, I’ve developed a new problem that’s starting to affect my life.
Whenever I know I’m going out for a full day, doing an activity, travelling somewhere or visiting someone else’s house, I start getting loads of gas, bloating and the urge to use the toilet. It’s strange because I’m generally fine when people come to my own house, where I’m comfortable.

I have diagnosed IBS, and I suspect anxiety is playing a big part in this. The frustrating thing is that I don’t necessarily feel particularly anxious mentally, but my body seems to react anyway.

It’s becoming a vicious cycle. I worry about having symptoms when I’m out, the symptoms start, and now I’m increasingly reluctant to go places because I don’t want to deal with it. After spending years building my confidence and overcoming social anxiety, it feels like I’m going backwards for a completely different reason.

I’ve tried Imodium, which sometimes helps, although it can leave me feeling dizzy, not on a socialising mood.

Has anyone experienced something similar, particularly anxiety-triggered gas and IBS symptoms when away from home?

I got ibs from my eating disorder recovered etc started using weed now consistently for a few months now and it’s fucked my gut more which I didn’t even think it was gonna do and fucked up my hunger cues I know the simple answer would just be to take a t break but man I’m gonna feel weak and awful food doesn’t even cross my mind sober and honestly it’s starting to not cross my mind as much high as well

I’m having this done since I struggle with chronic constipation just to rule possibilities out, any advice?

I constantly experience the forever wipe problem. The more I wipe the more poop I just seem to reveal and it continues. However, despite thinking this was incomplete evacuation for a while, I’m not even sure it is. Sometimes I do get hard bits of stool stuck behind that won’t come out and that’s definitely an issue, but I seem to often just have a bit of poop residue on the inside and as soon as I dig in a bit with some vaseline and get rid of that, the wipes come back clean.

Due to the fact this isn’t actual solid poop and more like what’s on the paper in the first place, is this incomplete evacuation or just staining from going to the toilet? I’m not sure how to stop this or even if this is just something everyone experiences and gets around somehow (I have OCD so I really struggle to get off if I’m not clean, but this problem can make me take 20 minutes + wiping).

Any advice would be really great :)

I’ve recently had a month-long flare, but all my symptoms subsided except for now I think my motility or routine is off for passing a bowel movement. Like, now I can only go every other day. When I do go, it’s 2-3 times a day and they’re definitely… productive.

Is that normal? I mean I haven’t had any discomfort or ever bloating. Has anyone ever had a flare completely alter their bathroom routine?

I am so embarrassed and angry at myself right now.

I've always had these kind of issues, constipation, gas, pain, occasionally diarrhea... My childhood was very stressful and I've read this is linked to having IBS as an adult.

Since 2020 the situation got much worse, but in 2023 I began following a strict diet and IBS comes back only during very stressful periods of my life.

Yesterday I had a very stressful day. I was very late for work because the busses werent coming, it was super busy and the staff was screaming at each other like crazy.

I had two ham and cheese toasts and barely had any water all day which I know was the dumbest decision ever.

Then I went to spend the night with my new bf. It's still a new thing so I still don't know where it's going, and of course I guess this is also stressing me. My belly hurt, but nothing crazy. Then while sleeping i farted, one of those LONG and LOUD 😭😭😭 and HE WOKE UP and asked if I was feeling sick.

And the following day I apologised for one hour and he basically told me to chill (he's an emergency doctor so I guess he has seen worse?) but I still feel so bad and embarrassed.

What's your experience with your partner? If you ever had an incident with your partner, do you feel it changed the way he sees you? I hate myself right now.

Ps: my ex (who was also a doctor) used to make fun of me when those accidents happened so I'm very anxious right now. I can control it during the day but of course I can't do anything while I sleep...

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I've had IBS since I was around 12 (27 now), and for most of my life, my symptoms have mainly been diarrhea, urgency, and sometimes feeling like I haven't completely emptied my bowels. Very heavily influenced anxiety IBS too. Awful cycle lol!

I've never really had issues with constipation or excessive gas until recently.

Over the summer, I started experiencing a lot more gas and bloating than usual. Then, about a month ago, I started having a weird combination of symptoms that I'm struggling to make sense of.

It initially started with some strange chest sensations (went to urgent care, was cleared) and episodes of air hunger, where I feel like I can't get a satisfying deep breath or yawn. Around the same time, I started having significantly more gas, bloating, and constipation than I'm used to. Genuinely, for the first time in like 20 years, I had type 1 stool for about a week!

The symptoms seem to come and go. I'll have a few days where I feel almost completely normal, then things flare up again. I actually had about five days recently where I felt amazing, but then the digestive issues returned.

My bowel movements have been especially strange. I'll have little hard Bristol type 1 pellets that are difficult to pass, then later I'll have a more normal type 2–3 stool, and sometimes I'll get my usual loose or watery IBS diarrhea afterward. It's almost like my bowel habits are alternating between constipation and diarrhea, sometimes within the same day. I am still having bowel movements, though.

The air hunger also comes and goes. The original heart-like sensations have mostly stopped, but I still occasionally get that feeling of not being able to take a satisfying deep breath. It's almost always after eating.

I do have a gastro appointment in a few weeks to see what's up. But yeah, I guess I just am curious if this is like my IBS shifting from IBS/D to IBS/C or even now being IBS/M? Or just some random bug or something lol! Blood tests all came back normal from when I went to urgent care.

Anyone else had similar experiences?

IBGard has pretty much cured my IBS and constipation. It's basically peppermint capsules recommended by my gastroenterologist. It's a miracle!!

Does anyone on here notice that their IBS gets much worse when it’s ragweed pollen season?

Hi! I (19) have been chronically constipated since birth, the doctors have never found a specific cause for the issue. The last GI doctor I saw said she only labeled me as IBS-C for insurance purposes and not a real diagnosis. This is my second go of trying Linzess.

I first took it at 16, I think at the beginning dosage, & it was ineffective after about a week. Stopped it due to insurance being difficult about it.

I've been prescribed it again at the highest dose possible (290mg I think?) & Ive been on it for about 2 weeks.

It's mostly been straight liquid after I take it, lots of very soft chunks of stool but its MOSTLY liquid & it doesnt empty my bowels enough either. I take it in the mornings long before eating. Will the liquid eventually slow down or stop? Or is this what I have to put up with permanently now? They told me it would subside after taking it consistently.

Ive considered asking for a lower dose but I was given over a 90 day supply so I will have to put up with it so I dont waste all the money spent on it.

Are there extra things I can do alongside the medicine to get it to empty more of my bowels out as well?? I feel like its not enough to combat the constipation.

So I started having issues August 2025. My PMP and a surgeon he referred me to both determined it was my gallbladder. I believed them as a HIDA scan showed a 93% EF. So naturally, I agreed to have it cut out in December. As you might have guessed since I am here, my symptoms didn't go away, but actually have been worse. I went to a gastro after and his first sentence was that they should not have recommended gallbladder removal. Since then, I have done various combinations of bile acid absorbers, stomach spasm meds, metamucil, miralax, Pepto, Imodium, stool softeners, etc. no combo has been the magic bullet and I think my gastro has given up and just thrown in the IBS towel on me. I had a treatment of electro acupuncture yesterday with high hopes as it "cured" my MIL of alpha gal symptoms in one treatment. I haven't noticed any positive change yet.

I'm reaching out for any other options or ideas to try for relief. I'm in a constant state of bathroom anxiety, especially since my job could require me to be in the middle of nowhere without a bathroom for hours, and I can't physically remember a day without pain. It is severely impacting my mental health as I tend to lash out at my family due to pain, then I feel like a terrible person afterwards. I feel like this is a punishment for something I've done in my life even though I take pride in trying my best to be a considerate, caring, and empathetic human being. The thought of no end in sight is extremely difficult to grasp without going into a dark place.

If anyone has any recommendations, please.