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I was recently diagnosed with IBS. I wanted to see if anyone had any tips, information and experiences they are willing to share. Thank you

Try the IBS subforum on Healingwell.com  
 
You will find a lot of resources, support and firsthand experiences there on what may help.  
 
At least be thankful its not IBD.

First of all I would like to start with is IBS is tameable!  
 
I've dealt with IBS for a long time and went undiagnosed until about a few years ago. I remember constantly having to down pills for me to even go to school in the morning and my education plus my poor organs suffered tremendously because of my IBS. So I decided to stop taking pills and learned to deal with it as naturally as I could. Now you don't have to take my advice, whatever makes you feel more comfortable and makes sense to you.  
My IBS came from my anxiety, when I got anxious my body wouldn't know what to do with the whole "fight or flight" feeling so my intestines worked like crazy, which caused my flare ups. So the number one thing I had to deal with was my Anxiety. So I had to learn how to calm myself down during flare ups. I learnt that self encouragement during flare ups helps, I know it sounds silly but it does help. Also breathing exercises are great too, drink peppermint tea (anyway you like your tea!) once a day and you'll notice a huge difference. I went from having flare ups once a day to flare ups once every few months and even longer. The key to control IBS is to control your mind. Now I understand if you suffer from Anxiety it is very hard to do so (I know how it feels!) but its not impossible to do! I promise! Go ahead and read forums, they helped me and made me understand IBS more than what the doctor told me when I was diagnosed.  
Also, when you eat, learn what triggers your IBS. There is a specific diet that people with IBS use, I myself have never really tried the diet but everyone is different.  
 
Hope this helps

it's good you took a better natural alternative to control it I am sure it wasn't easy to learns control anxiety, stress. The mind is very strong.  
Good for you!.

You can get over it. Definitely eating healthy. There is no need to avoid any specific foods unless you notice a food irritates you during an episode. Food does not cause an IBS to flare up. There is no need for any detox or cleansing routines promoted by various so called natural health sites. That can make it worse.  
In 99.9% of the cases of IBS, stress and not coping with it will cause it. IF you work on handling the stress, overtime the IBS will go away. But that may be your 'sensitive' spot' during times of high stress.

I found that taking grapefruit seed extract during a flare up was the best way to calm my insides.  

Careful this product was determined to be contaminated with industrial cleaning chemicals. I'll try to find the link where I read this.

Unless actual tests were done, it is the Dr. guessing what it is. I too was diagnosed with IBS, but my Dr. did no tests what so ever. I've been keeping a food diary and have noticed that sugars (like pops) and dairy are my most prominent triggers. Just something to think about.  

I find I can't eat too much red meat in a week. Try to eat enough roughage that things keep constant.  
Just overall maintain a good balanced diet.  

I do agree make sure your Dr has ordered testing to confirm the diagnosis and is not just brushing you off. (I've been through testing 3x in the past 25 years just to rule out more serious conditions).  
 
Find your triggers, mine have changed over the years. At first it was stress, anxiety, or excitement. Anything out of the ordinary would cause a flare up.  
 
Greasy foods used to be a trigger, maybe not its just that I eat very healthy, they rarely bother me anymore.  
 
Keep a food diary to see if you can find your triggers.  
 
I just went through a flare up that lasted about a year, went through more testing. Still have no idea what was triggering it, but thankfully passed.  
 
Best of luck finding what helps/worsens your condition.

Spades!! said "You can get over it. Definitely eating healthy. There is no need to avoid any specific foods unless you notice a food irritates you during an episode. Food does not cause an IBS to flare up. There is no need for any detox or cleansing routines promoted by various so called natural health sites. That can make it worse.   In 99.9% of the cases of IBS, stress and not coping with it will cause it. IF you work on handling the stress, overtime the IBS will go away. But that may be your 'sensitive' spot' during times of high stress. "

Having lived with IBS for nearly 20 years I can state that certain foods do cause me a flare up. One doctor I saw also had IBS so was extremely sympathetic and he had narrowed his trigger to an 'E' number. My worst trigger is greasy food, not necessarily fatty foods, but too greasy, some foods I love too much and eat anyway knowing I may suffer later. Also eating too much in one sitting causes a flare up, i.e. if I go out for a meal with more than one course or load up at a buffet. I personally don't take any medication any more, I know my triggers and eat smaller portions if I go out and know that if I eat food too greasy I will suffer later, but I do it anyway :-). Yes stress is also a factor, but IBS is manageable, it never goes away, you just learn how not to aggravate it.

For 8 years I had no good answers as to why I had such stomach problems and was always sick. IBS is a blanket term doctors diagnose people with when they can't determine the actual cause.  
 
I suggest making an appointment at the Natural Wellness clinic to have them test you for intolerances. At least then you can either identify or eliminate common foods that could cause this.  
 
It turned out to be severe lactose intolerance for me, took a long time to figure out b/c I get strange symptoms along with the fact of trying to keep a food journal to figure it out is a long difficult process and may extremely difficult if you are sensitive to a spice or something not obvious.  
 
If I were you I would push for more answers than IBS. DR Mackalski in Brandon here is one of the best docs around....maybe she can give more insight.  
 

Thank you so much!  
What is IBD?  
I agree dr. Malcoski is wonderful. She is doing further testing and I've done scopes etc . she's very thorough  
I appreciate all of the suggestions

IBS is irritable bowl syndrome, effecting quality of life, but without any serious health consequences.  
 
IBD is inflammatory bowl disease, which is an umbrella term for Crohns disease and Ulcerative Colitis, characterized by chronic bloody diarrhea, pus,fever, anemia, strictures, perforations, abscess infections, fistulas, and high chance of bowl cancer.  
 
Worse still, the inflammation is systemic, wrecking havoc all over the body, causing pain and arthritis.  
With no cure besides having sections of the intestines continually surgically removed, and in the case of Ulcerative Colitis, that would mean romoval of 6 feet of Colon.  
 
However some find temporary relief with powerful immune suppressing drugs, whose side effects include lymphoma and leukemia. Even so, over 50,000 people die every year(worldwide).  
 
So as bad as it gets, at least take comfort its not IBD.

What I mean to say is while certain foods can irritate an upset bowel, foods don't cause IBS. If you have a reaction after eating a certain food, I suggest you were heading for a bout of IBS in the first place. It wasn't the food to cause it.  
 
What foods can irritate IBS differs from one person to the next. While I've counselled people on healthy eating with IBS, I've encountered people with no reactions to food to people who seem to react to every food imaginable. Again it is not the food that is causing the problem but the fact that your digestive system is upset and the food is irritating it. There are no tests to determine what food is an irritant.  
 
This is why its important to note your lifestyle, changes and stress that you are not coping with. These are the primary triggers for IBS.

Enfyre said "IBS is irritable bowl syndrome, effecting quality of life, but without any serious health consequences.     IBD is inflammatory bowl disease, which is an umbrella term for Crohns disease and Ulcerative Colitis, characterized by chronic bloody diarrhea, pus,fever, anemia, strictures, perforations, abscess infections, fistulas, and high chance of bowl cancer.     Worse still, the inflammation is systemic, wrecking havoc all over the body, causing pain and arthritis.   With no cure besides having sections of the intestines continually surgically removed, and in the case of Ulcerative Colitis, that would mean romoval of 6 feet of Colon.     However some find temporary relief with powerful immune suppressing drugs, whose side effects include lymphoma and leukemia. Even so, over 50,000 people die every year(worldwide).     So as bad as it gets, at least take comfort its not IBD. "

with the first statement.  
 
How can IBS not have serious health consequences? If your bowel is chronically inflamed this can prevent you from absorbing any nutrients and lead to becoming malnourished.  
 
When I was being told I had IBS before we figured why I was getting sick all the time, my immune system was crap. It was hard to stay healthy. Now I can manage it and there is a significant difference with my immune system.  
 
Edited by hatsoff, 2015-08-28 15:12:24

What I meant by "serious" health consequences was things like cancer, major surgery, death.  
Vs standard health consequences like dehydration and malnutrition. Not to say that malnutrition can not become life threateningly serious, but its not the norm in IBS, and in such a case, would likely be other underlying conditions at play.  
 
I wasnt trying to trivilize IBS, but knowing that things could be much worse can help put perspective and acceptance to ones condition, helps ease the stress that comes with an ailment.