Abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and weight retention

I've been having pretty bad constipation with bloating and abdo pain for the past year. I was prescribed things like fibregel etc which helped at first but then the effects dissappeared (i also increased my fibre intake but with no effect)
Anyway I read on another website about Linseed (or flaxseed as its known in the US) so i bought some cold milled flaxseed and took two heaped spoons a day (sprinkled on breakfast etc) and it seemed to do the trick giving me regular bowel movements everyday. Anyway I ran out as i bought it online and within a week I was back to my constipation so i got some more and low and behold I am regular again. I ran out again last week and have been waiting because of the postal strike and all this week I have been having pains and bloating again without it!
For me this stuff is like a miracle and its totally natural and i'd suggest people try it! I'm not saying that you should stop all other investigations etc as I am having an endoscopy next week to try to rule anything else out. I've also not had to take any laxatives such as dulcolax since taking flax.
I thought if it has helped me then it might at least help some of you... I am fairly healthy and do plently of excercise/drink plenty and I tried flaxseed on a last ditch attempt to releive my symptoms......
(ps - don't buy the oil as it has little or no fibre and buy the milled stuff as more of the goodness is absorbed by your body)

Rob

I have read all of your descriptions of IBS and the depression that can follow the drastic change it can cause your life to have. I too suffered needlessly through all of these symptoms for YEARS all the while being put on a million meds and told to "eat more fiber, drink more water, excercize". Well, I did all of those things and then when I felt like I was going to die from the abdominal pain I finally went and got a (brace yourselves) COLONIC. Colon Hydrotherapy is a miracle. It is NOTHING like you think and everything you ever dreamed. I went twice in a week and they removed nearly 10 lbs of impacted matter (sorry). Then I was given some herbs to cleanse the liver and organs and they have kept me regular. It has been about 6 weeks and now I need another one, because my stomach is beginning to bloat and I get AM Abdominal Pain again. This is normal as I was supposed to go a third time to "finish cleansing" and get me on track, but I had to cancel (life, you know?). I am calling TODAY. Between then and now I have been going regularly and my stomach has been about 2-3 inches less bloated. Drink LOTS of water the day of before and after, and do not fear the stigma; I think a lifetime of being miserable due to these things is much worse than a colonic. NO PAIN, and immediate relief. I cried and hugged my hydrotherapist after just one treatment. Look online for CERTIFIED places and therapists in your area. Good Luck

Often when doctors test for thyrode problems, the test isnt a very good test. Many people go with out diagnoses. I would look up about thyrode problems and the proper tests to perform so that you can be retested.

I have all of this also and was told to get a test for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. They sain as many as 20 million women have this bacterial syndrome and go for 10 years or more undiagnosed. There's a simple breath test that detects this. I'm having it done next week I'll try and come back and let you know how this goes. This info also was revealed may Mark Pimentel, M.D. codirector of the GI Motility Program at Cedars-Sinal Medical Center in Los Angeles.

I'm writing in an attempt to shout to the world on IBS, crohns, leaky gut, severe constipation and all the other lower digestive tract problems. To make a long story short, I've been diagnosed with almost all of them, including PCOS and ulcer. I'm a research freak and try to find any and all information about these. I'm no doctor, but a complete sufferer, and truly believe I've found the culprit (for most cases). For the past 5 years my symptoms kept getting worse and worse, until my last diagnosis of PCOS. I was told I would need to go on an insulin blocker (bad side effects) but I read about candidas and thought I would try to do a full cleansing first. (I've done a colon cleanse in the past, but this is different) I didn't know much about candidas and thought it was basically a yeast infection, which I've taken over the counter medicine before for it. I never realized that it could go from a stage of simple "yeast" to a complete fungus that could over take your body. What I had was a severe "systemic candidas" which is like "stems" that grow from the fungus and can "puncture" through your intestinal wall, stomach (leaky gut), and even your lungs. My voice has been gargley for the past 3 years! So I took a high dose of probiotic (I've taken a lower dose before and didn't work for me). The one I found had 14 strains of beneficial bacteria. Plus with a combination of Threelac (which I could only find on the internet) and a low sugar diet for two months. And WOW!! My extreme bloating has disappeared! My pain has gone away! I've lost the 20 pounds of weight I gained! And my gurgly voice is normal! I've always had a metalic taste in my mouth and that's gone too! Candidas can happen to men or women, but seems to be more prevelent in women. Antibiotics are the main culprit, and the probiotics can put back your life. I do believe that everyone is different, and the diet to rid yourself of candida will be different for everyone. I went full force and added an oxygen supplement (magnesium) and Oil of Oregeno....which is a natural anti-fungal. I've read different opinions on the Threelac, but also think it will work for most if done with the other things I mentioned. If you can find a dietition that's experienced in candidas, then that would be best, but with all the gastroenteroligists and endocrinoligists and family physicians in the past that thought I just needed to take "yoga" and reduce my stress, I found that self help and research provided the best answers! Please email me for more info: ***** I'll be glad to share any information! This will change your life!
ps Even though "full force" worked for me, a good suggestion would be to start with one supplement and go from there. There's a thing called "candida die off" where the candida can make you feel flu like symptoms until it's gone. To me personally, I could deal with this since I've been suffering for so long.

I have found massive relief from a natural diet, eating only fresh and raw fruit and vegetables.

I get worse symptoms when eating messy foods such as pastries, soggy deserts, foods using white flour in production and sweets/chocolate bars.

This really sounds a lot like underactive thyroid. Did you have a blood test for this?

Weight gain is partly fluid retention - especially in the abdominal area. You can easily reduce fluid retention by avoiding salt and salty food. Reducing the fluid retention in this way will help with all your other unpleasant symptoms too. - Worth a try...(o:

HTH

Hi, i have had near;ly the same symptoms, it all started with constipation and lasted for a few months till the abdominal pain came along, and it felt so annoying, then i started feeling gas, the gas started to become too much, causing pain, i had to pass gas every five minutes at least two times.
And i started feeling pain in diffrent areas in my abdomen, sometimes i used to wake up with horrible pain in may back, and my abdomen, i started presseing on my abdomen, and trying to detect the center of pain, i found it to be the lower right abdomen, sometimes too sharp, sometimes just mild.
i used to feel pain in diffrent areas in the abdomen, but i think this was because of the pain.
now i havent been to a doctor or had blood testes, but ive had a sonar, which proved that my organs where fine.
though i have told my symptoms to some of the doctors in my family, and they told me that the lower right abdominal pain and the back pain and the constipation, might be my appendix, and the other symptoms like gas and pain in diffrent parts of the abdomen might be a result of some problem with the colon.
anyway they also told me that the sonar might not show if you have a problem with your appendix, sometimes blodd tests do sometimes they dont...
bottom line is i neeeeed to see a doctor so do you!

I am so sorry for what you all are going through. IBS is so overdiagnosed. With the bloated stomach, the sudden urges to BM, the lack of appetite, it could be Crohn's Disease. Check it on. It's something that will come in go and can be very bad. My mother has it, and there were days when she would eat nothing because she had to leave the house. The only way she would eat anything besides water was if she knew she would be in the house all day. It's horrible. She has been in remission now for three years after having a peice of her small intestines removed, and some experimental drugs. For awhile there, we didn't think she was going to make it. Also, from the Crohn's she now has restless leg syndrom, blood clots, and other problems. Please, talk to your daughters and ask for a test. And talk to a gastroenterologist, not just your family doctor. This is a serious illness.

Good luck to all

Have you had a stool culture done for parasite infections? Numerous parasites cause IBS symptoms. Ask your doctor to do an O&P. In fact you should do two, about a week apart. Some parasites shed in intervals and are easy to miss if you just do one culture.

Best of luck!

my son has ibs. there are medications to help. some people should just avoid certain foods too. seems to me tho if your dr. didnt tell you anything about it you should be looking for a new dr. one whos willing to put some effort into his work.

WOW! This has been sooo helpful and am so glad that there are many other women who feel the same way. It's been 3 months now that I have had this problem, I'm 20 yrs and only three months ago I weight 98 pounds, Ive been thin my whole life. Now I have gained 10 pounds, have real bad constipation with no urges to go even after a meal, it's been 3 days since Ive had to go, I have paiful gas, I get the urges to go but once I'm there it's only gas, I feel bloated, sluggish and in the mornings I have absolutely no every. This worries me cause I've never been like this, my whole life I've has a super fast metabolism, once i'd eat I'd rush to the restroom and it'll all come out, it was great! I'm felt energized and light! And to top it off I've never been too careful of what I eat, I was able to eat anything and still stay thin and toned. Well now... it's all different. I went to see an Ireologist and she had told me I has parasites which can be the cause but in that case since ive always eaten junk you'd think I would have felt like this long time ago. Well anyway I have now modified my diet to eating high fiber foods, fruits and veggies, I exercise and have been drinking teas lots of water and vitamins and nothing! I'm so worried and have now scheduled to go see a doctor but don't think that will help, I've decided to look into some herbs as some of you have suggested, I'll try either Metamucil and Acidophilus, have any of you tried these? Any good feedback? Oh wow well wish me luck and keep me informed if maybe you guys now more... Thanks, Mary

I am also glad I have found this forum. My symptoms started heavily when I was 19-20, and have worsened over the last two years. I was going to the hospital when the symptoms were unbearable since I didn't have insurance at the time. I was told there that i had ibs and gerd in addition to bleeding ulcers. I was instructed to go on the BRATT diet until I could handle daily activities then slowly add in other foods. I was instructed to take nexium, prilosec, or zantac twice to three times a day every day. In the last 8 months however, I have found a doctor and insurance that has allowed me to be tested and go to a specialist. They have test for discrepancies or answers in my: gallbladder, thyroid, ulcers, blood count, iron count, bacteria count, and have scheduled colonoscopy's and endoscopy's, have had ultrasounds of my breast, pelvis, uterus, kidneys, heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines.

To this day they still think I am just constipated and intolerant to pain. In addition to my birth control they have had me on every antibiotic known to man, levbid, GI cocktails, prilosec/zantac, water weight pills, acidophilus, and some others that I can not remember. We have tried removing and adding every food known to man. They have given me 7 different laxatives, pills, powders, and natural elements, but nothing changes the symptoms. The only thing that I have gained out of all this is the knowledge of the foods that hurt me the most; which are whole grains of any sort and greens, and 75 pounds in 15 months.

Most recently, after my last visit to the doctors, I was ordered off carbs and ordered to exercise more. Which wouldn't be a problem if I could move normally without being in extreme pain: so I have started my own search for answers. There is something that is causing this pain in all these people, and I am glad to hear I'm not the only one frustrated with the endless testing with no concrete answers.

Best of Luck and I’ll keep in touch with any new findings!!!

I suffer from many of the same symptoms described here and received some good suggestions, which I will discuss with my Gastro doctor. I just started having these problems in the few months and sympathize with those that have suffered with these symptoms for years. After several tests, my Gastro doctor is still at a loss. I believe that often doctors really don't know what causes the problems. One thing I didn't see suggested on this forum was a CA-125 test. It was one of the first things I asked my Gastro doctor to do. The CA-125 test is a simple blood test for ovarian cancer. That may sound strange, but I had a relative that suffered for years with what she thought was intestinal problems only to discover that she had advanced ovarian cancer -- it has many of the same symptoms in the advanced stages. I will be checking in and will advise if I come up with any solutions.
Good luck to you all.