Anyone run with IBS? (Read 1557 times)

My DH has IBS and would love some advice from other runners who have it. Ahhh, Hippo...I will clarify! Irritable Bowel...

IBS is a little different for everyone. I either have REALLY bad IBS-D, or Ulcerative Colitis (I don't get it officially diagnosed because I'd lose the ability to get health insurance ... I'm self-insured). Honestly, the biggest thing for me is to make sure to go to the bathroom before I leave, and only run where I know there are bathrooms. Usually I don't have to stop, but there's nothing more stressful than squatting in someone's side yard or in the woods (unfortunately I've done both).

Greggar - I've found similar success, particularly with quality probiotics and a no-sugar/no-starch/no-grain diet. Thanks for the links.

Hi, sushigirl. I don't have IBS, but my wife used to. Unfortunately, she isn't a runner, but I've learned a whole lot about it through her. First off, I agree completely with Greggar. In general, the medical community is full of crap (pun intended) about IBS. They want to just lump all of these symptoms into some ambiguous 'syndrome', hand you a couple of prescriptions, and send you on your way. My wife is totally convinced there is no such thing as IBS, that it really boils down to a food allergy of some kind. In her case, it was gluten. She's had to deal with it her whole life, and finally about 8 years ago got tired of the borderline-narcotic prescriptions. She decided to try cutting one thing at a time out of her diet. When she tried eliminating gluten, bingo, the problem was solved. Of course, she got no support from her doctor about it, because she had never tested postitive for a gluten allergy or celiac/sprue. But, she is able to have an almost completely normal life now. She has a friend here in town whose daughter has been having troubles with IBS, also. She recently convinced them to try going gluten-free for a week, and her daughter felt much better. My advice is to have your husband try it for a week, and see what happens. It can't hurt anything, and he might notice a huge difference. It's not hard to do. Now, if you do any research on this at all, you're going to notice two things. 1) You'll be amazed at how many things have gluten, wheat, or wheat starch in them. Even some of the sour, gummy candy my son likes have wheat in them. Read the labels very carefully. If it says 'food starch', is it corn (good) or wheat (bad)? Know the different names for wheat products (semolina is one). 2) You'll be amazed at how little other people know about what their food is made of. I get weird looks all the time when I tell people my wife can't eat bread or pasta, because she can't eat wheat. They always come back with 'It's not made out of wheat! It's made from flour!' Needless to say, we almost never eat at other people's houses, unless they're aware of the situation and know what they're doing. If not, we'll bring our own food. We don't eat out, either, unless the place is familiar with gluten-free. French fries may not have any wheat in them, but if they're fried in the same oil as breaded chicken or fish, guess what? It has gluten on it now. Same thing about skillets, grills, and pans. It will pick up gluten from other things cooked on the same surface. Even a lot of vinegar is made from wheat. Sometimes that will bother my wife, sometimes not. I even have to think about when the last time I ate wheat was before I kiss her. My point is that if it turns out to be a gluten sensitivity, you've got some work ahead of you. But, it's worth it, if it leads to no more problems. There are a lot of really good gluten-free and celiac books, plus a lot of great websites. You'll be able to get a lot of good advice from them. You may also want to post a message for celiacchris, also. I'll bet she has a lot of good advice, too. Good luck to your husband! I hope he finds the problem!

Greggar, if you don't mind me asking (actually, he's asking through me), what is your daily regimen? What do you eat or take daily? Thank you.

sorry for the slow reply; been a bit busy. i don't feel that my daily regimen is all that tough, but i think some people would argue that point. there are a lot of things i don't consume, but only one because it would affect my bowel health negatively. that would be sugar, of course (somebody brought this up a few posts ago and they are correct, it's important to get rid of refined sugar). that said, i've never had a cup of coffee in my life and i gave up all forms of soda and everything similar many, many years ago, long before they slapped me with the IBS label. oh, and i never, ever drink lousy water. only glacier or steam distilled. i wouldn't even touch reverse osmosis water. yes, i'm a water snob, but only because it is unquestionably the most important element to my health. and why wouldn't it be? we drink more water than we eat food, therefore, in my opinion, it's the place to start. as far as supplements go, i take two primal defense ultras, one at rising, one before dinner. i also take another probiotic with breakfast, it's called udo's choice. that one is new, though, so the jury has yet to return its verdict on it. with my PD ultra, i take yerba prima's fiber formula called colon care. and that's it. as far as food goes, i eat whatever i want, whenever i want. well, as long as there is no sugar in it, anyway. but, yeah, all the food sensitivities are gone. and mine were as bad as bad gets. at my worst point, my diet was steak and olives. seriously. my experience with elimination diets is pretty simple: you only ever eliminate more foods. except for steak and olives, that is. i do have one other suggestion for your husband, though it is an expensive one. digestive enzymes. i used a formula from garden of life, the same company that makes primal defense. not cheap, but i feel they really did work well. on the days that i ran out, yeah, i felt horrible. once primal defense had my digestive system up to speed, i no longer needed them. i do have a question for you. i'm thinking out writing my story and self-publishing it. i'm not a medical professional, so it would be wrong of me to claim that i am and direct people... as i am apparently doing here, now that i think about it... anyway, it would be written as, 'this is what was wrong with me, these are the cleanses and products i used and how i used them, this is the nature of my recovery. if it helps you to copy what i did, great. good luck to you.' i figure it would be an ebook, at least at first, and would be about $20. i should mention that IBS is just one of the many, many diagnoses i have had. to be blunt, i was diagnosed terminal. twice. so it would appeal to more than just people misdiagnosed with IBS. blah, blah, blah, my question is, would that be worth it to you and your husband? i'd hate the write the whole thing just find out that nobody would bother to read it. meaning, if you wouldn't be interested, don't be afraid to say so.

they gave me that diagnosis years ago. in my not-very-humble opinion, it's the biggest load of crap ever dropped by the medical industry. it's the dumpster they throw everybody in when they're too lazy to really figure things out, which is way too often. the prescribed treatment of IBS is, seriously, 'live with it.' could it be any more absurd than that? he can recover from it and lead a normal life, just like anybody else.

In fact, you sound just like my husband. He HATES that doctors just shrug their shoulders regarding this.

In general, the medical community is full of crap (pun intended) about IBS. They want to just lump all of these symptoms into some ambiguous 'syndrome', hand you a couple of prescriptions, and send you on your way.

Sigh. So much anger. That there actually is a limit to science and knowledge, and that your doctor (a human being, just like yourself, with a brain that can only hold a certain number of facts and who, just like you, gets frustrated when illnesses fall outside of the knowledge humanity has or the teaching they have received) simply may not know the answer, there is no need to berate that person or their profession. Goodness. Crohn's ≠ IBS UC ≠ IBS Celiac Disease ≠ IBS And IBS is likely a variety of diseases with similar symptoms and similar causes, but the actual cause still eludes humanity's ability to sort through. These can be very difficult at times to distinguish, and science has not given us great ways to figure them out. Knowledge is changing and growing about this disease, so figuring it out has gotten easier. I am sorry you are frustrated. I guarantee that your docs are too. This is a frustrating set of diseases. That is no need to berate your docs because they share your frustration or because they cannot help you. I am glad you have found cures that all of medical and alternative medical science has not been able to provide you. And this: IF you DO have Crohn's or UC, you really need to know it because these diseases can be deadly if untreated. Simply going untreated, hoping/thinking that they are IBS or something else can put your life at risk. Good luck. Get well.

A couple of simple things to help run. Join a gym and try running on the treadmill: 30 feet to the bathroom. Look all around for loop courses or parks that have plentiful bathrooms. This can be a fun exploration. There probably are several bathroom friendly great running routes within a 20 minute drive of you. If nothing else helps the IBS, a combination of TM runs and "treat" runs where you have to drive a bit to run may have to suffice. Make sure he has shorts with pockets. There are several really useful things you can carry along. A little travel pack of Kleenex, a teeny sample size tube of moisturizer. The final suggestion I'll try to make very carefully. Under certain conditions, packing along an immodium tablet can be a great security blanket. I think it's a hugely bad idea to rely on immodium in general, and some people may have better or worse reactions to it than others. But if you've got the problem whittled down to where it's an unusual occurance that just has you worried then carrying along an immodium tablet (that you don't use) can be a great stress reducer. Trent may jump all over for me for this, but I'd guess that taking the tablet (or half of one) on one day out of 20 you go running may make it worth the risk.

I used to have quite a bit of stomach problems and the doctor I went to told me it could be IBS but I was never officially diagnosed. What did happen is that when I started running and losing some weight, basically all of my stomach issues went away. I didn't even lose a ton of weight, went from a high of about 180lbs to about 155-160lbs now. I can't remember the last time I took an immodium pill. I actually have a new pack sitting in my bag right now. The gym idea is great though, I've had to run into the bathroom a few times from the TM.