This week I'm talking about things that can keep you stuck with IBS symptoms. These are things I see in my work with clients again and again. I'm talking about

• Supplements for IBS
• IBS diets
• Constant searching for a cure
• How your eating amounts can affect symptoms
• Your identity as someone with IBS

I'd love to know what you thought of the episode - email me at [email protected]

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The information in this podcast is not medical advice and is not designed to treat, diagnose or provide personalised health advice. This podcast content is information only and any changes you make are at the user's own risk. Please consult with your doctor or healthcare provider before implementing any new treatment.

If you've had IBS for a really long

time, you might feel like you've done

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all the work and tried everything.

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You might be interested then in this

episode where I'm going to cover five

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things that I see keeping people stuck

in their symptoms like digestive issues

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such as gas, bloating, constipation.

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These are things that I see commonly

working with hundreds of different clients

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across the world who've got IBS and SIBO.

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and things that you can

change and start to work on.

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So listen up to this episode,

I hope it is helpful.

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Hello,

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welcome to episode 64 of the Inside

Knowledge for People with IBS.

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I'm Anna Mapson.

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The reason I picked this as a topic for

a new episode was these are the similar

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things I see in clients before they have

worked with a nutritional therapist.

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And I know a lot of you out there

who just listen to the podcast and

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don't work with a nutritionist, don't

have any support with your diet and

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lifestyle and all of those things.

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Actually, these are some of the

things that you potentially can

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work on or at least some of these

things may resonate with you.

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So I hope this is going to be a helpful

episode The first place I see people

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getting stuck is a focus on supplements

and a lack of focus, on your diet

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and what you're actually eating.

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Sometimes the marketing from supplement

companies really plays into this as well.

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There's a lot of products out there

promising to cure your bloat, to

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resolve digestive symptoms, especially

like constipation and bloating.

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So, it's really tempting to think

that you can just take a supplement

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and that will make everything better.

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And, the other thing I see is people

being very fixated on the supplement

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being the thing that kind of cures them

and not wanting to stop taking them.

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So if for example you've been taking a

probiotic for the last six months and

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yet you've seen no improvements, then

probably that probiotic is not actually

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making that much difference to you.

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If your symptoms are the same, you've

been taking it for a really long time,

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it's probably not worth spending your

hard earned money on that product anymore.

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It doesn't mean all probiotics are

useless, that that one just might not

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be the right one for you, but what

I'm trying to say, I suppose, is that

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I see people saying that they need

the supplements because that's what's

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keeping them going, but They're still

getting a lot of symptoms, so actually

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the supplements aren't doing that job.

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And we need to look at longer, more

sustainable ways of working, like diet

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and lifestyle changes, that actually

are more effective than supplements.

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Now, it doesn't mean I

don't use supplements in my

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practice with my clients.

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I definitely do.

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With everybody, I will suggest they

take some sort of supplement, almost

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everybody, whether it's something

like psyllium husk, P H G G, maybe

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probiotics, it could be something else.

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There are lots of reasons why

supplements are good, but it needs

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to be very targeted and specialised.

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The problem with always chasing the next

best thing, the next supplement that is

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going to make the difference, is that

you may lose focus on dietary change and

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IBS and SIBO are both affected by what

you eat, as in your whole body is as

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well, like your brain, all your cells,

all rely on the nutrients coming in

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from your food and so making sure you've

got that good, broad and balanced diet

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is really helpful and

we can lose sight of it.

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of that goal when we're just focusing

on taking the next supplement.

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The other thing I wanted to say on

supplements is that sometimes they

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can be making your symptoms worse.

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I've had a few cases where somebody was

once taking psyllium husk for 25 years.

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No joke, he was taking it

every day for 25 years.

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And he didn't even really know why,

it's just that a family member had

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always taken it and he just picked

up the habit and thought that it

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was something that he had to do.

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He actually didn't really need it

as an additional supplement and

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felt better when he stopped it, but

just hadn't considered when to stop.

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And with supplements, we only

take them for a set amount of time

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and then we stop and that's not

necessary to take them forever.

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So the three ways that supplements

can be keeping you stuck is one you're

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not focusing on your diet two Either

that you've got a magical thinking

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about the supplement that it is the

thing that's holding you together

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and you cannot survive without it,

but you haven't ever tested that.

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Or, three, that it could actually be

making things worse in the long run.

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The second area I wanted to focus on

is constantly searching for the root

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cause of your digestive distress.

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Often you will see people saying you

must find the root cause, particularly

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this is for people who have SIBO.

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Why did you get this in the first place?

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What's led to this dysbiosis

in your small intestine?

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Now whilst that is helpful in some

cases, It can also lead you down a

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blind alley searching and searching

and never really finding the cause.

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Sometimes you just don't know

what led to this overgrowth of

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bacteria in your small intestine.

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You don't know how it got

there and what caused it.

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Even if you do know, sometimes

people know that it is due to a

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poisoning, a food poisoning incident.

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Maybe two years ago, and since then

you've never been quite right, and

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you can pinpoint it back on that.

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Even if you know that, it doesn't

necessarily help you with your symptoms.

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It depends on what your symptoms are,

how you're currently treating the SIBO,

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and a whole range of other things.

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The other sort of blind alleys

that I see people going down

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quite a bit is looking at mould.

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Is mould the cause of your symptoms?

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It's very, very unlikely,

I would say, that it is.

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massively over diagnosed that

people have got problems with mold.

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People have also really started to worry a

lot about blood sugar balancing and again

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for most people that is not a concern.

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So wearing a continuous glucose

monitor to track your blood

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sugar responses to certain types

of foods, which is common now.

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And, isn't necessary for health.

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It's not important to know your

response to everything you eat.

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These things give us too much

data, I think, on our health,

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which isn't necessarily healthy.

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The reason that all of this investigation

and looking for these very niche potential

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causes of digestive issues like IBS, the

reason it's A problem is that sometimes it

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stops you focusing on some of the basics.

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And what I mean by the basics are

the things that you can see in

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my, free download I have, which

is non food ways to help your gut.

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I'll put the link in the show notes

if you don't already have that.

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But I'm talking about

things like meal timing.

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Are you eating regularly?

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Are you eating enough?

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Are you chewing your food really well?

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Are you eating slowly?

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These basics of eating

are really important.

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As well as are you prioritizing

sleep like not staying up till

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midnight and then getting up at 6am?

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Are you giving yourself

opportunity to sleep?

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Well, go and listen to the episode

I did on sleep a couple of episodes

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ago if you haven't heard that.

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Then also Diet.

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Are you actually eating a

good, broad, and balanced diet?

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And if you're not, I would start there

before you start going down these

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rabbit holes of looking at mold or an

alkaline diet or all of these things

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which just aren't backed up by science

and aren't really going to give you

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the solutions that you're looking for.

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I really understand that this drive

for more information is coming from

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Not feeling heard or understood by

your doctor, often that is massive.

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It feels like you're going around

in circles so you turn to doctor

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Google and looking for answers.

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That is very understandable.

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It's just that this constant searching

for more and more information,

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like I said, it can sometimes

lead you to ignore the basics.

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The next area that I see keeping

people stuck is staying on a

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restricted diet for too long.

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Very commonly this is the FODMAP diet.

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You start this restriction of certain

fermentable fibres and find that you

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get on well with it, you feel better.

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Digestive issues go away.

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So you just carry on eating like that.

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The problem is that that restricts and

reduces the key nutrients that you need

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for a broad and balanced digestion,

helping you feel really healthy and well.

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Over time, it may lead to

other problems like lack of.

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Calcium, lack of B

vitamins, sometimes zinc.

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These are commonly low in

people who have been on the low

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FODMAP diet for a long time.

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And you also will have a lack of

diversity of types of fiber because

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you are restricting types of fiber.

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Generally, that is the

nature of the FODMAP diet.

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One of the ways it keeps you stuck

is that over time, following this

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diet may lead to changes in your

gut microbes, that's in your large

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intestine, where you can have reduced

diversity because of the lack of fibre.

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So, the way it's Keeping you with

IBS symptoms is it can lead to more

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dysbiosis in your large intestine.

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What I mean by that is that when you

have less of the commensal bacteria,

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that's the good ones we want lots of

that just pad out the gut, take up space.

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They also do good work by

creating short chain fatty acids

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that are anti inflammatory,

help the health of your colon.

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So when you've got less of those, there's

more space for potentially pathogenic

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type bacteria to get in and they can

start to irritate the lining of the gut,

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create less mucus, for example, maybe.

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And that can also lead to changes in

how regular your bowel movements are.

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So there's a knock on effect

of reducing fibres over time.

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The same thing can happen if you have

been on a very strict diet that's

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gluten free, dairy free, sugar free,

you know, you never eat anything

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processed, you never go out to eat.

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That also is, uh, Very controlled

diet, which over time may lead to

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issues with your overall health.

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The way it keeps you stuck is

it restricts key nutrients that

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you need from other sources.

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The fourth topic I wanted to

talk about was under eating.

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This is something I see quite a

bit with people is that they're

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not eating enough and skipping

meals in order to avoid symptoms.

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Maybe when you go travelling you

just don't eat for the day because

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it will set off your diarrhoea.

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So you just skip meals and don't eat.

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Again It can lead to restriction of

nutrients that help keep you going keep

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your energy up It can affect your mood

being undernourished as well as those

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other things I was just mentioning about

restriction of nutrients, but under eating

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in itself can cause IBS type symptoms.

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When you go for long periods of time

with no food, sometimes people can

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get a bit gassy and crampy, and that

may be down to the amount of acid

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that's being produced in your stomach.

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You may also find that when you do

eat, you eat faster because you're

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hungry, so less chewing, less slow

and mindful eating when you're

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gobbling it down because you're so

hungry and haven't eaten all day.

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Or you choose different foods

because you have been effectively

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starving yourself all day by skipping

breakfast or skipping out lunch.

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And that can lead to different food

choices that may be not as beneficial

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for your digestion as if you had eaten

properly and steadily throughout the day.

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So, under eating, the way it keeps you

stuck is that not only can it restrict

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your nutrient intake, but it can also,

over time, if you are severely under

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eating, cause issues like Slow digestion,

which could lead to constipation, it can

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lead to excessive gas, further bloating.

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So by eating less, you may actually be

creating some of these digestive symptoms.

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The fifth area is a little

bit of a delicate one.

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I've left it till last.

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It is tricky to, talk about, but it

is something I see with people I work

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with over time, particularly when we

start challenging long held beliefs

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about certain foods being a trigger.

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For example, if somebody I work with

has been following the low FODMAP

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diet for a long time, and I've got

somebody in my mind that I'm thinking

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of when I'm describing this to you,

and she'd been on the low FODMAP diet

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for about two years, when we started

to very carefully reintroduce FODMAP

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foods, she found that actually she

wasn't intolerant to any of them.

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And this really shook her belief in

her sense of knowing her body, and

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she was also a bit embarrassed because

she said she'd been avoiding them for

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ages and all her friends knew that

there were all these foods she couldn't

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eat, and now suddenly she could.

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She was like, well, how am I

going to describe this to them?

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How am I going to explain this?

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That suddenly I can eat these foods?

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The way it keeps you stuck in IBS is that

you may start to have a part of you that

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identifies as being a person with IBS.

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Now, of course, you might say,

well, of course I am a person

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who's got IBS because I am someone

who's got these digestive symptoms.

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That is completely true.

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But it's to what extent that

becomes a part of your identity

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and a part of your actual being.

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So your personality is dependent on you

having IBS for you to feel like you.

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When we start to take those things

away, it can feel really disorientating.

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And I'm not a psychologist.

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I'm not a therapist.

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So sometimes it's helpful for people

to have a different space to talk

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that through with but part of what I

do with people is explaining how when

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you change your diet it can change

some of the long held beliefs you've

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had about yourself and about your body

that can be quite hard to let go of.

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The other part of it is I see with

some clients and this is probably less

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often but using their digestive issues

as an excuse not to fully engage in

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social events or other parts of life.

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Because whilst those things can definitely

hold you back, can stop you going on

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romantic dates, it can maybe hold you

back from going for a promotion at

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work, all of those kind of things.

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Absolutely, it makes sense, but sometimes

it's a protective mechanism to stop you

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doing things that either you're a bit

scared of or you've got some like low mood

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and anxiety and actually having a reason

for not going out to a social event.

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Oh, it's my tummy.

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I'm not going to go.

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, or my tummy's playing up again.

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I better not go.

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It gives you a reason not to go

to that event that actually You

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didn't really want to go to anyway.

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Now obviously I'm not

saying that is all of you.

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A lot of the times people are desperate

to go to events and have missed important

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things like weddings or birthday parties

because they just couldn't get off the

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toilet or they just felt so awful and I

felt desperate about missing the event,

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but I have also seen cases where people

have been using some of their issues with

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their tummy and their digestion to put off

doing things, to put off engaging in life.

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If that resonates with you, you know,

I think it's really worth just thinking

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about, is that part of your presentation.

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Like I said, obviously it is not

something that everyone goes through

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and I don't believe that people

genuinely want to miss all of

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these key, important social events.

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But at the same time, there are cases

where people's anxiety is showing up

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through their digestive symptoms and

it becomes something that you can talk

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about and a reason to say, Why you

don't want to go to certain events.

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Those five things that I've just

mentioned there are all pretty common I

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would say in people what I work with or

before I actually get started with them.

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So kind of fixation on supplements,

Staying too low FODMAP or staying

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very restricted in their diet.

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Continuously googling and searching for

the thing that is causing your symptoms.

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Uh, rather than looking at the basics

of how you're eating, what you're

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actually eating and other things

in fact that can affect your life.

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under eating and then over

identifying as a person with IBS.

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So those five things.

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are particularly challenging to

stop or to like change in your life.

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I'm not saying it would be easy, but

just maybe something to think about

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that's not your standard IBS advice.

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I guess I just wanted to do something

and talk about some of the problems more

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fluffy, I don't know if they're fluffy,

but some of the less, um, concrete

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examples of how IBS can affect your life.

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So I don't know if that quite makes sense.

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What I mean is some of the aspects

of IBS that are less, documented

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and studied and tracked and are

also as key in lots of ways.

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So it's the sort the unseen side

of IBS, I suppose, and maybe that's

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something that's resonated with you.

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I know the last few episodes have been

very specific about certain key topics

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like acid reflux and the PPIs and so on.

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However, if there is a thing that you'd

like me to talk more about to do with IBS

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to explain my thoughts on that topic and.

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Some things that you can take away

and change then please get in touch.

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My email address is

[email protected].

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And I also will put a link to the download

that you can download for free from my

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website where I give you my five non

food strategies for dealing with IBS.

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Okay, I will leave it there for this week.

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Thank you very much for listening to

this episode of the Inside Knowledge.

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Better digestion for everyone.