IBS?

I am 3 weeks into HRT and am curious if anyone else has IBS and what their experiences have been as far as balancing everything. Thanks!

I have IBS but as I have my ovaries I do not use HRT. Have you done a google search online for IBS/hormone information? We also have some informtation in our Resource Database about IBS and Hormones.

I do know that when it was "that time of the month" for me, my IBS would be worse. I have found that changing my diet has helped me the most. I highy recommend finding as much info as possible about IBS, discovering your IBS triggers, and start from there.

You can also talk to your dr about your HRT needs and how they will affect your IBS.

I just found out this week I have IBS. I have always had stomache problems and swollen belly issues but no pain when I eat. But at week 11 the pain after I eat was to much I knew it wasn't just swelly belly. I went to the Dr and now I am on Zelnorm. Oh, and I couldn't poop that was also a clue.

Janet ( watching what she eats but gained 7lbs)

I have IBS and have noticed that now my horomnes are balanced with patch and cream and i don't have ovaries that it is MUCH better! Strange, they also found issues w/my bowels during surgery, not sure if that had anything to do with it. Stress made my ibs much worse also. .

Thanks to all for replying! My IBS was diagnosed 10 years ago and before my op, my main trigger was hormone swings (along with certain foods, of course). That's why I was asking if anyone else had any experiences with it post-op.

I was given a prescription that helps with my IBS when I had my colonoscopy last year. It - along with Benefiber and lots of water helped me to not be constipated. Now I have the opposite problem and am working to sort that out. BUT - the Rx helps me to not be in bad pain from the IBS.

What prescription do you take? I tried the fiber thing (several different ways), but it made it worse because of the extra gas.

Benefiber never caused me to have gas. Have you tried that brand?

As for the name of the Rx - I don't know if we can give those out here in the thread. Please PM me.

I've had IBS for 12 years, ever since my endo started. Nothing has worked for me except changing my diet. Eliminating sugar, high carbs, and increasing protein and lots and lots of veggies. If I stick to a macrobiotic diet, i feel much better. If I have a bout of constipation, I take a stool softener, which is fine with my doc., and it totally helps. It's been many many years of watching what I eat and eliminating triggers. I'm sure the underlying problem is fluctuating hormones but a change in diet overpowers those pesky hormones for me. Let me know if you would like more info.
Tera

When I first began to notice my health problems earlier this year, my Doc told me I had IBS w/ constipation and put me on Dicyclomine for colon spasms. Thank God I decided to go to a Gastrointerologist and have a colonoscopy/endoscopy. First thing she told me is that IBS is a catchall diagnosis and there's almost always an underlying problem causing it that isn't being diagnosed properly. She found five colon polyps - three of which were precancerous - and removed them during the procedure. I will have to followup now in a year to see if any more appear, but I thank God I made the effort to search a little further than my MD.

I hope you will all think about this and share this information. IBS has become the big money maker for the drug industry recently - and we don't want to allow a serious condition to pass by undetected until it's too late to do anything about it.