“Digestive Advantage” is the first pill that I’ve ever tried to treat IBS (although this isn’t a drug, it’s a ‘dietary food’). I just started taking it this week and I thought I’d talk about my experiences with it here so that you can decide for yourself if it’s worth a shot.
I’ve never really tried any real medicines for IBS. Since irritable bowel syndrome isn’t as well understood as some sicknesses, I’ve always been skeptical about any medicines on the market.
One thing I didn’t like when reading the outer label is that “upon initial use, product takes 7 to 14 days to take effect. Some gas & bloating may occur during first few days as your system adjusts.” I like instant gratification, so the 7 to 14 day thing was a bit of a put off. But then the gas and bloating warning kind of ticked me off. I mean, that’s one of the things we’re trying to cure.
I’ve been taking it for about 3 days now, and yes there is a bit of gas. But really not that much. In fact, it was about as much gas as I usually have.
One thing I like about this stuff is you don’t have to take it right before eating or anything like that. I like that it’s a once a day thing that I don’t have to put too much thought into.
So we’ll have to see how it works.
Are you looking into doing clinical trials for IBS? I found a pretty good list of clinical trials offered all over the country, mainly for women who suffer from diarrhea-predominant IBS. These trials help people to better understand their type of IBS (or whether or not they even have IBS) they have, and also to help scientists develop drugs to treat the disorder.
As my first tip on how to ease IBS symptoms, I’m going to say that eating less and spreading out meals has really helped.
But of course, just saying ‘Eat less’ isn’t a very good post to start this blog off.
I actually had The Daily Plate in mind. This is a really cool site I found one day when looking for the calorie content in a McDonald’s Southern Style Chicken Sandwich (trust me, there are more calories than you probably think).
The Daily Plate is a lot like Weight Watchers, only it’s free and instead of points they just tell you how many calories you’ve consumed. They have a huge database of both generic and branded foods, so you just have to say ‘Wendy’s Spicy Go Wrap’ and it will automatically log tons of info about how many calories you consumed, what the Fat / Protein / Carb ratio was, and other nutrients. You can also tell it what activities you performed that day and how many calories you burned. They have almost every activity you can imagine. Yes, they have ping pong. Yes, they have going for a drive. Yes, they have running at 7 mph for 30 minutes for 3 miles. Yes, they have dressing and undressing.
Once you’ve recorded all of your eats and activities, it will build graphs and charts for you to show you your calories, exercise, etc. over time. You can also tell it how tall and heavy you are, your lifestyle (active vs. non-active), and your weight loss goal and it will tell you how many calories a day you can consume that day.
Ever since I’ve used this site to pay attention to what I eat, I eat a lot less and experience fewer IBS-esque episodes. Over-eating is definitely a prominent trigger for IBS, and spreading food out so you eat little by little during the day is a good way to prevent IBS symptoms.