Can anybody help i have been seriously ill for 4yrs now with ibs and food allergies.it all started with what?

i thought was food poisoning i became so ill i had a breakdown and was unable to care for my two sons.i swa specialist had investigations couldnt find anything.i was forced to take antidepressant as i could no longer eat or get out of bed whilst suffering what felt like a permanent stomach bugand abdo pain.anti ds blocked the worst of pain and i recovered some appetite iwas then able to look after my sons.i have managed like this for 3yrs in this time there has been little improvement ihave cut the antidepressant to 5mg daily but if i come off them all the worst symptoms return weakness unable to eat and pain.ihave tried everything accupuncture made me worse and noticed i felt better on echinacea.eventually got stool tested and lab found blastocystis hominis parasite.found badbugs site tried oregano was working but clashed with antids tried antbiotic regimes all work then probs return.i cant shift this im suicidal ineed treatment that doesnt clash with antidepressants.please help

I suggest trying all-natural Optiflora which will start treating the cause and not just the symptoms. This would help the IBS, parasites and possibly the allergies.

This two product system uses new technoogy to protect beneficial microflora during the rigors of shipping, storage, and the acidic journey through your stomach. Includes Probiotic (Bifidus & Acidophilus...microflora) + Prebiotic (FOS...food source for microflora). Patented guaranteed delivery of 500 million microflora to the intestines.

Will not cause problems with other medications.

Hope this is useful and feel free to contact me with questions or the website.

`u have my sympathy, u could see a homeopath
`take olive leaf extract daily, (when i had a bad bug i took three quarters of a cup of olive leaf extract with water and went to bed, 3 hours later i was fine
`u need a liver detox to deal with the allergies, charcoal capsules are good too
`u need st johns wort, evening primrose oil & fish oil as antidepressants
`do not eat yeast bread or drink beer as these r very depresssing, the olive leaf will help to kill off the yeast fungus
`i would take no drugs, but see the herbalist / homeopath, or do it yourself at home???? i think you can fix it naturally within a week with the stuf as above, THE OLIVE LEAF IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
` YOU WILL BE FINE, HAVE FAITH
`email me luvblis@yahoo.com.au

Oh, I'm sorry you're going through all this! Most people can't believe how debilitating IBS can be. And it's so hard to find a doctor who'll give you proper care - really, they don't have the kind of time that's required to figure out each patient's issues, since everyone's causes and symptoms are so different. We IBS'ers need to figure things out for ourselves.

The first thing I'd advise you is to visit the IBS support group at WebMD.com (http://boards.webmd.com/webx?14@@.5987f4... There are a lot of very helpful and knowledgeable people who have a lot more experience with IBS then I do, and they would be more than happy to talk you through possible solutions for you. If you post there, give them as much detail as possible about your symptoms, even the ones that seem unrelated. There is no such thing as "too much information" over there. =)

Really, if you're willing to work at this and do some investigating of your own (and it sounds like you are), you may be able to get your symptoms under control without meds. The key is to find out what's triggering your symptoms.

If you've been on antibiotics and antimicrobials, your intestinal flora (the bacteria and other things, good and bad, that live in your gut) may be out of whack. There are bacteria that we need to digest certain nutrients, and others that simply keep the bad bugs in check. If you take antibiotics, they kill all bacteria, good and bad, which can open you up to infections from yeast or other nasties. (I wonder if your problem may be yeast overgrowth?) In that case, you may find probiotics (supplements of good bacteria) can help a lot. They work miracles for some people, nothing for others, but there's no harm in trying - you may need to try a couple brands to find one that works for you. Around the WebMD IBS group, the brands people have liked are: Digestive Advantage IBS (foudn in most drugstores & fairly cheap), Culturelle, Kirkman Labs, Trader Joe's, or Acidophilus Pearls. (you can get free samples of DA-IBS and Pearls on their websites)

It's also very likely that certain foods are triggering your symptoms. Have you tried any sort of elimination diet? Common triggers include dairy, fat, wheat gluten, caffeine, alcohol, red meat, insoluble fiber (as opposed to soluble) - but there are many others. It may even be something you've been eating all your life without problems. In my case it was MSG, which is hidden in almost all processed foods, but I didn't have any real troubles till I was 27. Then it hit me out of the blue.

You can do a food diary - write down every little thing you eat, drink, or take and when you have any symptom (even the odd ones). This way, you can try and track a pattern between what you eat and how you feel. It's tricky, since there's a delay of hours or even days after you eat a food you react to before you get symptoms. You may want to cut out suspect foods (one at a time) for at least a week to see if there's any change.

Or, you can go all out - Try the BRA diet (bananas, rice, applesauce - all plain, and stop your vitamins) for a week or two and see if things improve. If they do, you know there's something you're eating that's causing your troubles. Then, add different foods back in, one at a time, always in their pure form (like chicken with salt and nothing else) for a week at a time, to make sure you don't react to it. Anything you find is safe, you can add into your diet. It's extreme, but so are your symptoms.

Do you have any family history of stomach troubles? Diabetes? Thyroid? Autoimmune disease? What tests did they run? Did they do a colonoscopy with biopsies?

You may want to look into celiac disease, since you've got the GI problems, the depression/anxiety, and the food intolerances. Even if they did the blood test, it's infamous for giving false negatives, so it's still something to consider. http://www.celiac.com is a great source of info.

Well, there are other things to try and I'm sure there's more to your story than you were able to write here, so I'd really recommend you come to the WebMD board and see what advice that community can give you. It really upsets me to hear people suffering like you do, and it's so hard to find help from people that don't understand (i.e. doctors!). But don't give up hope - there's gotta be a way to get your symptoms in check so you can get on with your life and with enjoying your kids...

I have IBS - certain foods & meds aggravate it. I stay away from anything that is an anti- inflammatory. Ex.: aspirin, Motrin, Aleve, etc. They tend to cause bleeding from the rectum, also associated with bleeding ulcers. Stay away from popcorn,nuts that can cause an infection in your intestines. Keep a journal of what foods bring on a bad attack. Mine is related to stress. The more stressed I am, the more I have the attacks. I do deep breathing technigues & meditation - you can find a site on the net.Go to WebMD -check the info on their site. I drink green tea with honey. It took awhile to get use to dinking it but it cleans out the antitoxins in your system. If that don't help vinegar cleans out your plumbing. I don't like vinegar so I drink dill pickle juice. My bowel movements are better & my stomach doesn't hurt as bad. It seems to lessen the pain. The natural way works better for me. I've had too many reactions to prescriptions. You may want to see if you have Crohn's disease. It causes a deteriation of the intestines. It can be painful. Have they tried to rid you of the parasites by oral meds? I take Pepcid Ac for my ulcers - my brother takes Prevacid. He had ulcers that were going to require surgery. i hope this helps. Take care. Tammy

have had ibs or known as ulcerative colitus for 16 yrs and see a gastro dr for Asacol pills and enemas. also take Zelnorm 6mg. Acidophillus pills and yogurts help increase "friendly flora" in the colon.

Look up eating for IBS is on the net, also avoid anything with small seeds ( broccoli,cucumber, tomato, poppy/sesame) as it severely irritates IBS. Do know that peppermint tea helps with the cramping and bloating that lead to the severe cramping in the belly. Do know the homeoathics are a lot better for working with anti-depressants, have a lot less of a chance of interacting with them! Do need to get something that can help you get the IBS under control! BTW stress also aggravates the condition! For the food allergies, start on a bland diet, try and avoid food dyes, and SLOWLY add different foods back into your diet, the one that most people miss is red dye 40 allergy, and hooo boy does it have NASTY side effects! Wish you the best of luck, and hope you feel better soon.