WHY DOES FIBER MAKE ME SICKER NOT BETTER?

EXTRA FIBER INTAKE WAS SUPPOSED TO WORK TOO. I LOADED UP ON IT. WHAT HAPPENED?

That’s how it is with this and all the other treatments typically used for IBS. They will give us “attitude adjustment”, some hit-or-miss “list of foods to avoid”, some “fiber supplementation” instructions, temporary help from diarrhea pills, perhaps even a pamphlet with great advice like “How to Relax and Cope with IBS: Be Happy! It’s Not Cancer!”.

It’s also cold comfort to receive instructions to “increase your fiber intake” when that just leads to more pain, more bloating and more gas. It’s all over in the medical literature that this is what usually happens with fiber treatments even if the fiber helps a person with some constipation. So if everyone knows it but says Do It Anyway, what is going on here?

Make yourself a note. Keep it with you always. After all the fancy linguistics in medical studies the bottom line is although a few people may report their bowel habits seem a little better when they load up on fiber, most IBS sufferers feel worse from the fiber treatments recommended. Those who may be a little “better” are almost always people with IBS-C (constipation), who need more fiber anyway if we look carefully at their diet. Even then they usually get more gassy and bloated too so it’s a mixed blessing at best. But since there is an outside chance it might help, and keep you out of the exam room again until your insurance will pay for a follow-up visit, we are told to go do it and see what happens. This is called an “empirical treatment trial”. This is the basis for IBS treatment as recommended by “experts”: empirical treatment trials. That means try things and see if any help.

We also know from the literature that anti-diarrhea medication for IBS is not effective for a full-blown IBS “episode” nor is it effective for the “global” symptoms of IBS. It might just reduce the diarrhea to tolerable at times as a pressure bandage helps with a hemorrhage. We know anti-spasmodics don’t do much for the pain and spasm when they peak.

All this is followed by an admonishment (from everyone) to suck it up because you are just making it worse on yourself. Any of this sound the least bit familiar? If not you are among the lucky few. I know from meeting thousands of IBS patients the last ten years that I was the only one to have these repeated experiences for over 30 years. From the thousands of other IBS sufferers I met I learned I have a lot of company. But it doesn’t even stop stop there yet.