Is It Really An IBS Trigger? Or Just a Phase?

The first time I had a colonoscopy, I was very discouraged because the gastroenterologist told me that I could just drink a cup of coffee with Miralax and my IBS-constipation would be cured. While this statement wasn’t true for me, there was another statement that he said that was true, but I didn’t believe it until recently. Three years ago I met with this doctor, and he was worried about my nutrition. I rattled off a list of foods that I did not eat because of my IBS, and he was worried that I had dwindled down my diet to pretty much nothing. Which was true.

Foods can be triggers one day and fine the next

He mentioned that a lot of IBS sufferers have a reaction to a certain food, and totally cut it out of their diet. That was true for me. Even if I was in a flare and that’s when I found a certain food didn’t agree with me, I wouldn’t eat it again. He proceeded to tell me that this wasn’t the best way to treat my diet. Making sure that you are eating a well-rounded diet is vital for nutrition, even if sometimes you feel like you can only tolerate eating two things. He said there were certain foods that may not agree with me today, but may be fine tomorrow. I have found that this is actually true. There have been times in my “IBS life” where I totally cut things out of my diet, just to find out that they worked okay for me in the future. I cut dairy out of my diet for years, and then found out that there were certain types of cheeses that I can tolerate.

Certain types of foods affect me differently during certain times. Sometimes dairy is the worst, and then sometimes it’s high FODMAP foods. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason as to what is triggering my IBS. They say to cut something out of your diet for a few weeks, and then add it back in to see how it affects you. You never know if it could have been just one reaction, and not something that will trigger you forever with IBS! This really helped me to know that there are some things that are totally off limits, but then there are some things that may just be a phase for your IBS triggers.