Evening- I just received my first bottle of this all natural product called "Digestrol" for IBS. It's basically a combo of enzymes that are supposed to help heal the intestines. I took my first dose tonight but the pill feels like it's stuck in my throat. It most likely isn't cause I've had plenty of water and hot tea to help it go down. I just wondered if anyone else heard of this product and if it helped them. The doctors keep wanting me to try all these different meds and most of them give me horrible side effects that's why I chose this natural rememdy. Please let me know. I am really praying this stuff works. I've had terrible IBS for almost 8 years now and it's really affected my life in a bad way.
Thanks for any input anyone can give me.
Laura

Laura,

I have never heard of the product Digestrol for IBS! There are alot of different products that claim they will help you get rid of IBS. I have suffered with IBS for almost 20 years of my life. I have tried a lot of things, medications, books, tapes, I even went to a reflexologist, I tried hypnosis, nothing worked. I was still having my symptoms and going to the bathroom all the time.

I went to a holistic doctor in my area and he gave me a bowel test to check for candida (overgrowth of yeast) and see how many good and bad bacteria I had in my intestines. My test came back candida 4+, I had abnormal high bacteria 4+, good bacteria was very little. With a test like that it was no wonder that I was having problems with my bowels. The doctor told me the reason you are having bowel problems is that your intestinal tact is badly imbalanced.

I worked on my candida diet, supplements, probiotics for years trying to get in under control. I must say after all years things are getting much better. I eat alot of goat yogurt every day that helps put the good bacteria back that I lost. My bowels don't give me any troubles any more because I found out the REAL REASON WHY I HAD IBS.

To your success,

Dona Dry

Dona-
Thanks for replying. I will try to find a Holistic doctor but I was really hoping someone heard of the Digestrol. I didn't sleep well at all last night; woke up at 2:15am, stomach hurting and feeling like I had to go but was just gassy. This morning I feel awful! I am shaky and already had two BM's just 10mins apart and only after being up for 10mins. My stomach hurts but yet it's growling like it's hungry. That feeling really confuses me because I never know if I should eat or is it just confused and if I eat I'll be in worse pain. I'm trying to keep hydrated right now. Please tell me your IBS symptoms. I know they are different for everyone. I must admit at first I was jumping for joy over the "digestrol" because it's all natural and stated "no side effects" but when the actual product came in even though it had a "side effect" area but didn't list anything it said "if you experience any side effects or have an allergic reaction, consult your doctor" well, I guess that's all my anxious mind had to see. So I was hesitant to take it and had a hard time swallowing the pill, plus, all night I had heart burn (been having that a lot lately) and I just kept looking at the clock thinking "If I do experience side effects, I wonder how long after I've taken the pill they will show up" Self-talk can be good AND bad! I don't have anyone here to talk to, my husband is not only deployed but not talking to me (email can be a bad thing because without our actual expressions, one can take something the wrong way) I wasn't trying to fight with him, just had a question and he thought I was attacking him. No friends or family down here either. It really stinks. I see your from PA. We lived in central-southern NJ for two years before coming down here to Fl. Our families live in NJ and PA.
I really wish I had someone here. I'm really struggling to keep myself going.
Laura

Laura V,

I have suffered with this problem for over 15 years. I thought for sure it was a lost cause, but I am fine now.

First of all, I believe my IBS was a direct result of anxiety. Once I began to change the way I was thinking and began to relax, it slowly went away. Before that however, I began using organic wheat bran in my water and used probiotics. That helped tremendously. Anyway, after 15 years, I'm better.

I hope you can find some relief too!

Lisa,
I tried upping my fiber intake and also probitics, neither worked. I have changed my diet by drinking only water or decaf green tea or decaf coffee(one cup in the morning) I cut out a lot of fatty foods/fried foods. can't drink milk (lactose intolerant) but still drink either lactaid or soy milk. Eat mostly brown rice, cut way back on beef and pork. But STILL my IBS is out of control. All the meds the dr's put me on make me sick except my Klonopin. May I ask what your symptoms were? I have IBS attacks as soon as I get out of the bed in the mornings, I'll have several BM's "D"s before I've even had a chance to eat breakfast. I get hot flashes before a run to the bathroom followed by being cold. Heartburn mostly in afternoon and or evening. Oh, and if I don't get a good night's rest I'm a mess the next day.
I want so bad for this new product to work; I don't know how long I can stand this. My step-sons are coming home this Saturday from spending the summer with relatives because my husband's away and I simply couldn't care for them in my state. I was hoping to get this under control before they came back but I am in the same mess as been for almost 8 years!
Laura

Hi Laura,

Thanks for your reply about your IBS symptoms. My symptoms were a lot of digestive discomfort, diaherra, intestinal cramps, intestinal spasms, excessive gas, and feeling just plain lousy. Whenever I want out I had to know where the bathrooms were in case I had to go. And if I would go out to eat in a restaurant after I ate a great meal I often would have diaherra.

I know what you are going through having digestive problems can really make you feel terrible and you don't want to do anything or even go away.

I hope my information helped you!

Dona Dry

Laura, not to start a new anxiety for you, but have you had your thyroid checked? I had all of the wymptoms you mention and finally, after years of heck with Dr's...found that I had low thyroid (Hypothyroidism), especially the part about being cold. Also, I use papaya enzymes when I eat. You can buy it ove the counter anywhere.....tastes great and helos digest food. Also, food allergies can cause a lot of what you mention. I have found that I have a wheat allergy, so all of that wonderful organic bread that I would toast in the morning would set my day all wrong. Anyway, just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.

Dona,
Thanks for your reply.

Girl- Believe me I've had EVERYTING checked and some more than once just to be sure. I also have the papaya pills you speak of, they helped a little at first but not anymore. I just called the company I bought the "digestrol" and they said it was a chewable pill. Now I'm sure everyone knows that if a pill is chewable it states so on the bottle but this one didn't and guess what? I went to chew it and it was NASTY!! She also told me to give it a few days to start working. I guess I'll have to give it a try and stop being so negative about new things, just bad past experiences. I have also changed my diet but nothing in the past has helped I tried eating high fiber for breakfast in the morning- ran to the bathroom, tried eating the dannon activa yogurt with a banana in the morning- ran to the bathroom. High fiber/ low fiber/ gluten free, "eating for your blood type" all failures! I know a lot of it's stress and believe me I try to de-stress as much as I can. I listen to the relaxation cd every night followed by a nature cd; try to think of pleasant and positive things but morning is still the same- running to the bathroom. There's got to be something I'm missing or not trying. Oh, if your thinking I need to exercise; do that when I can- run to the bathroom. I would kid with my husband about if they can do such miracles as heart transplants, kidney transplants, etc, then why can't they do a "bad bowel" transplant. I do try to keep it positive when I can. It's just hard when I still have young ones to raise though.
Laura

Laura V,

Your symptoms mimic mine exactly. That is what I went through for so many years! The only other things I do differently now that I didn't do then, is eat dinner at night and I quit smoking. I used to eat only breakfast and a big lunch but I recently started eating something usually before I go to bed. I also quit smoking right at the same time these things occurred. Maybe that helped me too? I don't know, but don't give up!!!

Lisa- that's great that you quit smoking! I do eat three meals a day and then a snack at night, usually healthy, because my stomach starts to growl. This whole IBS thing is just so aggrivating and exhausting. I don't know about you but it's been so bad at times, coupled with stress and anxiety of moving, that I lost 20 unwanted pounds in two weeks. I now have to monitor my weight to make sure I don't loose too much. My weight flucuates; I go from 106-118 pounds and it drives me nuts. I'm only 5'2" so finding clothes is hard enough as it is. I usually have to shop in the juniors section. The funny thing is when I was pregnant ( and IBS /anxiety free) I still shoped in the juniors section but they didn't have maternity clothes so I had to buy some items from the misses section. However, I mostly wore my husband's shirts.