I had mucous when I used to suffer from IBS (5 decades). And it greatly increased when I had a precancerous polyp. Some of those puppies are mucous-secretors.
My IBS is gone now for several yrs. due to dietary changes. YAY! And I'm not seeing mucous either ...
Only get mucus if I'm constipated. It's horrible! I've been thinking about trying alternative therapy like acupuncutre as I'm so fed up with the pain and other symptoms. Anyone tried alternative therapy for IBS?
I have recently started going to acupuncture once a week and I have noticed a difference. I wish I could do it more often than once a week (like every morning when i wake up would be nice!) but that is not feasible. The day i have it, i feel great all day and night and unfortuntely it doesn't last as long as i need it to(like until my next acupuncture session).
I have also been given Okra Pectin, (along with Gatrazyme and acidopholus) which is an herb that is supposed to help clear out the mucous. She told me that my intestines are not absorbing the vitamins and minerals from food due to the mucous coating my intestines.
I have noticed a difference in everything from digesting, processing and eliminating and the pain as well has gone down some, not all but some.
Hi this is a reply to lindsay about alternative therapy for IBS - I had my first appointment with a natropath last friday for IBS i suffer with bad wind pain and diarreah and she has changed my diet and put me on some natural medicines and i have been a lot better. Only early days but i highly recommend seeing one. The one i see specialises in IBS as her daughter suffered from it. Last week i was in pain everyday but over the weekend it dulled down and this week has so far been the best week i have had in ages
I also followed a healthy lowfat diet for many decades. I'm sure it was great for maintaining healthy weight & cardiovascular function, but it didn't help my IBS.
There is a subgroup of IBS sufferers who have found that certain food intolerances were the root cause of their problem. I don't believe this applies to everyone with IBS symptoms, but probably to more than are aware of it. There are a number of different food intolerances that can be responsible, but for me the offender was dietary gluten.
I had severe IBS-C for 50 yrs., pretty much since infancy, tho' back then it was called spastic colon. I had several hospitalizations, numerous diagnostics run, tried the available meds. Nothing helped. I was regularly bedridden several times per month with severe flares of gut pain. And my whole life revolved around special rituals I'd developed that helped "a bit." So much fiber, so much fruit, so much water, so much exercise. And avoid foods x,y,z that seemed to make things worse. But I just lived day-to-day trying to cope.
When my second child was diagnosed with severe gluten intolerance, I decided to have "testing" done on myself as well, for this problem. My blood tests were totally negative. No indication of any sort of food allergy or celiac disease. But I decided that the whole family would eat gluten-free anyway, to save on shopping & having to cook everything 2 different ways.
Within a few weeks I was noticing that my lifelong constipation had eased. And after one month, I said, hey! no more pain! And that's the way it's been for me for more than 2 years now. No more IBS. No more special rituals. I did succumb to temptation one time & ate black licorice. I won't do that again. The "reminder" I suffered for several days thereafter was very unpleasant.
A totally gluten-free diet is not for the faint of heart. But it's a small price to pay to have a happy gut! I think only people who have suffered daily IBS pain for a long while can truly relate.
I consider myself cured, but others might consider my IBS simply "managed" by faithful GF diet. I've known a few other people who've had gluten issues, as well as a few who had dairy, or soy that caused their IBS.
If you are interested in learning more about gluten-free diet, I recommend the book, Gluten Free Living for Dummies (Dummies Series) by Dana Korn.
Sometimes people sort out the food intolerance question by testing done with a naturopath or an allergist. Other people keep food/symptom diaries & do dietary elimination/challenges on their own.
thank you for the reply. I have already cut wheat from my diet and it has helped the pain a bit. I am going to go totally gluten free now and see what happen. Thank you so much!
Your bowel is irritable due to something....and its likely a food intolerance or allergy. Gluten free either due to celiac's or not wouldn't hurt anybody... I have just started my gluten free week after too much time on the toilet and not enough out in the real world. It is always mucous oriented which means major irritation. I agree with the writer above. Its allergies or intolerances and unfortunately it takes work to find out and also self restraint.
Also you can get your blood tested by certain companies for a fee to render a list of what you are horribly and minutely allegic or intolerant too. Keep yourself fibred up and LOTS of fruit is not always the healthiest thing to do. At least not with the standard fibre such as bran, wheat and oatmeal. Remember too that milk was meant for a 375 pound baby heffer. Not really for human consumption so only God knows how many of us have suffered from ingesting that all our little lives. Plus, know too that there is a direct proven correlation between kids with milk allergy and the number of ear infections. That is, their ears plug up from the membrance reacting to the allergen (milk) and the ear ducts cannot dispense/wash out any bacteria and va voom it produces an ear infection. Multiple ear infections.
So remember you are what you eat and all the good nutritious food guidelines aren't always what they seem. Make a diary...take note... and start drawing the correlations between what you ate and what happened. If you won't find the time...believe me..as we know...no doctor will.
Good luck to all and I too will remember to take my own advice.
Last edited by MSPOSITIVE; 09-22-2006 at 03:24 PM.
TINYLADIBUG is correct -- we have plenty of company -- some people have obvious mucus all the time and others only on occasion.
Like some others I've had bowel issues forever and yes, it used to be called spastic colon.
I think to a great extent it IS due to what we eat, how much and when -- our daily toilet habits make a difference, too, in my experience. Usually when I am less stressed and eating right, meaning plenty of fiber and little or no dairy or red meat products, I am better off.
Otherwise, when I am off my schedule due to travel or whatever, I can have very odd episodes of nothing or nothing but mucus or mucus mixed with bits of hard stool. This can be very inconvenient not to mention messy. Check out some of the "poop" web sites if you don't mind being grossed out reading what many people experience. Some of them are unconcerned, probably less upset by all of it as we are here, and they are quite descriptive which just serves to let the rest of us know how common all of this is.
Clearly, being backed up at all is not good, so try to get things going like clockwork as much as possible and you should feel better all around.
Good luck to all. Stress/worrying makes EVERYTHING in life worse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TINYLADIBUG
Yes, i also have mucus when i go to the bathroom. you are not alone!
My mucus does seem to get worse depending on what I eat. I recently went on South Beach diet and noticed improvement when taking carbs out of my system, basically gluten free. My mucus is always clear. I have never seen any blood with it. Stress also increases it alot. I tried Librax but could never get with the 3 a day regimine.
I agree about the South Beach diet. When I put myself on it without really knowing it was basically South Beach, I felt much better. I only dropped the carbs because I was trying to prevent formation of more gallstones (attempt failed and I had the surgery), but I lost weight and felt better all around in the process. I stayed on the diet more than six months post-op and was happy, but things have changed since....
I need to go back to the low or no carb diet style because lately I feel awful re BM discomfort and the various pains and gas, etc. My friends give me grief for being a picky eater so I have tried to go along with them but I feel worse, have gained weight, and am sick of it. I need to eat just what helps me and not worry about the opinions of others who dine with me who have no digestive problems whatsoever.
Truth is, these people eat all the wrong stuff and are prime candidates for cardiac problems as a result of it.
It's always best to keep your doctor informed about changes or even things you've simply not mentioned before. IBS is a condition not everyone has, so it's good to keep the doctor up to speed.
Re: anyone have mucus with IBS? 
