maggie39

Hi
I usually post on another board, but I though it might be helpful to mention my experience here. I was diagnosed with IBS and suffered for 10 years - mainly diarhea (or "loose stools"), intestinal cramps, bloating & gas. Nothing seemed to relieve it. Then by accident I came across an article about fructose intolerance, which seemed to describe me. Seems that most doctors only recognize the extreme form of inherited fructose intolerance, but its been discovered that there is another less severe level. Fructose requires a specific enzyme to digest it (just like a specific enzyme is needed to digest lactose). If you don't produce enough of this enzyme, fructose goes through your system undigested causing all sorts of distress. They reasoned that the widespread introduction of high fructose corn syrup 15 or so years ago coincides with a huge increasein IBS diagnosis. I stopped eating any fructose for two weeks and BINGO! First time in over 10 years I had NORMAL bowel movements!
Its a little harder than it sounds to do - its not just a matter of not eating fruit. Anything with any corn syrup really effects me - even something like wheat thins crackers - just a couple and I have problems. So to see if this is your problem, you really have to read labels! ALso rememer that its in a lot of vegis - like sweet potatoes, corn, sweet peas, carrot. And most processed foods have it - crackers, catsup, canned foods, etc. ALso, sugar breaks down into fructose and glucose, but I didnt find SMALL amounts of sugar to be a problem.
Its not super easy, but it was well worth trying!
I hope some of you are helped by this.
Maggie