# Home remedies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963 "2014-01-05T20:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/21 "2014-01-06T20:55:52Z")
I don’t know if my stomach upsets amount to IBS, but chewing really minty gum like Extra Polar Ice generally calms my stomach down pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/22 "2014-01-06T22:45:06Z")
I noticed that tomato sauce in number one on your trigger list. I used to get severe heart-burn from my favorite spaghetti, lasagna type dishes that had red sauce. I learned that a few spoons of sugar added to the sauce eliminated the issue with tomato based sauces. I do not know the science behind it, but it works. I also got rid of bread except for special occasions. A sandwich doesn’t have to be 2 slices of bread with the good stuff inside, just eat the stuff inside and forget the bread. I do like some good sour dough bread now and then and I know it will cause problems so I just plan on it. ---
**Author:** ![Themis00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@Themis00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themis00)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/23 "2014-01-06T22:54:59Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I don’t know if my stomach upsets amount to IBS, but chewing really minty gum like Extra Polar Ice generally calms my stomach down pretty quickly. Mints do wonders for me, too. Peppermint is supposed to be a natural anti-emetic. ---
**Author:** ![Themis00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@Themis00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themis00)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/24 "2014-01-06T22:56:04Z")
I hope to God I do not have Celiac’s or gluten intolerance. I love breads and pastas. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/25 "2014-01-06T23:25:58Z")
> [@Themis00](#): > > I hope to God I do not have Celiac’s or gluten intolerance. I love breads and pastas. I hope you aren’t too. But they do make gluten free pasta, some taste okay. And apparently gnocchi (Pasta of the Gods) is often made with flour to bind. But you can buy gluten free, or make it. Which isn’t hard, it just turns out much uglier in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/26 "2014-01-06T23:38:06Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I hope you aren’t too. But they do make gluten free pasta, some taste okay. And apparently gnocchi (Pasta of the Gods) is often made with flour to bind. But you can buy gluten free, or make it. Which isn’t hard, it just turns out much uglier in my experience. Okay is damning with faint praise - which is appropriate. Since pretty much the apex of gluten free substitutes is “ok” BUT it is a way better environment to go GF now than it was ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/27 "2014-01-06T23:50:32Z")
> [@Themis00](#): > > I hope to God I do not have Celiac’s or gluten intolerance. I love breads and pastas. There is excellent gluten-free pasta, though it is expensive as hell (12 dollars for a box, expensive). The best I can say about most gluten-free breads is that some of it is okay. More options are coming out all the time, and some of the substitutes are excellent. But more importantly? When you feel better all the time and can eat everything BUT gluten? It’s worth it. Again, I hope you don’t have a problem with gluten. It’s no fun. But it’s also not the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/28 "2014-01-07T16:16:06Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > There is excellent gluten-free pasta, though it is expensive as hell (12 dollars for a box, expensive). . Sweet jumping jesus, you are shopping for it in the wrong place. My favorite Chinese grocery [Ah Dong, Hartford CT] has rice and corn based pasta in the pasta row, typically elbows and spirals, along with the traditional eastern noodles of various ingredients [I love the instafry cellophane noodles, the way they poof up when they hit the oil amuses me and I like the crunch] and they are all inexpensive. Next time Rob goes shopping there I will have him get the brand name and price for the rice spirals, they are my favorite. [These](http://www.skinny-vegan-food.com/2012/10/vegan-mofo-20-what-are-bean-noodles.html#.UswoC_uFeB4) look just like all the same brands. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/29 "2014-01-07T16:42:45Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Sweet jumping jesus, you are shopping for it in the wrong place. My favorite Chinese grocery [Ah Dong, Hartford CT] has rice and corn based pasta in the pasta row, typically elbows and spirals, along with the traditional eastern noodles of various ingredients [I love the instafry cellophane noodles, the way they poof up when they hit the oil amuses me and I like the crunch] and they are all inexpensive. > > Next time Rob goes shopping there I will have him get the brand name and price for the rice spirals, they are my favorite. [These](http://www.skinny-vegan-food.com/2012/10/vegan-mofo-20-what-are-bean-noodles.html#.UswoC_uFeB4) look just like all the same brands. I can find GF pasta in all sorts of price ranges and qualities - I have yet to find an _excellent_ GF Italian style pasta at any price - by excellent I mean "something that tastes like a good flour based Italian pasta noodle. My favorite is Orgran - which is expensive per box (but only $5 or so) and tastes a lot like Cremette noodles - no one considers Cremette excellent pasta. Corn noodles don’t taste anything like flour based pasta to me, and anything made with any sort of bean flour simply tastes bitter to me. I’m Italian by culture, so I went through a lot of noodles when I gave up wheat. (De Boles has a pretty good Italian style rice pasta now as well. Including a no boil lasagna which, because lasagna has so much stuff the noodles are incidental, are pretty much the same - but twice as expensive - as flour lasagna. And its carried by a lot of grocery stores, around here the Orgran is a separate trip or an internet order. Two things drive me nuts on GF substitute products. Bean flour is of the devil (I know a lot of people don’t taste bitter, so for them its fine, after the last $7 loaf of bread with bean flour came into the house from my considerate husband who was so excited to find something that "looked"right and I took one bite and threw the whole loaf away I had to tell him - again - if the ingredient list says bean flour, don’t buy it.) and texture - everything is slightly gritty. Its gotten better, but I’m so done with gritty cake and gritty brownies. Just make pudding or ice cream. I like Asian rice noodles - but not in tomato sauce. I like them in Asian dishes (I eat a lot of Pad Thai and Pho) I don’t like bean noddles no matter how they are served. Same with gnocchi - with the emphasis on potatoes its easier to hide rice flour, but it still doesn’t taste like really good gnocchi. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/30 "2014-01-07T21:53:15Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Sweet jumping jesus, you are shopping for it in the wrong place. My favorite Chinese grocery [Ah Dong, Hartford CT] has rice and corn based pasta in the pasta row, typically elbows and spirals, along with the traditional eastern noodles of various ingredients [I love the instafry cellophane noodles, the way they poof up when they hit the oil amuses me and I like the crunch] and they are all inexpensive. > > Next time Rob goes shopping there I will have him get the brand name and price for the rice spirals, they are my favorite. [These](http://www.skinny-vegan-food.com/2012/10/vegan-mofo-20-what-are-bean-noodles.html#.UswoC_uFeB4) look just like all the same brands. I didn’t say I couldn’t find gluten-free pasta. I said the stuff I consider excellent is really expensive. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/31 "2014-01-12T19:49:20Z")
> [@Themis00](#): > > I have not been evaluated for Celiac, nor any other bowel disorders besides IBS. Sometimes I do wonder if there’s something more going on than an irritable bowel. This is not good. IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion. Every other bowel disorder (and other gastrointestinal disorders) should be considered before a diagnosis of IBS. The whole idea of IBS is that you are having symptoms without a known cause. If you really haven’t had anything else checked, that’s the first thing you need to do. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963/32 "2016-04-04T03:09:36Z")
I know this is an old thread, but I remembered folks were looking for solutions. IBS-D can be awfully frustrating and often embarrassing disease to deal with. I thought I would share the one my gastroenterologist came up with and hope it works for others. I’ve been suffering IBS-D since I had my gallbladder removed several years ago. A couple of months back I decided to see what was going on with my digestive track because I was getting tired of dealing with it. I travel a lot and few things worse than sitting on an airplane with the bowels getting ready to turn into jet engines themselves. My GP had run a blood test for food allergies that came back positive all the way around so she sent me over to an allergist and a gastro guy. The gastro guy felt the allergies were false positives (and the allergist agreed) so he suggested I try probiotics to see if they helped and he scheduled an endoscopy so he could see if something else might be going on. The endoscopy came back clean as well as the biopsies he pulled to check for Celiac disease. The probiotics weren’t helping so I went to see him again. He suggested two courses of action: 1. A treatment that if it worked would solve the issue but he felt it would be expensive and the chances of success in my case were low. (And now, of course, I can’t remember at all what it entailed) 2. Start on colestipol. I think he said it’s an off-label use but very effective; however, I would likely have to take it the rest of my life. I went with option 2, choosing to try for a single rather than a home run. And so far, it has worked. AIUI, with the gallbladder removed, the liver is dumping bile unregulated into the intestine which causes the diarrhea, gas-iness, and bloating. Colestipol lowers cholesterol by binding with bile acids in the intestine and converts them to waste that is eliminated with regular bowel movements. This forces the liver to pull cholesterol from the blood to get the bile acids it needs. In my case, with the gallbladder not there to hold any excess acid, the colestipol binds that excess acid from the liver, solidifies it, and lets me eliminate it in a normal BM. It’s been over a month and essentially eliminated the bowel issues I had. No more eating Chinese food (or even a simple sandwich) and running for the restroom thirty minutes later! One thing to remember, colestipol will bind with other drugs so you have to take it several hours before / after any other medicines or supplements you may be taking. If you are still looking for an answer to IBS-D, it may be a treatment worth asking about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-remedies-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome/677963.md?page=1)