Rectocele plus IBS advice please

Body: 

I hope I'm in the right section here..I have never joined a forum before . I am 63 and just diagnosed with rectocele . My gp has told me that I must be sure to include plenty of fibre etc within my diet to avoid straining in the future . However I have had IBS for twenty years and fibre aggravates this terribly . I am now at a loss what in fact I can eat to help myself . I'm slightly confused and a bit overwhelmed . I would appreciate any advice given .

Forum:

Adding more fiber into the diet of a IBS sufferer sounds like pretty poor advice to me. There has been much discussion of IBS here on the forum, just put it into the search box and you will get a lot of different viewpoints on the subject, and maybe find something that clicks with you specifically.

Hi Sunny - If you have had an irritable bowel for 20 years, then no doubt you have tried eliminating various things over the years. Maybe if you can tell us what you've tried, and what has helped and what has not helped, we can give you some suggestions. We do talk about food and elimination on the forum all the time, so feel free to use the Search box and to check in regularly. Your doc was right about the importance of not straining with a rectocele, but like Aging Gracefully, I disagree with him about more fiber being a solution. - Surviving

HI Sunny,

I have had this problem for many years too plus a rectocele following children. This list may help you in what you can eat to help ibs.

http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/

Ausy

I have tried just about everything in the 33 yrs I've had IBS ..I have had more than one elimination diet etc...nothing helps me ..I don't understand why ..it's like my system doesn't work at all!
I have had four children and a hysterectomy , my IBS began just after my op , and has always been random periods of diarrhoea lasting for hours until I'm exhausted then I'd be ok for a few days . Now it's like all the rules have changed and no one told me! I will try the fodmap diet Ausy and hope for the best...I am more than happy to try anything ...one thing I've learned here...woman who have these issues are defiantly not quitters .

The list is a good guide. It will be trial and error to what suits your body and ibs. I can tolerate some small amounts of my favourite fruit on the avoid list and my body soon tells me when I have overdone it. It is not so much of a diet but a guide.

Nuts & chia seeds made a great difference for me. I first learnt about the importance of eating them from reading the Saving The Whole Woman book