Dull Men's Club

Personal anecdote and not a doctor, but mine went away, or rather is managed, with weight loss assisted with GLP-1.

In retrospect I wasn't being honest with myself in regards to how much I was eating or the quality of said food.

When I first started GLP-1, my appetite (really cravings) mostly went away and junk food beyond a tiny handful made me incredibility sick with flu-like symptoms.

Now that I'm at my goal weight, still taking a maintenance dose of GLP-1, I can cheat a bit more without side effects, but a burger and fries or a pizza will absolutely trigger my IBS to this day if the meal is over ~500 calories.

Eating clean and not overindulging has caused the opposite problem. I have to supplement fiber or I won't poop for a week. Its not uncomfortable constipation either, there just isn't a lot of waste there to eliminate.

Good luck on your pooping journey!

edit: Also seconding a bidet!

I have a couple of issues down the pipeline. Certain foods like tomatoes or tomato sauce, onion or garlic will trigger heartburn, and hemorrhoids.

After much reading and testing various things, I'm pretty sure it's an allergic reaction. Regardless, one of the things that really helps is yoghurt made of L. Reuteri.

Sure other yoghurt bacteria mixes help. But L. Reuteri is definitely a star. Find it, get a yoghurt maker and make some. Amazon sales large pouches that have tiny starter pouches enough for a year's supply. They suggest to cook it for 36hrs, I usually do mine for 24 or 30hrs. It comes out super creamy and tastes like a strong cheesy yoghurt. It will loosen up your stool and appears to help ulcers and hemorrhoids.

Any chance you have a tricky food sensitivity? You could try a super minimal diet and slowly add ingredients one by one.

Well, loperamide definitely helps, particularly with IBSd.

But there's other ways to minimize troubles. The first is to figure out if you have food triggers (most people with it do) and then eliminate them. Food diary is the fastest way to narrow down exactly what sets you off. You'll likely figure out quickly that acidic foods are a trigger (because they almost always are for everyone with IBS), so tomato sauces are a great thing to start eliminating.

However, there's what's called the FODMAP diet, which actually reduces FODMAPs, so it's kinda weird that it's just referred to that way. But elimination of FODMAPs tends to drastically reduce or even eliminate IBS flare ups.

However, diet alone isn't always the culprit. Stress plays a big role in flares. So does hydration (which isn't always thought of as part of diet, so I mention it separately). Mobility factors in; being sedentary makes IBS d and c worse, though it's counter intuitive with IBSd what with walking stimulating bowel motility.

Fiber is often recommended, but I say be very cautious when you try it. Psyllium fiber in particular has a habit of making gas and cramping worse with some IBS sufferers. I tend to favor improving soluble fiber while minimizing insoluble to be more effective than just increasing fiber overall. But there's a degree of insoluble that's necessary, so don't go crazy eliminating it.

Because IBS is kinda individual, it's always a journey. Something like arthritis, you know what's going to help it or not; you break a leg, there's a very small range of options and they are all certain to work. But IBS? It's not really a single disease as much as having bowels that are reactive to "stuff", and that stuff just isn't the same for everyone. So be prepared to deal with a good bit of experimenting until you figure out what works for you.

Have you tried psyllium? Electrolytes also might help, and probiotic foods.

Get a bidet. If you learn to relax a bit you can actually get some water inside and then shoot it back out to really clean all the bits when you have those bad poop days. It feels incredible.

Try slowly increasing your fibre content. Wholegrains beans and crunchy veg are easy ways to start. Most people don't eat enough and are chronically constipated to some degree.

I'm glad you got checked out that incomplete emptying feeling can be a red flag so good decision there.

That's to stop bowel movements. Did your doctor recommend it?