IBS and Disney

[Sparkly]

It seems whenever I go to Disney, I ALWAYS get a bad upset stomach. I take Buscopan (prescribed to me to control my IBS) and Imodium and drink a Danactive yoghurt drink everyday (drink a similar thing at home, seems to work well), but I still have frequent visits to the restroom throughout the day. At home I also have the problem, but to a lesser extent- I can control it better.

Last time we went, I spent more time finding the nearest restroom then doing anything else! Quite annoying! It does it EVERY time I go- is it the water? The food?

I'm unfortunately not planning a trip for a while, but any advice for reducing my stomach woes whilst at the World?

 

[gardenia]

Eating restaurant and/or fast food three times a day can challenge anyone's system. Try eating breakfast in the room - high fiber cereal or instant oatmeal instead of a fatty breakfast like bacon, french toast, etc.. Take vitamins; vitamin D in particular helps me a LOT with tummy issues, I bring some with me when I travel. Stay hydrated but don't drink soda or sugary tea. You probably already know these things but I just thought I'd share what helps me.

 

[SueM in MN]

Eating restaurant and/or fast food three times a day can challenge anyone's system. Try eating breakfast in the room - high fiber cereal or instant oatmeal instead of a fatty breakfast like bacon, french toast, etc.. Take vitamins; vitamin D in particular helps me a LOT with tummy issues, I bring some with me when I travel. Stay hydrated but don't drink soda or sugary tea. You probably already know these things but I just thought I'd share what helps me.

Good suggestions.

Don’t know if this applies to you because, as gardenia posted, you probably already know this....
Even people without IBS find they may have problems with drinking soda several times a day because of all the sugar. And, switching to diet soda is often worse because the sweeteners can cause tummy problems.
I personally felt much better with switching to just drinking water.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

You don't say where you're from, but are you having ice in your drinks at WDW and letting it melt at all? While it shouldn't be something that should make you sick if you're from somewhere else in the US, the whole thing where not being used to local water and it then melting ice making you sick in a drink is something that does happen. Usually it's when you're dealing with systems that have radically different water sources/quality, but if your IBS is that sensitive, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to be happening. I agree with gardenia about trying to eat at least one meal not at a restaurant is probably also a good idea. If you're having similar, but not as severe problems at home, have you tried an elimination diet to see if you can find a trigger to what is causing the problems at home? Maybe there's something that you only ever get in very small amounts at home that is a non-obvious ingredient in more items at WDW.

 

[Sparkly]

I'm from the UK.

Last time I appreciated places like Sweet Tomatoes because it gave me a much needed break from the greasy fast food in parks and much needed fibre! Shame you can't have fruit as a side like you can with the kids meals instead of fries. We had a condo so often ate breakfast there- normally something like peanut butter sandwiches and juice. I'm not a big fan of oatmeal/porridge unfortunately.

I try not to drink too much Coca-Cola, but I find the drinking water horrible tasting. I would try something like Crystal Light, but it contains sweeteners (everything seems to in the US) and I try not to have too many because it gives me a horrible upset stomach!

 

[Lisa71]

My DH has IBS and I have a milder version. He packs Fiber Bars and high fiber cereal for the AM...drinks lots of water, and avoids too much fat or sugar. It is vacation, so you want to enjoy, but that does not mean irritating your insides so much that you tour each bathroom or don't go for days. He has had a lot of luck with this. I just need to avoid dairy (which I Love, love, love).

 

[WheeledTraveler]

If you're having trouble with the taste of the tap water, trying buying bottled water. Yes, it's expensive, but it should taste better. Another option is to buy a re-usable water bottle with a built-in filter. Both of those should help with taste and maybe it will help with your IBS symptoms as well!

 

[utterrandomness]

With bottled water, if you're looking for water that doesn't taste hard, don't buy Nestle brand. I don't know if you can get it in the US, but it's pretty hard water (my local tap water - it's super funny to see local people buying it). I second the suggestion about the filtered water bottles.