IBS at WDW

[torsie24]

Hi guys.

I know IBS isn't technically a disability, but it does stop me from functioning like 'normal' some days.

How do other IBS sufferers cope in the world?

I find that when I'm excited it gets worse, so spells IBS for disney as I'm always excited there! Also the food doesn't help but I don't want to not eat all the stuff I love and have been reading about on peoples reports.

My IBS is 90% mental I would say, as it always hits me on trains, no matter what I've eaten.

Even when I try to reason with myself that I'm fine and it's in my head though, I can't stop the cramping or rushing to the bathroom. My poor Fiance! He's spent so long sitting outside Disneyland Paris toilets! I don't want this to be the case for 2 weeks at WDW!!

 

[littleelf]

Try Imodium as a preventative--low dose, to not cause other problems. Maybe half a does, depending on how it affects you and your size. Make sure you take fiber regularly--I find three times a day, before every meal, has helped a lot. And look for white bread type sides or pastas as their soluble fiber will keep your digestion even rather than erratic.

 

[karriemouse]

The trouble with IBS is that everyone's experiences are different - so what suits us may be the worst thing for the OP.

My best advice is to avoid your personal triggers where you can and try to keep your diet as normal as possible.

My IBS is best when I'm relaxed so tends to be better on holiday. Making sure I get enough sleep is essential as lack of sleep is one of my triggers. But at least once per holiday I have a 'Bad Bowel Day' - I take 1 Imodium which usually settles it, one more if not, and make sure I eat my good foods. For example - after much research and several very unpleasant incidents I have found out that salads eaten outside the UK have very violent effects on my IBS. Eat junk food and I'm fine! Bizzare!!!

 

[torsie24]

The trouble with IBS is that everyone's experiences are different - so what suits us may be the worst thing for the OP.

My best advice is to avoid your personal triggers where you can and try to keep your diet as normal as possible.

My IBS is best when I'm relaxed so tends to be better on holiday. Making sure I get enough sleep is essential as lack of sleep is one of my triggers. But at least once per holiday I have a 'Bad Bowel Day' - I take 1 Imodium which usually settles it, one more if not, and make sure I eat my good foods. For example - after much research and several very unpleasant incidents I have found out that salads eaten outside the UK have very violent effects on my IBS. Eat junk food and I'm fine! Bizzare!!!

Wow! Lucky!

My triggers are tension, anxiety (or excitement), fat and lactose. So the fat and lactose are easy enough, but I get soooo excited at Disney, it's very hard.

I'm tempted to get hypnotherapy or something....

 

[karriemouse]

Wow! Lucky!

My triggers are tension, anxiety (or excitement), fat and lactose. So the fat and lactose are easy enough, but I get soooo excited at Disney, it's very hard.

I'm tempted to get hypnotherapy or something....

Yup, it's impossible not to get excited at Disney!!!!

Are you taking medication for it? Have you tried the occasional Imodium to get you through the bad days?

I'm also told very low dose amitryptaline can help - try talking to your GP?

Hope you have a great trip whatever happens.

 

[torsie24]

Yup, it's impossible not to get excited at Disney!!!!

Are you taking medication for it? Have you tried the occasional Imodium to get you through the bad days?

I'm also told very low dose amitryptaline can help - try talking to your GP?

Hope you have a great trip whatever happens.

I take Colpermin as a safety measure on days where I know I'll be nervous, and then Buscopan if it does get to be a problem.

They help OK, but I just wish I didn't need to!

If I had just never have gone to Marrakech and got e.Coli that lasted for months, I would still be lactose tolerant and a normal person.

My advice - avoid Morrocco!

 

[karriemouse]

I take Colpermin as a safety measure on days where I know I'll be nervous, and then Buscopan if it does get to be a problem.

They help OK, but I just wish I didn't need to!

If I had just never have gone to Marrakech and got e.Coli that lasted for months, I would still be lactose tolerant and a normal person.

My advice - avoid Morrocco!

I will!! (But I do want to try the Epcot version!)

I take Alvarine Citrate generally, which is similar to Buscopan but stronger, and usually this keeps it under control.

I find emotional triggers are the worst - if I can keep happy I can usually keep well. But then there's the flare ups which happen for absolutely no apparent reason!!!

 

[fanoforlando]

yeah i also have IBS. As soon as i eat something, i gotta run to the toilet.

Some days it's bad dependng on what i have eten, although i try and avoid mexican food and pizza.

I have tried eating small portions and taking tums right after. it so far has worked ok.

I feel bad for people who get it over excitement, because when you see the walt disney world sign i can just imagine what its like

 

[PrincessSarah314]

My best advice is to be prepared! Take Pepto with you (the chewable kind) and chew one or two before a meal that you know will upset your stomach. It seems to help me quite a bit. Also, I try to use the bathrooms whenever I pass by one that's pretty clean and doesn't have a long line. I find that a really full bladder agitates my IBS. This way, my son and mother don't get stuck waiting for me elsewhere!

 

[Cheryl592000]

I agree with all of you. I also suffer from IBS, and a new diabetic. The pills that I take for diabetes makes my IBS worse. So, I feel your pain. But, my IBS is also stress related. Stress is a powerful thing. But, I think (and hope) I will be OK at WDW this fall. We went on a cruise last Oct. and I was petrified to go on an excursion without a bathroom in sight! My MD told me to take Imodium AD (2 tablets) before I was to leave the ship. I really didn't have to take them because I guess I was so happy and relaxed, my IBS didn't really bother me hardly at all the week of the cruise. So, maybe by being at WDW will be a happy excitement instead of a nervous stressfull event and your belly will behave! Good luck and enjoy the magic!

 

[BeckyScott]

I have UC, which isn't exactly the same, but I can definately relate.

I sort of planned the day around it, but not exactly.

Right after a meal, spent the next hour just looking at the shops or other easy distractions, or DH would take oldest DS on a "crazy" ride while youngest DS and I would find something calmer to do.

I also made a point of stopping in every restroom we passed, whether I had to go or not. It was psychological, but it did help me quite a bit. Since I'd just been in there, I could convince myself I had an hour or so, at least. And the bathrooms are everywhere.

I also (and this might be Too Much Information) wore a maxi-pad every day. That was also psychological, but it just made me feel safer.

 

[torsie24]

Thanks for all yur support guys.

Mine is definitely mainly psychological (well as long as I've had no dairy) so a lot of your tips will help me.

I'm hoping that just being really positive about the trip and also confident that I will never be far from a bathroom should make for a comfortable time.

 

[Tonya2426]

I don't have IBS but have UC instead - and the one thing that helps me is to know where all of the bathrooms are. It helps to know where I am rushing towards. Nothing worse than having to look for a bathroom when you "have to go"!!!!!

 

[clanmcculloch]

Mine is definitely mainly psychological (well as long as I've had no dairy) so a lot of your tips will help me.

WDW is just about the easiest place on earth to have fun without dairy products. Check out the stickies regading food allergies. There are places at every park where you can even get dairy free ice cream and milk. Most table service restaurants as well as the counter service restaurants at the resorts have these same things. Some places even have dairy free cheese if you'd like a cheeseburger for dinner. Avoiding your trigger foods will make things MUCH easier on your gut. Trust me that you're not going to miss out. My daughter who has to avoid much more than just milk (she does avoid all traces of milk) eats plenty of brownies and ice cream and chicken fingers and even mac & cheese and other treats when we go to WDW.

The stickies will include contact info for Brenda who oversees special dietary needs for WDW. Contact her. She's the best.

 

[torsie24]

WDW is just about the easiest place on earth to have fun without dairy products. Check out the stickies regading food allergies. There are places at every park where you can even get dairy free ice cream and milk. Most table service restaurants as well as the counter service restaurants at the resorts have these same things. Some places even have dairy free cheese if you'd like a cheeseburger for dinner. Avoiding your trigger foods will make things MUCH easier on your gut. Trust me that you're not going to miss out. My daughter who has to avoid much more than just milk (she does avoid all traces of milk) eats plenty of brownies and ice cream and chicken fingers and even mac & cheese and other treats when we go to WDW.

The stickies will include contact info for Brenda who oversees special dietary needs for WDW. Contact her. She's the best.

Wow! Thanks for this!!!

I was over the moon when I found our Dole Whips were low/no dairy. SO hearing about brownies etc makes me even happier!!!

 

[hockeymom3]

Hmmm, I suffer from the same thing. And I truly mean suffer!! It is so difficult to live with it and still actually eat- but to make things easier, I have vowed to not eat any pizza during our stay at AKL (no matter how good it looks), no ice cream (except, whats this about Dole Whip being low dairy??), nothing too spicy.

Which makes the fact that we're staying a AKL tough - I envision not being able to eat anything there!!! Everyone talks about this African stew, and it sound great - but certainly not anything I could have.

Part of my IBS is triggered by fear - fear of HAVING to go to the bathroom when there isn't one around, or that there will be lots of people in it. I have to plan out the night and morning before my plane ride that I will eat nothing except for bread.

I also find that NEW foods - foods and spices I have never had before are tough. And then it seems that if I have a major episode that anything I eat for a few days will bother me.

And then of course some times anything (even a sip of water) causes it.

I feel for us all!!

I do take Immodium - and I'll be packing LOTS of it with me, but I haven't had anything else. I saw a commecial on tv for Philips Gut "something" but I'm not sure if we have that in Canada or not.

My friend mentioned Dicetel to me, so I think I might go to my doctors to see if I can get some sort of medication for this.

 

[torsie24]

Hmmm, I suffer from the same thing. And I truly mean suffer!! It is so difficult to live with it and still actually eat- but to make things easier, I have vowed to not eat any pizza during our stay at AKL (no matter how good it looks), no ice cream (except, whats this about Dole Whip being low dairy??), nothing too spicy.

Which makes the fact that we're staying a AKL tough - I envision not being able to eat anything there!!! Everyone talks about this African stew, and it sound great - but certainly not anything I could have.

Part of my IBS is triggered by fear - fear of HAVING to go to the bathroom when there isn't one around, or that there will be lots of people in it. I have to plan out the night and morning before my plane ride that I will eat nothing except for bread.

I also find that NEW foods - foods and spices I have never had before are tough. And then it seems that if I have a major episode that anything I eat for a few days will bother me.

And then of course some times anything (even a sip of water) causes it.

I feel for us all!!

I do take Immodium - and I'll be packing LOTS of it with me, but I haven't had anything else. I saw a commecial on tv for Philips Gut "something" but I'm not sure if we have that in Canada or not.

My friend mentioned Dicetel to me, so I think I might go to my doctors to see if I can get some sort of medication for this.

I'm totally the same - as soon as there isn't a bathroom, or one I can't go in confortably I'm the same!

And I totally agree with the even water thing!!

We have a medicine called buscopan here in the UK which seems to help me, it relaxes your stomach muscles a bit so they don't cramp for no reason. Also peppermint oil capsules are great too!

 

[teachallday]

Some places even have dairy free cheese if you'd like a cheeseburger for dinner. . . My daughter who has to avoid much more than just milk (she does avoid all traces of milk) eats plenty of brownies and ice cream and chicken fingers and even mac & cheese and other treats when we go to WDW. . .

I was wondering how sensative your daughter is to milk. I also cannot have any traces of milk in products without paying the price. My struggle however is that I also need to avoid soy milk, it gives me the same reaction.

So do you know if the things like brownies, ice cream, and mac & cheese were soy based instead of milk.

 

[maxiesmom]

Part of my IBS is triggered by fear - fear of HAVING to go to the bathroom when there isn't one around, or that there will be lots of people in it. I have to plan out the night and morning before my plane ride that I will eat nothing except for bread.

Me too! That is the very reason I will not ride Ellen's Energy Adventure. There is no way I want to be stuck on a 40+ minute ride with no way out!

As far as the plane ride goes, I have found that taking 1 immodium the night before helps a lot. Kind of keeps things together.

One of the best things for me is to have as little caffinee as possible. I only drink caffinee free coke, though I do miss cherry coke dreadfully! I do take a sip every now and then, but I can tell right away if I have too much. I start to get the shakes, and my digestive tract kicks into high gear.

It also helps to know that I'm not alone in the problem. Not that I would wish it on anybody, but at least I don't feel like such an outcast.

 

[torsie24]

Me too! That is the very reason I will not ride Ellen's Energy Adventure. There is no way I want to be stuck on a 40+ minute ride with no way out!

As far as the plane ride goes, I have found that taking 1 immodium the night before helps a lot. Kind of keeps things together.

One of the best things for me is to have as little caffinee as possible. I only drink caffinee free coke, though I do miss cherry coke dreadfully! I do take a sip every now and then, but I can tell right away if I have too much. I start to get the shakes, and my digestive tract kicks into high gear.

It also helps to know that I'm not alone in the problem. Not that I would wish it on anybody, but at least I don't feel like such an outcast.

I avoid caffeine too!! Like the plague!

But at least if I'm having any trouble going, I know one mouthful of coffee will fix it in about 5 minutes!