Key takeaways:
- Oliver’s IBS symptoms weren’t consistently triggered by gluten or food alone, with stress and life changes playing a major role in flare-ups.
- Strict elimination diets limited Oliver’s social life without resolving symptoms, leading to frustration and food fear.
- Gut-directed hypnotherapy helped Oliver manage IBS without food restriction, allowing him to reintroduce gluten and regain confidence with eating and daily life.
Oliver*, a 28 year-old teacher, has found out first-hand that there are no easy solutions when it comes to managing IBS through food.
“When I was a kid I used to eat enormous amounts of apples and also onions”
Unfortunately for him, he was later diagnosed with fructose malabsorption.
“I was literally eating seven or eight apples a day, and no one told me not to do it! It is like apples are healthy, I am going to eat them!”
Later on he realised this reaction to fructose may be related to the IBS symptoms he was experiencing.
“Even if I just had something at lunch at work, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to teach’, my guts would be hurting that bad after lunch.
“At night, I was lying awake and would not be able to go to sleep till one or two in the morning. Then I would get up and feel like I needed to go to the toilet, but nothing would happen. I was so tired. It affects your whole day."
“When it’s at its worst, it’s pretty poor. You can’t get up, you can’t go for a run, you can’t exercise. I was having five bowel movements a day.”
Goodbye gluten
A naturopath recommended he cut out gluten and as a social guy in his 20s, Oliver felt like a good part of his life was being taken from him.
“They said to completely cut out gluten and then that made me real mad!
“I was like, ‘I can’t even eat anything anymore!’”
