Once again TE is the place to find my support & answers. I told my dr I have Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome. (With the help of Dr. Google I can diagnose myself! ha ha) Probably Crohn's but not sure. 6 years ago I had a hysterectomy (kept 1 ovary so not menopausal). A few months later I started having monthly bloody poops and they did a colonoscopy and told me "hemorrhoids". But the symptoms don't match at all.

A couple years later I decided to try not eating sugar & HFCS to control the monthly mood crashes. I was surprised and delighted that cutting out sugar alleviated the paranoia AND the diarrhea. And the cervix cramps too. Not entirely gone, but all of it was much more tolerable. So I didn't care what it was, so long as it wasn't bothering me.

When I slipped and went back to sugar, all 3 symptoms got worse. When I cut sugar back out, they got better. It takes about 2 months to get the full effect each time.

Since cutting out sugar I've gotten really interested in diet. When I quit sugar, I actually had a list of things I was going to try: sugar, red meat, dairy, wheat. This was from the endometriosis diet but I keep seeing the same list of foods in other contexts. For a while I ate a lot of beans--my family found ME intolerable! I've reduced wheat & dairy (turns out I like goat cheese and it's local). Last month I ate a lot of nuts as an alternative to red meat.

OW OW OW OW OW! Even though I'd been really good about staying off the sugar, I had the worst intestinal cramps and other symptoms (I'll save your sensibilities and NOT go into detail) yesterday. That prompted me to question that original diagnosis of hemorrhoids. I looked into IBS first, which fit better, but IBD fits my symptoms perfectly! The bit about how no single diet works for everyone is particularly compelling. Sadly it appears that nuts are not a good idea for me.

The dr seemed a lot more concerned about it than I am. From what I've read it doesn't lead to something worse, and there's nothing they can do about it that I'm willing to try (medicine or surgery).

I laughed because the first 2 recommendations were quit smoking, and get exercise. I have never smoked and I exercise a lot. The 3rd recommendation I found was to avoid sugar. Check!