IBS Success Story: How Lindsey Beat Diarrhea & Food Fear by Targeting Lifestyle Triggers

Jessie Wong (00:03.474)

Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of IBS Nutrition Podcast. Today I have a very special guest here with me and this is Lindsay. Lindsay was one of our past clients and she is so lovely to come on here to share her story, how she was able to stop her diarrhea to find IBS freedom. Lindsay, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

Lindsey (00:28.302)

Thank you, I’m really happy to be here.

Jessie Wong (00:30.866)

Yeah, your story was very relatable to me because I had young kids too. Well, my kids are still young, but when you joined the program, I remember a lot of the things you were talking about about afraid of dropping kids off at daycare or going to the grocery store because of your IBS symptoms. And I think too, in your group, there were a few other moms who were in the same situation and you guys had a really supportive group and.

I’m just so thankful that you are here to share your story and how you overcome IBS. And as we always talk about IBS, everybody have different triggers and Lindsay actually does not really have a food trigger. And we identified her triggers through working together. So Lindsay, if you don’t mind, can you introduce yourself a little bit? Who are you? What was your life like before IBS?

Lindsey (01:25.647)

Hi, yeah, so before life with IBS would have meant that it would have been before, like in my early 20s, in my late teens, of course, you’re just kind of in that phase of like, doing whatever, partying, drinking, not really eating the greatest and everything just being fine at that time and not really thinking about much.

As I got a little bit older, I actually took a class in college for nutrition and I fell in love with it. I aced the class and I was like, wow, this is something that I want to pursue. And I did a complete lifestyle change. I started taking classes for a nutrition degree. I started working on farms. I was active, healthy.

I was getting ready to shift over to learning more about sustainable agriculture after my nutrition degree. At 24, I found out I was pregnant, which shifted my plans for the future. But I was okay with that. I mean, I was in a safe and secure relationship with my high school sweetheart. So we just jumped into parenthood. Motherhood, however, unfortunately didn’t start well for me.

I had like an emergency c -section. I struggled with postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and I never assessed or took care of that. I just kind of dealt with it. After my son turned a year old, I was extremely stressed out, anxious, and a bit malnourished. I had some low vitamin levels at the time. And that’s when my symptoms started. I ended up

I ended up having two separate chronic illnesses show up around the same time. One of them ended up being IBS.

Jessie Wong (03:25.01)

Okay, well thank you for sharing that. Yeah, well now let’s talk about your IBS symptoms, because you know everybody have different symptoms. What particular IBS symptoms were you dealing with?

Lindsey (03:36.049)

so it was at the, at the very beginning of my IBS journey, I was experiencing urgent trips to the bathroom. it seemed like I could eat a certain type of food one day, but not really the next day. when I would have an upset stomach, I would just eat like bland soup and wait a day or two until it got better. but then a few days would go by and it would just happen again. And.

It was just an unusual cycle that ended up unfortunately turning into unhealthy eating habits due to me just becoming so afraid of food. And this is coming from me who loves food, loves trying all the ingredients, all the vegetables and fruits and grains and everything like that. So coming from that to not knowing what was happening with my gut,

the anxiety took over. I mean, it never even got taken care of and never got, you know, managed in the first place. So the anxiety just got worse. And my, my brain started to think of just the what if scenarios, you know, what if it’s this, what if it’s that? And, then I started suffering from severe anxiety every time I had to eat. it was like,

eating a food, wondering whether it was going to mess up my stomach. The negative feedback loop would then trigger an upset stomach, but I had no idea at the time that it was anxiety that was making it so severe. That was just one piece that I couldn’t figure out at the time. So this was prior to working with you. I was just…

Jessie Wong (05:22.578)

Mm -hmm.

Lindsey (05:30.258)

unsure as to what was happening. I had gone to my doctor. She wasn’t really helpful at the time. I was just searching random things on the internet. Internet tells me take probiotics every single day. So I start taking probiotics every day and hoping for the best. That doesn’t help. I didn’t realize I was actually making my symptoms worse. So that went on for quite a while. And

The next thing I did was I cut dairy out. That I did on my own without the recommendation from anyone. My mom’s lactose intolerant, so I was like, well, maybe I’ve suddenly become lactose intolerant too. This did actually seem to help for a while, and it did help reduce my symptoms, but they didn’t go away completely. I didn’t do much for a while.

at that point because I’m like, well, probably lactose intolerant then. And then I ended up getting pregnant with my second child. And during that time, the urgent trips to the bathroom actually went away. With anyone who gets pregnant or knows what happens, you actually become constipated. So I was like, well, at least I’m constipated instead.

so I just, I dealt with that for the, you know, second and the third trimester. it didn’t bug me though. It felt like a relief. So it was, it was almost like a, a band -aid to the situation, I guess, which is kind of silly to say. but after I gave birth to my second child, I wrote the hormonal wave for a few months. But of course the symptoms, you know, got worse. My anxiety still wasn’t taken care of.

I, after that, I started to cut out even more food groups, more and more, to the point where I actually, I was starving myself. I dropped down to about 89 pounds. I was living off chicken broth, boiled chicken, saltine crackers, Jell -O. That was pretty much my meal. I would skip meals as well. At this time, I had…

Lindsey (07:55.732)

switched doctors and hospitals due to just life changes. We moved out of state and I was able to actually get a doctor to the state that we moved in to run like a GI doctor to help run all the tests just to see what was going on. Is it IBS or is it you know something else like IBD? We did the tests like the blood stool or I’m sorry the stool tests, blood work, ultrasound.

I did a CT scan. I did everything. It came back normal every single time. And my doctor, my GI doctor, she’s like, well, sounds like IBS, but my anxiety refused to believe this. So I was obsessively emailing and trying to make appointments to keep searching for more answers. But every time they said, it’s just IBS. So that was, that was the, that was,

pretty much where I was before I started working with you. That’s where I was. I was at a very low point in my life with two kids, having panic attacks, thinking about having to leave my house, crying, pretty much just falling apart.

Jessie Wong (09:12.594)

You’re making me want to cry here because it’s, it’s so real and I’m sure everybody listening, they can very much relate to this. Now in hindsight, I will say all of your tests being normal is a really good thing because we really don’t want it to be another condition where it could be life threatening. Now losing weight though, is not a common symptom for IBS, but sometimes if we’re restricting eating a lot that can happen and it is.

Actually something we would like to address sooner rather than later to stop the weight loss and also bring your weight back to normal. So I’m really glad you’re sharing that. Yeah.

Lindsey (09:45.749)

Yes, I was in a severe calorie deficit. And of course my anxiety wasn’t putting those pieces together. It was me telling me, it’s something so much worse. What if it’s colon cancer? What if it’s some other cancer somewhere in my body that they’re missing? Even though the test results, every single one was coming back normal. Everything was coming back fine. But…

when the anxiety is not taken care of, then it’s going to get you stuck in a negative feedback loop. And that’s where I was for a couple of years.

Jessie Wong (10:23.09)

Thank you for sharing that. And I think too, again, a lot of people can relate to it. And this is where I would caution people who are listening. There will be companies out there who try to sell you tests because you are a vulnerable population for them.

And they will take advantage of this and try to sell you tests directly to you or through a practitioner who may not follow the evidence -based practices. And these are tests such as the GI map, gut microbiome tests, or a food sensitivity test. Remember, those tests are not accurate. They are not necessary. Well, more importantly, they’re not accurate, but they feed, they target the vulnerable people.

Lindsay, did you experience those? Did you ever look into those kind of alternative testing when you were looking for help?

Lindsey (11:13.174)

I looked into it, yes. Like I said earlier, I was taking the probiotics every single day because that’s what people on the internet told me to do, that it’s going to improve gut health. I think the reason why I didn’t get to the point where I clicked submit on purchasing one of those tests was because I had gone and immediately started working with a GI doctor.

and the GI doctor was the one that told me, stop taking the probiotics every day. Right now, there is not enough information on the internet, not enough research to actually prove that this does improve gut health. It’s probably a waste of money. And then the same thing too, I had asked her about all of these tests on the internet and she said, nope, no, don’t even bother. So I didn’t get to that point and I’m very glad I did.

Jessie Wong (12:12.402)

Yeah, I’m glad too, because it could be and again, a vicious cycle of wasting time and money. All right. Well, what made you decide to work with us?

Lindsey (12:23.383)

well, as someone who obviously has a pretty bad health anxiety, I was, I was Googling everything. I would Google the silliest questions. And when Google wouldn’t help me, I actually ended up going to Instagram, to see if I could find anyone else on that app that could help. I would type in hashtag IBS that just leave it like that.

This is actually how I found your account was because of the hashtag IBS. I was watching all of your videos that you had posted, like your reels on there. And I looked, and then I looked at your program that you were offering. And I, at this point, I was so tired, so hungry. I was so weak, so sad, depressed with my life. And I just, I desperately needed help.

and the videos on your Instagram page were really informative and I felt like I could trust you in helping me figure out my triggers rather than trying to sell me supplements or ridiculous tests out there. I mean, I saw that you were a registered dietician. That’s what I was going to school for. I feel like I could already trust you and I hadn’t even met you at the time. It was just all through Instagram.

Jessie Wong (13:45.01)

Thank you for trusting us. And I’m really glad you joined our program and we were able to help you. So, okay. Well, let’s share a little bit about our process working together. What did we do together? What actually in our program probably helped you? If you can’t, you know, kind of step by step kind of share with our audience.

Lindsey (14:07.352)

Yeah, so you had a lot of videos on there. So before we started working together, I went and watched all of the videos that you had in your program. I took a ton of notes. I wrote down a column. I had like a binder paper and I wrote down on the column, food triggers on one side and lifestyle triggers. I had no idea that there would have…

there was ever a column for lifestyle triggers. When people think of IBS, they immediately go straight to it being a food trigger, not taking into account that there are actually a ton of lifestyle triggers out there. I was just so focused on my gut being triggered by only food, just ingredients. But I also didn’t understand too that it was IBS is a gut brain miscommunication.

It doesn’t have anything to do with, you know, inflamed intestines, which is what you hear all the time or leaky gut or all these, you know, wonky things. so once the program started, you, you were helping me navigate through the low FODMAP diet. I only knew a little bit about it. I was trying to do it on my own. It was really difficult to do. so working with.

and a registered dietitian that specializes in IBS and the Monash app was what helped successfully get me through the steps without having all of the pressure and the stress to do it on my own and figure out portion sizes and everything like that. And I just figured I could do it myself. Like I went to school for nutrition. Like how hard could it be?

But it’s actually really hard to do if you don’t study it or you don’t specialize in it. So I’m really happy that I got the knowledge and support from you during that time. So we were going through the low FODMAP diet and we were kind of realizing it might not actually be any food triggers. We did identify a potential food trigger.

Lindsey (16:21.785)

That I cut out of my diet for a while I would say it helped for about three weeks where I Didn’t have those urgent trips to the bathroom Everything felt normal and I was like, that it was that trigger but then after three weeks the symptoms came back again so I Left it out for a while probably for a few months And then one day I

I was just like, you know what? Screw it. I’m going to eat whatever I want. I’m going to do whatever. And when I felt that way, when I just, I just let go of that pressure about food, nothing happened. Everything stayed normal. And that’s when I was like, wow, I don’t think it’s food besides dairy. I actually am lactose intolerant.

Jessie Wong (17:11.986)

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Wong (17:21.266)

Hehehe.

Lindsey (17:21.339)

But, but everything else though, I was like, it’s not the food. I actually, I don’t think it’s the FODMAP, you know, the high FODMAP ingredients. It’s really just my, my stress and anxiety about it. Just lingering. I did forget to mention, I completely forgot to mention when we first started working together, I, I started anxiety medication at the same time. This was because my GI doctor and my, my regular doctor.

Jessie Wong (17:36.594)

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Wong (17:46.534)

Mm -hmm.

Lindsey (17:50.651)

They were so supportive. They were really helping me, but they were at a point where they’re like, we’re not going to run any more tests. You’re fine. It’s very obvious. Your anxiety is taking over. You may want to consider medication. So that was me for about one and a half years. I did take anxiety medication and it helped immensely. I recommend it to anyone who is on the fence about taking anxiety medication.

Jessie Wong (18:17.554)

Yes, this is a really important point because oftentimes people are very afraid of medications, but medications can be a very useful tool and they’re well studied, right? If they are approved by FDA, they are very well studied. We know what they do. We know their side effects and most of the time, well, most of the time we know how long a patient will need it for or what it will do. And sometimes it could be a lifelong medications you need to take.

And even within IBS, there are quite a few antidepressants that we actually use. Not we, but doctors may prescribe for patients and it’s okay to take it and trial it. If that’s something that could help, because medications can work wonders for IBS patients. Now let’s go back a little bit to talk about the lifestyle triggers that we go through in the program. Do you still remember what they are?

Lindsey (19:10.364)

I do, I have, I call it my IBS toolkit. And I just have multiple tools in my IBS toolkit that I follow and make sure they, everything is working well. So the biggest one for me was sleep deprivation, not getting a full night’s rest. I had a four year old at the time and a 10 month old.

Of course I wasn’t getting a full night’s rest. I was still waking up multiple times throughout the night to nurse my, my youngest. I was, it was interrupted sleep and I was trying to catch up on it throughout the day. that was the first one I was able to take care of. And, I was already in the process of starting to wean off the nighttime feedings anyway.

So that was just a huge motivator for me to get the full night’s rest. And that was probably the most significant and one of the most important ones I did. A few of the other ones that I still follow today are chewing my food very, very slowly without interruptions. I don’t say…

Jessie Wong (20:03.154)

Okay.

Jessie Wong (20:15.09)

Yeah.

Lindsey (20:26.684)

and watch TV anymore while I’m eating. Otherwise, I’m just going to stare at the screen and scarf my food down and not even like enjoy it or chew it well. So I now chew my food to like an applesauce consistency and I take my time to eat. I take a very good amount of time to just sit there and enjoy the food that I’m eating. Those are probably the main two that I follow every day.

There’s definitely more that I’m going to have to remember off the top of my head, but those are the most significant ones for me.

Jessie Wong (21:00.69)

Right, so for you, you watch the videos in our program and then you kind of make those changes step by step, right?

Lindsey (21:08.284)

Yes, yeah, you have a kind of a list in there of just some lifestyle changes that, or lifestyle triggers that could possibly affect your IBS. And so I just pretty much went off the list, like, well, that makes sense. You know, I’m not sleeping well, I’m scarfing down my food. the other one was lack of movement. And that paired in with my anxiety, because when I was super anxious, I just sit.

on the couch and I wouldn’t move because I thought if I move then something’s going to upset my stomach. So I had to get over that fear and I started just doing light exercise because it turns out these urgent trips to the bathroom weren’t necessarily IBSD for me. It was actually IBSC and I was not

my gut motility was just really sluggish and slow. So once I figured that out, it took a couple years, probably a total of two years to finally nail this down. Once I figured out that movement, light exercise, it was really helpful and all of the other things that I learned from your program just by watching those videos in there. It was like, like a switch turned on in my head, like, duh.

Jessie Wong (22:38.002)

Yeah, sometimes it’s the little things. Well, actually, I wouldn’t say sometimes. A lot of the times it really is the little things, especially for us moms, we’re trying to take care of everybody else and we neglect taking care of ourselves. Right. And I’m guilty too, when you were talking about chewing your food to applesauce consistency or sitting down to eat.

I will have to be honest, I don’t always do that, but I know it impacts my gut when I am really rushing through my meals and standing there to eat. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah.

Lindsey (23:07.325)

Yeah, and you just tend to overeat as well. And when you overeat too, then that is another IBS trigger.

Jessie Wong (23:17.65)

Yes. So practicing that mindful eating is really important. Knowing when to stop, knowing how you feel after you eat. Yes. Being more in tune to your body, would you say?

Lindsey (23:30.238)

Yes, very much more in tune to it.

Jessie Wong (23:33.554)

Right. Now, after the program, how has your life changed?

Lindsey (23:39.614)

So, well, for the better, immediately. I am so thankful that I did your program because without it, I don’t think I would be where I am today. Now, I kept on, I kept focusing on managing my symptoms as best as I could, just trying to figure out, you know, if there were any other triggers. And it was a lot of trial and error, but hands down, working with the registered dietician gave me that

confidence and motivation to just keep pushing through those hard days. And once I kept doing that, I slowly started to have more good days or better days, I guess, than those hard or bad days. And I did stay on my anxiety medication for about one and a half years. I slowly weaned off of it when I could tell that I was mentally in a better place.

I went and worked with a therapist who helped me with some exposure therapy and some gut hypnotherapy. That is another thing that I still use pretty often. It helps to just kind of give you the time to be more mindful and in tune with your body. I’m pretty happy that I am…

living my life again. I mean, I’m not pretty happy. I’m extremely happy. I’ve reduced my symptoms by I’d say about, I don’t know, 75 to 90 % compared to where I was before. I mean, it was an everyday thing for me multiple times a day. And now it’s, you know, it still happens. Like I there is no cure for IBS. It’s always going to be there. Maybe something will happen in the future someone will

with something, but that’s not right now. So I have to understand that there is no cure for IBS. I am going to have bad days and I do have them. I just have to give myself grace and take the time to relax, pull those tools out from my IBS toolkit and it’ll be okay. It’ll be passed.

Lindsey (25:58.849)

I’ve written an article for an IBS website, just sharing my story too. I mean, I’m really passionate about this. I’m currently a moderator for an IBS support group on Facebook as well, that has a lot of science -based information in there. So I’m just really happy to share my stories with others and hope that it just, it gives you some hope for your journey and just know that things will get better.

It takes time. It’s not going to be overnight. It won’t. I mean, it, it built up over, I’d say two or three years for me of just having horrible symptoms. Of course it’s going to take a while for me to get back on track and for you too, for whoever’s listening to this, but it does get better though. And, one of the most life -changing things that I could have done for myself was to work with you and, and take your program.

Jessie Wong (26:56.498)

Thank you. and I’m, I really want to emphasize what you just said, you know, there’s no change overnight. We can’t change this condition overnight. And I think there’s a lot of products or programs out there that promises cure or change overnight. And I think people listening, you got to be very wary of those things because oftentimes they are false promises. And what they do is try to sell you supplements and.

I think for those of us in this space and Lindsay obviously is very passionate about IBS. We see that all the time and we really want to caution people not to fall for a fall victim for those fallacies, what we call. And Lindsay, thank you so much for sharing your story. Do you have any last words you want to share maybe for anybody who is struggling right now?

Lindsey (27:47.456)

I think I pretty much summed it up. You know, for anyone who’s afraid to, this is a hilarious one, but for anyone who’s afraid to talk about their bowel movements with someone, don’t be. I loved the program with Jesse. We did work in that group setting where at first I was like, my goodness, am I really gonna talk about like my bathroom habits with someone on the computer that I’ve never met?

but it was such a great and supportive group to actually hear other people struggling with their symptoms. You know, some would cry, you know, because they feel so defeated. Some I could relate to because they’re moms as well. They’re afraid that they’re not going to be able to enjoy their lives with their kids. And just to hear that you’re not alone in this makes it feel

The pressure is reduced in like feeling like you need to, you know, immediately figure out your triggers. And like you said earlier, the internet, it sucks sometimes because you do see something where take this pill and your IBS is cured overnight or, you know, take this supplement or do this and it’s magically gone. No, it’s, it’s not going to be that way. Just working with, with a group of people.

understanding it will take some time. You’re absolutely in no way at all alone in this. So many people in the entire world have IBS. It’s a gut brain communication disorder. And it kind of sucks to hear, you know, when you hear from your GI doctor, it’s just IBS. At first you’re like, well, I kind of wish it was something else because then I would know exactly what it is.

But in reality, it’s great to hear it’s just IBS. It’s great to hear that you don’t have some sort of other GI issue. It’s just IBS. Your gut and your brain aren’t really talking together that well. So there’s going to be ways to help manage and reduce the frequency of your symptoms. And you’ll get there.

Jessie Wong (30:06.834)

Right. And with IBS diets and lifestyle can have a bigger impact on someone’s managing sometimes than medications. And there is hope.

Lindsey (30:18.4)

There is hope and it’s also okay to take the medications too. I have been able to find enough of my triggers and symptoms and manage them without medication aside from the anxiety medication. I did get prescribed another medication from my GI doctor that I tried. And the only way you’re going to find out whether it works or not is to try it. You have to trial it. It may or may not upset your stomach.

Jessie Wong (30:22.322)

Mm -hmm.

Lindsey (30:47.332)

But don’t be afraid if medication is what’s going to help reduce your symptoms. My anxiety around it was, what about the side effects? Well, my anxiety was causing more harm to my body than the side effects would ever do. So just don’t get stuck in that negative feedback loop because it just, you just get go down and down into it and.

Sometimes it’s hard to get out, but medication, lifestyle changes are such a big one. Whether or not they even are triggers, I think it’s good for anyone out there to focus on lifestyle changes anyway. You know, the simple ones like drink adequate amounts of water, move your body every day, even if it’s just walking. Walking is so important for everyone. Take the time to enjoy the food that you’re eating.

Jessie Wong (31:19.154)

Mm -hmm.

Lindsey (31:46.531)

And don’t be afraid of food. Food is great for you. Don’t be afraid to eat it.

Jessie Wong (31:49.714)

Mm -hmm.

Jessie Wong (31:54.546)

Yeah. And one thing I think we talked about when we worked together is not skipping meals, right?

Lindsey (32:00.995)

Yes, a lot of people are really into, you know, fasting and stuff. I don’t, you know, if it works for them, great. For IBS, for people who have IBS, it’s not a great idea. I don’t skip my meals. I have three meals a day. I occasionally have a snack in between, and I have my little sweet treat at the end of the day. For me, what I do is I like to stop eating by 7pm. Just gives, you know,

my gut enough time to digest the food before I go to bed and not, you know, snack throughout the day. that was another thing too. I would just, I would just snack all day long. I would not give my gut any time to take the time to digest a meal. It was just snacking. So I like to stick to my meals and portion sizes are really important too.

Jessie Wong (32:55.058)

Yeah, absolutely. It’s the small things that we can change and it’s in our hands to change. So if you are listening, give these a try. These are the lifestyle modifications that you can even start now. All right, Lindsay, thank you so much for sharing your story. This is very inspiring for everyone listening and really help them find a better way forward, even just by making the small changes. And I’m sure it is going to be helpful. All right.

Lindsey (33:00.996)

Yes.

Jessie Wong (33:24.498)

Thank you so much.

Lindsey (33:25.924)

Thank you.