Trial and error
When Heather was first diagnosed, a career was the furthest thing from her mind. Instead, what she was looking for was relief. Heather's new doctor had given her a name for her illness, but little else. “He really didn't give me any help. I wanted to know how to stop it,” she recalls.

Realizing she was on her own, Heather decided to take responsibility for her own treatment. Initially, she began to pay attention to which things seemed to trigger her IBS attacks and which things soothed the pain.

It took about 10 years of trial and error, but ultimately, Heather was able to bring her IBS under control, largely through diet and lifestyle management. Initially, she hit on three categories of foods that seemed to affect her condition:

• Foods high in fat, which nearly always triggered an attack
• Safe foods that made her feel better, such as rice, good quality white bread, and oatmeal
• Roughage, such as green salads, bran, and whole grain bread, which always made her feel worse despite their reputed health benefits

As she began to identify her various triggers and “safe foods,” Heather began to create a system of dietary guidelines that helped her get her IBS under control. The more she learned about nutrition, the more she was able to fine-tune her self-treatment. It was a breakthrough no doctor had ever suggested. “I had never been given any dietary advice,” she recalls, “either good or bad advice.”