Owner of Oxygen Skincare, Alana Riley, 47, lives in Nelson with her husband Colin Oldham; they have three older children aged 24, 22 and 19. She says: “Growing up, I’d never even heard of IBS before but in my 20s it started to affect me and eventually take over my life entirely.
If I look back now, stress was probably a huge factor. I lost my dad when I was 15 and was still probably grieving when Mum passed away when I was 21. I had my three kids by the time I was 28 and was quite isolated living on a farm. I got terrible post-natal depression so things were not the best.
I used to get awful stomach cramps and diarrhoea most days and the pain was intense. At my worst I got down to 54kg as I wasn’t holding on to anything. I saw doctors and specialists and had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy. Eventually they said it was IBS and gave me painkillers and antispasmodics to deal with it. During extreme times of pain I also had to take very strong pain killers to manage it.
Things hit a low point two years ago when I couldn’t get out of bed for three weeks. I was trying to run my business from my laptop in bed and I was regularly doubled over in pain. They did another gastroscopy and found bleeding in my stomach, in all likelihood from all the ibuprofen, losec and buscopan the doctors had me on for all those years.
It got worse – my specialist said I had chronic inflammation in the stomach and that there were cellular changes afoot. I don’t understand the details of cellular science but I knew this meant that cancer could be a realistic possibility in the future. I was beside myself, especially since I had a strong family history of heart disease and had high blood pressure issues. Dad had seven heart attacks in his lifetime and my brother had just had one at age 44.
One weekend, while I was confined to bed, a friend rang up and said a guy called Ben Warren was doing a seminar here in Nelson about nutrition. It sounded really interesting, and possibly helpful, so somehow I dragged myself out of bed for it.
I’m so glad I did because that evening changed my entire life. Ben’s company, BePure, is all about clean eating and finding the right nutrition for each individual. He says all our bodies are different, as are all our immune systems, and it’s about finding out the right solution for each system.
I found out he had a two-day course in Wellington the following weekend so I signed up on the spot. I learned so much there and I haven’t had a single IBS episode since six weeks after I first saw him – two years ago now. It’s unbelievable when this condition had governed my life for more than 20 years.
During that course he gave us morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, plus instruction on what to eat for dinner on both nights. In my case he said the first two things I needed to do were eliminate gluten and drink a lot more water. I couldn’t believe it when by the end of the weekend my stomach had calmed and the pain reduced dramatically.
I know now that while stress was a huge factor, and I did get therapy for this some years ago, nutrition is key in my case – and probably in many others. I grew up in a good Roman Catholic Irish family with six kids so food was pretty basic. Lamb chops, potatoes and veggies were standard dinners, Raro was the drink of choice and bread and margarine were staples. It turns out most of that is not great for my particular system and since I’ve started eating clean – that is, trying to eat food that looks like it did when it came off the tree, out of the ground or from an animal – my body has breathed a huge sigh of relief. I am off all pain meds, have heaps of energy and am so happy. I’m back at a healthy weight and Ben has me on the supplements I need. He’s very realistic and knows some things will work for some people and not for others: for example, we tried fish oil and my body didn’t like it, so I came straight off it.
I’ve become that person who is fanatical about good nutrition as it has changed my life so radically. My friends call me ‘Do you really need to eat that?’ as that’s what I’m always saying to them when we go out. But ultimately I know everyone has their own journey; I’m just so glad mine took the turn it did after attending that course – I hate to think what might have happened otherwise.”
IBS: the facts
Irritable bowel syndrome is thought to affect 10-20 per cent of the population, with symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating, constipation and diarrhoea.
The exact cause is unknown, but experts believe it’s related to digestion and increased sensitivity.
Other causes are thought to include inflammation, infections and certain diets – while stress and anxiety are also believed to contribute. For more information, visit theibsnetwork.org.
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