Linda Lane
I was diagnosed with IBS and one thing for me that caused the cramping was having too little salt. With food allegies, I had to balance getting enough salt with then the other side of too many salt and fingers swelling. I had no idea too little salt can cause cramps. Second, if it is not muscular cramping but rather digestion of foods, that was something I also had. After I made sure I was getting enough lecithin (which coats the intestines etc to make digestion go from being painful to no longer painful) I still found bloating etc even though I had a pretty high fiber diet. I got to the point where there was practically nothing I could eat without consequence which is how the low salt part entered in. To solve all this, I began a regimen of digestives from the local health food store and at least at first I would open up the capsules and sprinkle it over the food that was not heated. I was amazed, almost shocked, how in one meal, it went from a punishment to eat food to being a comfortable even enjoyable experience. Apparently we have a number of enzymes we are born with and over time we are supposed to get them from our foods, most of which are processed enough to no longer have enzymes. Over time, the body just runs out of things to digest with and the bloating etc starts. it was very interesting and of course, the most interesting thing is that was a solution for my problem. I can now eat anything these days - salsa, hot peppers, anything. just I have to have the enzymes for most meals in order to have fun with food. I noticed my food cravings went down since I started the enzymes and I am actually losing weight though at first I was just too delighted and ate more than I needed. Good luck...hope something here helps... Linda Lane