Story · YouTube
Individual experience, not evidence.
Chanda Freeman: managing IBS after gallbladder removal with diet changes and exercise
Chanda Freeman on YouTube, more than a decade of symptoms; several years since diagnosis.
- What they tried
- Exercise and physical activitySays she started exercising more alongside cutting greasy, sugary and dairy-heavy foods, dropping beef and pork, seeing a GI nutritionist and a therapist; no detail on type or frequency
- Timeframe
- more than a decade of symptoms; several years since diagnosis
- Outcome
- Reported fewer and milder flare-ups after cutting back greasy, sugary and dairy-heavy foods, dropping beef and pork, exercising more and working on stress; she says the IBS has not gone away and that eating old favourites still brings attacks.
- Caveats
- Self-reported. Her symptoms began after emergency gallbladder removal, which she believes affects digestion; IBS was diagnosed around age 40 after endoscopy, colonoscopy, MRI and CT found nothing else. Religious framing throughout; this is part one of a series.
Original: Chanda Freeman on YouTube
Chanda Freeman’s account begins in her late twenties with a lunchtime pizza, cramps so severe she was found on the floor of a work bathroom, and emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder. She lost her job during recovery and, after a few weeks of avoiding greasy food, returned to eating as before.
Attacks crept back over the following years, usually after fatty or sugary meals, and became frequent around her fortieth birthday. Her husband pushed her to see a gastroenterologist; endoscopy, colonoscopy, MRI and CT scans found nothing, and she was told it was IBS with little further explanation. One doctor referred her to a GI nutritionist.
She describes the next phase as trial and error, with her husband researching foods. Cutting back grease, sugar and dairy reduced the number and severity of flare-ups, but each time she felt better and reintroduced favourites the attacks returned. She became afraid to eat and lost weight. She now avoids beef, pork and sugar, eats little chicken, and would like to move towards a vegan diet.
Alongside diet she lists exercising more, seeing a therapist, prayer, a supportive family and friends who choose restaurants she can eat at. She singles out stress as her biggest trigger. She says she was told the IBS would never go away and that this has held true, but that she has learned to manage it.
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Individual experience, not evidence. Results are not typical and may not apply to you.
TreatIBS has no relationship with the creator and did not verify these claims.