Food allergy caused Irritable Bowel Syndrome

I suffered with regular tummy discomfort for several years. I had bloating, and an achey sensation that moved around my abdomen. It came and stayed for a few days, then went for a day or so.

I visited my doctor, who examined me, and told me I had IBS. I was prescribed several different drugs to limit the tension in my digestive system, but nothing seemed to help.

I tried acupuncture, and visited a homeopath. I also tried a course of therapeutic counselling, thinking that maybe I was stressed and needed to talk about it.

Nothing seemed to help, and I became extremely frustrated. I started to wonder if maybe my problems were being caused by a food intolerance, but abstaining from milk, wheat and alcohol didn't help.

It was on a visit to Thailand when I finally discovered what was causing these problems - intolerance to beef. For the three weeks I was away, my diet completely changed. My stomach problems disappeared.

Apart from the times I had a beef burger because I was fed up with eating the local food. After each time, within 4-6 hours I got a return of my "IBS". And suddenly I realised what was staring me in the face.

I don't touch beef anymore. The few times I have inadvertently had some the same problems have reappeared. It's annoying it took me over a year to work it out, but it's such a relief to be free of the horrible discomfort that took over my everyday life for far too long.