Hi - I've been suffering with AFs for quite a few years now. I have been able to make them manageable through taking Movicol, but periodically I seem to get an inexplicable flare-up, i.e tear which returns me back to square 1. I hate having to take Movicol long-term and I do worry about the long-term effects - common sense says that pouring polyethylene glycol down your throat every day cannot be good for you, however it's better than suffering with AF.
Nevertheless, as I said, I do keep getting relapses, despite me doing everything the doctors and wise-people tell me and it really does get me down. I just can't face an operation, that's a last resort and I am determined to try and crack this naturally if I can.
One piece of consistent advice I have read over many years is that fibre is good for us AF sufferers. We need fibre to avoid constipation, to keep us regular, etc. I even took Psyllium Husks at one point to "bulk out my stools" even though bulking out felt very counter-intuitive. Still no improvement, in fact it seemed to be worse although I never followed a consistent enough diet to really identify what was causing it.
And then ... on January 1st I began a whole food, plant based diet (reasons are many and varied). I only ate wholesome, unrefined, naturally occurring, plant based food, and for a couple of weeks I felt great. And then I had a relapse, one of the worst relapses I have had in fact and I felt thoroughly depressed. But in my despair, I looked back on what I had eaten (I was using myfitnesspal to record everything I ate) and I noticed I was consuming 50g-70g of fibre a day.
I also came across this website https://www.gutsense.org/index.html which was highlighting insoluble fibre as the culprit for AF sufferers (and many other disorders). Guess what? Not only was my fibre high, but most of it was insoluble. In trying to eat well I was consuming large amounts of nuts, wholegrain, legumes. On the day I had my bad tear I had eaten a large amount of popcorn at the cinema. Guess what? Popcorn has huge amounts of insoluble fibre!
I read gutsense and it seemed to make sense. Whilst insoluble fibre may be OK for normal people, for AF sufferers with damaged linings, this was a potential apocalyptic, arse-tearing disaster.
It's difficult to avoid soluble fibre, and in fact I feel I need that to stay regular, but I have tried to eliminate as much insoluble fibre as possible and I feel so much better. It's too early to say I am healed, I'm not sure I will ever say that but I feel like I am making headway. I am also trying to replace Movicol with Magnesium Citrate and Vitamin C, my goal being to transition to low/no IF diet, with Mag C and Vit C for stool softening - that would be happy days indeed.
Anyway, I just thought it might be interesting to share. I'd love to hear if any of this makes sense to anyone else? I'll post periodic updates too if that's of interest.
Cheers, UKGuy