User talk:Hvan

Welcome!

Hello, Hvan, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! JFW | T@lk 21:51, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

IBS

You have discovered the IBS page and its discussion area. Are you aware of any studies documenting a measurable improvement in symptoms (by well-tested activity scales) in response to the diet advice in your book? JFW | T@lk 21:46, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, there is an ongoing clinical trial specific to my dietary guidelines (and prompted by the lead gastroenterologist's success with alleviating his own IBS symptoms through the dietary measures). The trial was designed by a bio-statistician, has over 600 paients diagnosed with IBS according to the Rome II Guidelines, is being led by Dr. Noel Hershfield of Calgary, and is continuing as of 2006. Dr. Hershfield's preliminary results show success with both diarrhea and constipation as well as abdominal pain (he emails to update me regularly).

The other aspect is that general IBS diet studies (and there are now quite a few of them), whether they pre-date or post-date Eating for IBS, have explicitly confirmed the benefits of my dietary guidelines (reducing fats, avoiding red meat, avoiding fructose, being careful with insoluble fiber, etc.). I added some of those studies to the IBS page in the diet section and references. The benefit to giving people with IBS the Eating for IBS guidelines as a whole is that this is a much more accessible form of dietary management information for them, in that the guidelines are comprehensive and also written in a way as to be applicable to daily life when living with IBS.

The anecdotal support information (which is substantial - a community of over 50,000 people has formed around the diet) I have added to the IBS discussion page. Hvan 23:15, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Heather, I can see that you attempted/did contribute quite a bit to the IBS article. Through the mediation process we were just able to finally add a section on alternative treatments. This would certainly include CAM, Integrative Medicine, and lots of things from your area of expertiese. I would certainly invite/encourage you to revisit the article and consider participating as a contributing editor. Sarastro777 22:02, 17 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your comments. I'll be adding to the Alternative Treatments section soon. Hvan 08:40, 27 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]