I don't know about Amy. I've loved what Chris has to say on his podcasts about IBS, though - and I used his advice from the podcasts and his website to finally sort out my own longstanding issues.

Firstly I did an elimination diet by staying with one meal that I knew beyond a doubt was OK for me. That meal was a beef stew with lots of juices. I had found over the years that starting an elimination process with foods someone else recommended would often include one or more of my triggers - rice is bloating and potatoes make my joints hurt. Hence the stew. I ate it for about 3 days, until my insides felt calm. My tummy was still tender to touch, and my bowels were still irregular, but I felt OK. Then I added in some other foods that I was 99% sure of, one at a time and leaving at least 3 symptom free days between each. That way I got a bit of variety back into my eating. There are still some foods I haven't tested for - it gets a bit scary, so I keep to what I know.

Over time, I have discovered that I have several different kinds of IBS issues (when I first started, I was just a mess of pain, bloating, C & D, and joint pains, and I had no idea that there were multiple things happening). I have full-on intestinal issues with dairy, seeds, and nuts (and probably with legumes, too, but I didn't bother testing them). The smallest amount of those cause days of major bloating, and spasms through my whole abdomen. I can get joint involvement with them, too. I feel like I've been hit by a truck for at least a week.

Fodmaps cause lower abdominal bloating and pain that is more transient - I can choose to eat a high fodmap food, like an apple for example, and know that I'll be a bit uncomfortable for a day but that's all. Sometimes it's worth it for the crisp, juicy taste ;-). If I do that more than once a week, it can trigger a full flare. I can manage some onions and other veges as long as I cook the shit out of them, lol.

Fasting feels great, but I have to restart my eating very slowly as a rapid change in stomach size can start a flare. Overeating protein definitely starts a flare, as I most painfully discovered when I tried the leptin reset! This is one of my biggest ongoing issues, sadly - the difference between satiety and a flare isn't always clear until later.

One thing that Chris said that's really stayed with me is that people with IBS also get quite severe pain from gas. Once I realised that, I could distinguish between IBS flares, fodmap niggles, and things like positional gas (not that I get much of that since getting everything else sorted out!).

I don't know if this will help - it's been a 20 month process so far! I understand the desire for someone to guide you through it. Best of luck!

Option C: Natasha Campbell-McBride.

Is there a functional practitioner you can find near your area? It sounds like you are serious about doing this, which is great. It will be both a time and financial commitment to work with someone, and I know if I was doing it, I'd do my best to try to find someone who can get to know me, meet face to face, etc...

Things I would try first:

1. Eliminate ALL FODMAPS
2. Test for SIBO
3. Evaluate and mitigate stress (Harder than it seems!)
4. Go low fat high gentle carbs (rice/potato/bananas), this will be a temporary measure.

Hi I hope this helps you by my own trial and error ( or doctors error). I was diagnosed with IBS about 15 years ago. I have since been properly diagnosed but I went all the way back to baby food for a little bit until my system calmed down....no more the a week or two. And then very slowly start adding foods back into you diet and keep a journal of how you felt everyday. It will take time for an inflamed system to calm down. We eat most of the time without a conscience thought of what we're eating, so it's hard for us to find a pattern. I hope this helps you. I know how bad it is to be scared of your next meal.

EPCOTx would be a good option.

From what I understand(I could be wrong), when the body's energy production gets compromised it reacts differently in each of us and the cause of it is different from person to person. Most of my "issues" have been mental and in my journey back to health it's been mostly about increasing the bodies ability to produce energy and as it does so I slowly feel better and better.

So how does one go about doing this? Well, a consistent whole foods diet over a long time frame I guess would be one way but in my case this wasn't enough, or I didn't have the patience to wait that long as I was kind of desperate. I stumbled upon a program that this lady is currently writing about and I've had good results with it.

It's taken about a year and a half to feel better, so it does take time depending on where your at but well worth it as I haven't had to turn to drugs, just a bunch of supps and a high fat WAPF diet.

here's another link that may help(NAYY): http://drlwilson.com/Articles/IBS.htm

Anyways Chris & Amy sound great, I thought I'd just throw it out there. Good luck! Oh and Happy Thanksgiving!