Hi! I'm kind of a lurker on this site! I've had IBS for about 5 years, seemingly brought on by 2 food poisoning episodes in fast succession, and a traumatic loss at the same time, and childhood pains catching up with me, I think. I'm happy to say that in about the past 1 1/2 years the symptoms have greatly subsided in intensity and frequency, sometimes no symptoms for weeks at a time though I still get more mild regular flare ups (like once every couple weeks as opposed to every day!). My IBS symptoms when they were really bad were a little different than the norm, my GI diagnosed "sensitive gut" more than 100% IBS. I'd get mild diarrea in the mornings, and BIG flare ups of nausea and diarrea when I'd eat too much fat, too much "rich" food. In fact, I vomited several times in public places while out to dinner, family events, etc...and then developed some panic attacks whenever I would get nausea, for about 6 months. That was a horrible kind of side effect of my kind of IBS. Since, I've learned what food works for me, and also my life became less stressful and much happier, which is the greatest tonic! For me the main aids were MORE sleep, more relaxation, low fat diet overall (this was a little tricky cause I am slim and got pretty skinny at one point) and acupuncture, and low doses of pepcid and pepto bismol, or immodium on real bad occassions, for flare ups. My life is so happy and I really do think that has helped more than anything (lots of years of therapy!). Right now I'm struggling a bit in that I've had a baby (easily at 40, and w/ only very mild GI upset through pregnancy...there is hope if you want to be pregnant!) and we bought a house which we're fixing up and I work as a therapist w/ autistic kids (not easy) and my baby is a not a good sleeper! It's very tough. I've nursed him a lot (which btw I've read studies that say that the longer a child is breastfed correlates w/ less chance of GI problems later) and at this point he's still up every hour and a half often at night (OMGOD!) at 10 1/2 months...and I am wilting. My IBS is flaring up a bit...and this is always my big fear...will my IBS get bad again? I know what to do now, so I don't think it will ever be like it was, but it's still scary. I have to sleep train this little guy,a nd so far our attempts have been very hard and not worked. BUt I have got him sleeping well for naps now which is a big h  elp . ANyway, handling motherhood and working and taking care of myself is a major challenge. Worthwhile, but major! I'd love to hear your stories, parenting choices (if you have kids or not), how you manage your IBS within a busy life.
THANKS!
MAGGIE
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