Is IBS progressive?
#310183 - 06/29/07 06:49 PM
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Just wondering if it took a while for your symptoms to develop or it it just hit you all at once. I remember having d whenever I drank or eat really bad food, but it wasn't that often. I thought I might be lactose intolerant, so cut out dairy, then was fine for about a year. Then I started getting D again every 2nd week. Then finally the last 6 months before Heather's Diet, I started having D every day. Thats when I went to the Doctor.
I started the diet really early, as soon as I was diagonosed but was wondering for those that didn't know about the diet at the time, did your IBS get worse as time progressed?
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For me, yes, the same story; I was getting bad stomach cramps and D, was tested for various things including ulcers and was given medication to stop acid production in my stomach. Took that every day for a while, still had D but no pain after eating, then things got worse again, pain-wise, alternating D and C, so I cut dairy and was mostly fine for about a year and then symptoms came back again and got worse and I tried cutting all sorts of things, then was diagnosed with IBS and followed the usual eat more bran eat more fresh fruit advice and it was hell! Impossible for ages, worse than ever. But now I feel so much better 
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I think for some of us it it a progressive condition. I am IBS-D. I have had bad symptoms for 12 years, but certain things bothered me before that time. I remember 15 years ago, in college, having trouble with frozen yogurt and pop...and alcohol! After the birth of my first baby my IBS really got going. I used to control it well with just sf and a low fat diet, but as it progresses it seems like I have more pain and bloating, but very little D. I eat VERY little IF; it hurts too much. I had a c-section after my third baby (5 years ago) and my IBS was at it's worse after that. Thank goodness I found Heather a couple years back.
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For me, absolutely. I was born with it, and as a newborn, hour after hour of my colicky screaming actually would drive my mother out of the house. I was a very constipated child, and made things worse by constantly not going to the bathroom when I should, because it was sooo painful. I would hold it off until it was impossible. That is the worst thing I could have done to myself, but I was a kid. Years of that destroyed any chance of regularity for good, I'm afraid. I have tried biotherapy, but it didn't help.
Having several children permanently weakened an already weak gut. That's the physical part. 8 years of total laxative dependency have me convinced that I will probably never be able to function naturally. Now my Dr. has me on Miralax and probiotics (Culturelle) but they seem to increase the bloating. (Why is that?) I wonder what would happen to me if I ever find myself on a desert island. (I believe that after several days I would probably inflate until I became airborne, and could drift back to the land of Miralax)
I am writing this because I haven't had anyone to talk to about this, and thought that no one else could possibly be so sick. Even the doctors get sick of my droning on in pain every visit. Once they've run their test, and prescribed Metamucil and Miralax, that's it.
So yes, it's progressive. And I've started the tummy fiber at the lowest dose, and am waiting for Heather's book to arrive in the mail. I feel as though I have a chance-everyone here seems to have made near miraculous recoveries from this damn IBS
I dare to dream!
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In my opinion and own experience, yes. I have had two GI docs say that it gets better as you get older, buy mine has progressively gotten worse as I have gotten older and have been watching what I eat, including doing Heather's diet since 2003. That is the most frustrating part.
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IBS-D, extreme pain and cramping - GERD - lactose/dairy intolerant, OCD, Fibromyalgia
DX: w/ Multiple Sclerosis 3/10
I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me. Phil 4:13
Edited by LtDanFan (07/01/07 04:34 PM)
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I started having symptoms of IBS back in -97. But then it was just a bit of mucous in the stool. Then I started getting attacks of loose stool and sometimes D a couple of times a year. It stayed that way for a few years but the attacks started to get more frequent from maybe 2003. Then it got gradually worse and in 2005 it really hit me. Since then my bowels have been more or less too fast constantly. I started taking loperamide daily in the fall of 2005, and was properly diagnosed with IBS in the spring of 2006 (after fighting a lot to get the tests done) and found this website in the summer of 2006 and then gradually went on the EFI diet. Was ok with the help of loperamide most of the time late spring-late summer 2006, then a bit worse during the fall of 2006. Then very well again from mid Dec. to early June. A bit worse then for a short while but then ok again.
I do think that for some people the IBS stays the same all their life with just mild symptoms. But for most of us who end up seeking help there has been a clear degree of progress. But in general there is nothing that says that IBS just keeps getting worse. It may fluctuate in symptom intensity. But the symptoms can also disappear.
/Ulrika, IBS-D
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