INITIAL CAUSE OF IBS
#143158 - 01/26/05 05:55 PM
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What does research say about what starts IBS into motion? (Or in my case, into immobility!) Now, I KNOW stress is a factor in keeping my IBS alive, but it started when I began taking calcium one year (9 years ago.) That was my first bad bout of C (sent me to the emergency room.) I didn't draw the connection and kept taking the calcium, my digestion getting worse and worse. Obviously, I eventually got off of the calcium,and it wasn't emergency room worthy anymore, but still REALLY, REALLY BAD!
Could that initial TRAUMA have caused the IBS to start? And if so, does anyone know some strategies SPECIFIC to GUT TRAUMA that could help after all these years?
Thanks,
Karen
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Karen from Kansas
IBS-C for 8 years
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Hi Karen..... from everything I've read there doesn't seem to be any identifiable "initial cause". I have read a few things here and there about anti-d's that are prescribed to help C end up making it worse in the long run. Also, I have read a thing or two that traumatic bodily experiences (surgery for example) may set it in motion. Other than that, I think it's a mystery. According to Heather's book there is no common thread to a cause.
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I have heard that too about the tummy trauma. I am not sure that is true. My mother has Ibs and has not had any trauma to tummy besides have kids. I have IBS D and I had a splenactomy at the age of 4 because of a blood disease. I am not so sure that would be the cause of it. I think it would make it easier to cope with this if we could say what caused it.
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mine all started with stress and a stomach ulcer from taking too many painkillers for my migraines when I was in college....mostly my initial cause is stress and anxiety and I have never gotten better since the ulcer.
but I agree there is not common thread, because so many of these people have had it since they were children, and most children don't have too much stress or anxiety.
However, i was an anxious child, who often threw tantrums and had colic as a baby, and do remember being constipated quite a bit when i was younger. But always ate everything including brussel sprouts, milk, I was person who would try anything and never have any problems for most of my life, and always ate really healthy, whole wheat, balanced diet, etc. But now I am IBS-D, mostly stress related.
so maybe it is in us when we are born, and then just eventually comes out when something traumatic happens, who knows. no easy answer.
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Mine began after a couple of years on antibiotics. I was on ampicillin everyday for nearly two years for acne and well into that course I realized that I was now lactose intolerant. I used to drink milk all of the time with no problems, but now I would get massive cramps & D when I had dairy. I took a while for me to figure it out until my girlfriend suggested that I stop dairy for a week---viola! no problems!! It seems shortly after that I would get urgency/D after eating and needing a bathroom ASAP. Prior to that I survived stressful situations like Gulf War I with no digestive problems.
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Gut trauma of some kind is reasonably common - mine started after a very bad infection followin which I had the stress of finals exams. Most people seem to either have it from childhood or suffer some kind of gut trauma (having children can be one possible).
However, there is no need to treat IBS differently depending on how it is caused. Once you've got it, then it's just IBS...and this diet is the best way to contol it!
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I'm pretty sure mine was teenage rebellion. 
I used to take drugs, and my IBS came on at about the same time as my anxiety got serious... and to be honest, I blame ecstasy. Being as it causes massive release of serotonin, and causes damage to serotonin receptors (which may or may not regenerate... I'm waiting with bated breath for a lady at my university to finish her research on it!).... it follows that the serotonin synapses in the gut would also be affected.
There may be some kind of predisposition to it I guess, as most of my friends from that time are basically okay.
Geez, the things they don't tell you when they tell you to just say no! I've been drug free for three years, but I may never be IBS free.
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*Emma*
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Mine was just anxiety from a really early age, my mum and nan both suffer with anxiety but were never honest about it! I just picked up on it when I was a child! It usually centered around food, if we ever went out for a meal or went on holiday I wouldn't want to eat etc. Kinda came with me until the present day! I used to suffer with sore throats quite a bit, so would be prescribed antibiotics quite a bit, then the icing on the cake was the stomach bug I got at the end of 2004, then I started taking it seriously and thanks to Heather's site, I feel almost human again!
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Mine came on after my 5th major abdominal surgery and all of the stress that it caused. That last surgery threw me into a downward spiral of extreme daily anxiety and I have never been the same since. I am doing okay on the diet, but for me it seems that it's more how MUCH that I eat rather than what I eat. It seems that one thing we all have in common, I could be wrong here though, is that we all suffer from being very anxious/stressed people. I think that alone messes with the mind-gut interaction, at least for me it does, since I never had these problems before my surgery....
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I have had it for as long as I can remember. My mom use to give me catro oil and cod liver oil to have me go.
Lene
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God never promised life would be easy, but he did promise to provide a way out!
Edited by LittleFox (01/27/05 03:50 PM)
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There seems to be many and varied ways it starts. Some resarch suggests an event that was basically a huge trauma and insult to the digestive system from which it never really recovers. That certainly was the case with me. I had a case of Ciguatera poisoning when a child, which left me with the legacy. Ciguatera is a toxin that builds up in the food chain in mainly reef fish. It is produced by dinoflagellates living on corals that are eaten by small fish which are then eaten etc etc, until you get a large fish with a build up of toxins. Spanish mackerel was the offender in this case.
Ralph
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Mine was caused by my eating disorder. I was fine up until the day I decided to recover and eat normal...OUCH!
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IBS-C
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I first noticed it about the time I was diagnosed w/ diabetes.....it first started as C then turned to D.
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Mine first started during a period during which:
a) I started the birth control pill
b) I moved to a new city, moved in with my boyfriend and started college (not that this was particulary anxiety-ridden, but still lots of changes!)
c) just after having gone through a very short round of antibiotics for strep throat - keeping in mind that I have *never, ever* been on antibiotics before
Can't say that any of this really *caused* my IBS, especially since I've had digestive troubles for as long as I can remember, since I was a little kid. Still, this is when it started to get really bad.
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Karen
The precise cause of IBS is unknown, but it's thought to be triggered by some sort of gut trauma such as a bad stomach flu or food poisoning.
However, it seems IBS may run in some families so sometimes I wonder if it's a bit like schizophrenia in that there may sometimes be a hereditary tendency which may be triggered into IBS by certain environmental events.
Unfortunately, research into IBS is only in its infancy stage at the moment because, I think, for many years it was overlooked and people with IBS weren't taken seriously. I suspect it was often thought they had a mental problem rather than a physical one since there was no obvious physical evidence of it (other than the symptoms) and it could only be diagnosed through a process of eliminating all other possible diseases/conditions.
I, personally, have had IBS for as long as I can remember and my mom says I had symptoms as a baby so I think I was probably born with it.
Belinda
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My IBS started this summer after being on antiboitics and steriods for three months straight. My stomach hasn't been the same since.
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belinda ibs doesnt run in my familly yet. im the only person who has it. jasper
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ive had ibs for 8 years now. im learning alot on this web board. thanks again everyone
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