Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

This may not be the right message board to post this, but here goes!

I am a 51-year-old displaced worker from Wisconsin. The corporation who bought the company that employed me closed our office at the end of last year. I'm now returning to school to become a court reporter or broadcast captioner (I'm not sure which yet), and am taking a Medical Terminology class. One of the requirements is a research paper which requires me to interview someone about a chronic disease. Last fall, I went to a gastroenterologist over a chronic morbid smell coming out of me coupled with poor digestion, chronic constipation and bouts of diarrhea, and a lot of gas and flatulence. After checking my history (two colonosocopies, endoscopies, and barium enemas in the past ten years) and subjecting me to a CT scan which showed nothing, he diagnosed it as irritable bowel syndrome. Being without much funds or medical insurance at this point, I didn't have a chance to get a follow-up on the matter. But this class has at least given me the boost to research my problem and see if there is anything I can do about it.

In the meantime, I am posting here to someone with IBS who is willing to relate their experience with it. I don't have many questions to ask, and that person may elaborate as much as feels comfortable. If you're willing to help me, the questions I need to ask are the following.

1. Looking back, when do you think you experienced what was your first bout with IBS?
2. How long was it before a diagnosis of IBS was made? Did you have a hard time with doctors?
3. How did you cope in the meantime?
4. How are you coping now?

Right now, I avoid most public events. People's reactions and comments usually keep me at bay, and I'm a loner at heart. My wife of eighteen years gives me inspiration. She was born with cerebral palsy and deafness, and is now fighting a family history of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in the knee which is making more immobile by the day. We keep each other company in our infirmity.

At any rate, any help you can give me over my research paper will be much appreciated.

Sincerely yours,
Stuart Mia

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