Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | My story -- sorry for the length, but any insights would really be helpful!!!

Hi,

So I was "officially" diagnosed with IBS a little less than a year ago. I had been experiencing symptoms of what I assumed to be IBS-D since October 2005. Basically, I started to have loose stools a couple times a day, and a year later I was having attacks 15-20 times a day. When trying to determine what caused my IBS, I attributed it to the fact that I moved to a brand new place, on my own, and started my first "real world" job, so I was going through a lot of stress. But lately, my symptoms have greatly changed. I no longer really suffer from D, but I do have anywhere from 3-6 bowel movements a day, and they are usually fairly formed but not what one would consider completely normal. However, my gas has increased exponenetially, and it's not just the gas itself but the smell that accompanies the gas as well. I have been on a probiotic for almost two months, and it doesn't seem to be helping at all.
In addition, I have been experiencing pain after eating, but it is not in the area where most IBS pain is usually located. This pain can be sharp at first but then subsides to a dull ache, and it is usually in the upper part of my abdomen, around my ribs. So, being the geek that I am, I did some research. And I discovered a lot of information about gallbladder diseases and I seem to have many of the symptoms. Not to mention, one of the major risk factors for gallbladder disease is being on birth control, which I just went on again (after several years off) back in September. So, I began to think back to when I was last on birth control.
I went on the pill in the summer of 2001, right before starting my freshman year of college. And then, in December of 2002, I was put on Nexium because my doctors determined that I had GERD. Upon starting that medicine, I began to have a lot of burping, and they weren't normal burping but they sounded really deep and sometimes hurt a little bit. I also started to have a bit of constipation, although nothing serious. My doctor at the time diagnosed me with IBS without conducting any other tests whatsoever (wish I knew then what I knew now). Eventually, by junior and senior year of college I was having gas issues as well, although not nearly as bad as they are now.
So my main question is whether I actually have IBS. I ask because of a few reasons, my main one having to do with the Rome III criteria for the disease. It says that IBS is always associated with abdominal pain that is usually made to feel better after having a bowel movement. However, I rarely ever had any pain with my D when it was really bad, a little over a year ago. And with my pain now, instead of having a BM making the pain subside, it actually seems to make it more noticeable. Secondly, most people on the website talk about how they developed IBS either as a child or earlier in life, or after an episode of food poisoning or parasites or the like. I don't fit either category -- when I was a kid I was hardly ever sick at all, and while I didn't have an "iron stomach" I never had a nervous stomach and I can count on both hands the number of times I have thrown up in my life. So I'm wondering if IBS could develop solely through stress, which would seem the only plausible explanation in my case.
Again, I'm very sorry for the long post, but this has been on my mind and I would really appreciate any comments or thoughts. Either about gallbladder disease, or the effects of being on BC on IBS, or if anyone else seemed to have their IBS develop mainly by stress. Thanks so much in advance!!!

Julie
IBS-D, GERD, lactose intolerant

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"We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."

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