Major setback, need help please....
#337725 - 11/05/08 11:22 AM
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Hi
I have been suffering from IBS-D since highschool. I am now 33, Male. Last year i took the bull by the horns and started to really do something about my IBS, i was tired of my IBS lifestyle.
So in May 2007 i simutaneously began Acaia Tummy Fiber and Hypnosis. My Hypnosis with the therapist lasted until September. He then supplied me with a CD for daily therapy.
I have been taking Acacia daily, 2 Teaspoons 3 x per day.
I also drink as much Peppermint tea as i can.
I must say that since i began this regimen back in May 2007,i have been "pretty much normal".
Suddenly, out of the blue, i am doing terrible. Its been 1 month that i lost control and i feel like i lost all i have achieved. I have not changed my regimen at all.
All i have been eating this past few weeks is bread, rice, potato and chicken and i am still getting D. Right now it is happening soon after i eat, like clockwork. I do not know what is happenening. The only thing that i can think of is my sudden change in personal life. I am in the middle of a 4 year relationship break up with fiancee.
please, does anyone have suggestions for me to stabilize?
thanks
MBH
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First of all well done on taking control of your IBS. You were in a good patc before and I'm sure you can get there again.
I think you've hit the nail on the head with the whole breakup issue. Emotional stress can play absolute hell with IBS which of course cause even more stress so on and so forth.
So I think you need to work on your stress levels. Maybe yoga or a return to your hyponotherapist. Heat therapy (hotbaths, sauna, steam room or hot water bottles) can also help.
Do you take immodium? Some people on these boards also swear by slippery elm tablets.
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Stable IBS D
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thanks for the reply.
Immodium, yeah. In my 18 years of living with IBS, i think that i have taken more immodium than any person should take in 10 lifetimes.
To be honest, in the past year i have not used it that much, just on the rare occasion, i was doing VERY well. However, i have been taking lots of it in the past month.
I dont like to take it because for me its a catch 22. When i take it(2-3 tabs do the trick), it constipates me for around 2 days, so during those 2 days i dont take any. But on the third day, i usually get D again and there starts a vicious cycle. Once i get into that cycle its hard to break loose.
im so frustrated!
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Immodim does that to me as well but for only one day. I just took three today as I had a job interview so I totally expect to be out the bathroom for a while. I like to make sure I get a good walk in - at least two miles at a good pace to keep things moving. Luckily I work at a large Uni campus so I can walk really far but still be near a bathroom.
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Stable IBS D
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Try the Slippery Elm it helps stop d and can help soothe the way for c.
Follow the directions on the bottle and in a few days it will clear up.Stick to th ediet and return to your cd.
Stress always makes me flare up.
Good luck
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IBS-D since 1999...mostly stable..i do cheat too.Bad me.
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thanks for the reply.
i live in Montreal, Quebec.
is there a specific brand of slippery elm that is suggested?
thanks
MBH
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This IBS thing is just crazy. I can go for such long periods of time being practically perfect(never 100% perfect but pretty close) and then out of nowhere BAM, i get a major flare up that is very difficult to get under control.
I just don't get how last winter i was able to go to Puerto Plata for a week and i ate and drank pretty much whatever i wanted and i was perfectly fine. Now, 9 months later, i cant even eat plain chicken and plain rice, its absolutely crazy!
i am so discouraged right now 
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Not really just check out a health food store or some place that sells herbal remedy stuff.
Sorry I can't seem to form a coherent thought at the moment.Brain cramp I guess, hope you get my meaning.
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IBS-D since 1999...mostly stable..i do cheat too.Bad me.
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Hi
Just wondering if anyone can relate to my last post about IBS being so crazy? Wondering if anyone goes through the same things?
thx
MBH
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That is how it works.I go for a long time fine and then it will flare up for a while again.Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out that it is just my ibs and not something more serious.
JUst hang in there you were stable-ish so you will get there again.
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IBS-D since 1999...mostly stable..i do cheat too.Bad me.
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Hi
Yes I can relate. I have suffered with stomach issues for about 18 years I am now 37 male (ottawa canada).
I have lost count of the amount of doctors i have seen all say you got IBS but never one giving a control path. I also get flare ups, the last 18 months being the worst and have put it down to stress from emigrating and running a business from home.
I recently went on the acacia formula along with pep tablets and pep tea and after a few days the permenant cramps stopped, but now out of the blue back again. Resisting the urge to go back to the doctors and also looking to find a way to keep this at bay.
Sorry cant offer much help but hopefully learning you are not alone is a reasurrance.
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Hi there,
Yes, I can relate. It is the most difficult and baffling condition. I am like you and can go forever and eat anything in site, and then BAM, I will be C or D. More C than D. I will look back at what I ate and the same things that bother me today, I was eating with no problem weeks before. It really is difficult to figure out your trigger foods, especially with C. With D, you can kind of figure it out, but C, is it something you ate yesterday or 3 days ago. Very, very frustrating. But, as Heather says in her book, people try to figure out the exact food, instead of just looking at the category of foods they are eating. Even with that being said, IBS still makes no sense to me.
Lynn 
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I remember reading somewhere that Males with IBS-D are the most difficult cases to manage. Just great eh!
What happens to me is very strange.
I could be having a great day with no symptoms at all. Then, in a matter of seconds i will get a strong gut cramp with urgency. Usually, i will have to relieve myself with urgency 2 - 3 times in the span of 20 minutes. After the 20 minute ordeal is over, i will feel perfectly normal with no pain, just a little tired. Sometimes the gut cramps are extremely painful, other times the cramps are mild and its just the urgency that is the problem.
I am happy that with the exception of 2-3 times per year, i never have to wake from sleep with cramps and urgency. That will only happen if i binge like crazy at a restaurant when i am feeling confident.
MBH
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I have the same feeling of frustration and confusion!
Some periods are good while others are bad.
I'm in rut right now too.
I get the same cramps and urgency...99% of the time it's the 20-30 min before I leave for work, and then when I get to work also. I feel like I have to time it right "When do I leave, do I wait to go again or do I just leave and hope I'm ok until I get to work.
....and I love my job! But now it has become so mental for me....I'm a teacher, so what if I don't feel well in class. It's very difficult for me to leave a class of 33 eleven year olds by themselves or try to get someoen quick to cover while I run out. I'm more anxious about having an attack in class then anything right now...which is probably contributing to my D right now.
Half of me wants to quit my job, but financially I can't. I know quitting wouldn't help me get rid of this anyways. It's just the frustration talking.
I'm also possibly moving so I have that subconcious stress too.
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Erica
IBS-D
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Hi
you cant even begin to imagine how much i can relate to everything that you wrote. its as if i wrote it myself.
i tip my hat off to you for being a teacher....just the thought of me being a teacher gives me cramps. i would never be able to pull it off.
today while driving to work i was watching the long lines of people waiting for the bus. i was getting a panic attack just thinking about if one day i would have to take a bus IN THE MORNING!
the more i think about it the more i am convinced that my IBS-D has all to do with my mind and my anxiety and not much with food intolerances. when i took Paxil a few years back for depression my IBS was totally gone and i was eating everything in sight, so....
MBH
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Wow, do I agree with you. I think it is all in the mind. For 54 years I ate everything in site and suffered with C, but never D, until last year. I noticed when I get into an anxiety state, the gas increases greatly. I never understood why until I found this website. It seems to increase with the anxiety and stress I feel.
I am like you. I go about my day and watch people in situations where I would feel stuck and fearful, and I wonder how they do it. I could never have the control of driving taken out of my hands at this point in time. I cannot ride with anyone...just in case.
Oh, man I so understand what all of you are saying. Especially teaching, unless you had a bathroom right in your classroom, and even then you can't leave the children unattended. I applaud you.
Lynn
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Thanks MBH and Lynn!
I don't know how I'm doing it (I got through my first year last year and this year my symptoms seem to be much worse). I avoid carpools like the plague because I like to have the comfort of being able to stop if I really have to.
It's funny how some thoughts can trigger physical symptoms right! I'm always wondering how people do things (like waiting for the bus!)
Yesterday I got a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis and had to drink the barium drink. My Dr had mentioned that some people get D from the drink and I should know where the bathrooms are on the way home. Doh!!! Do you know I was more nervous to take the test than anything! So I was just about empty arriving to the test. While drinking the drink all I could think about is "I hope no one's in the bathroom in case I have to go!" My stomach was gurggling the whole time and pushing things around, even last night and this morning....but I still haven't gone. Could be because I called in sick today. I was nervous about how the barium stuff would affect me and didn't want to chance it. We'll see what happens tomorrow!
I have a prescription for Librax, but I'm nervous too start that too, for fear of the unknown.
Thanks for the outlet!! I feel a little better that I'm not the only one out there 
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Erica
IBS-D
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Quote:
My Dr had mentioned that some people get D from the drink and I should know where the bathrooms are on the way home.
Odd...everytime I've had to drink barium they always tell me I'll probably get C from it. And I usually did, except for the last time I did get D but I think I was in that "mode" that day anyway, and it was unrelated to the drink.
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IBS-A and GERD since 1983
Low FODMAP since 2012
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