Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | depressed and need some uplifting.

I'll just reply here to everyone, since it will probably be easier that way.

I do take a SFS. I take two Fibercon before every meal and sometimes just because. I take a super acidophilus tablet I found at Walgreen's. I drink peppermint tea when I get to feeling too bad, or sometimes I have Celestial Seasoning's Tummy Mint tea.

I am starting to wonder if I might possibly have a wheat allergy. I am allergic to wheat smut, which is the dusty stuff stirred up when you harvest and store wheat, so perhaps I am allergic to eating wheat as well. I stay away from dairy, red meat, fried food, the bad kind of margarine (sorry, can't remember which kind of hydrogenated it is, but I use only the "right" kind!), and anything else that might cause me problems. For a while, I was literally consuming only bananas, white rice and the occasional plain baked chicken breast.

I try not to get down and depressed about it, but it's hard when I go out to eat with my husband and he can have a nice steak and a baked potato with butter and sour cream, and I have to get some sort of baked/grilled chicken or fish and eat my potato plain. But then I remember that the whole point is to have a nice date with him, not the food, so I try to keep it in perspective. That steak sure looks good, though...

I'll keep plugging away. (I'd LOVE to have a plug on some days!!!) Yes, there are times when I'm stuck in the bathroom crying because every time I try to get up a new wave hits. Yes, there have been times when I've sprinted to the bathroom in a store because I'm afraid I won't get there in time. Yes, I've been bleeding because I've rubbed myself raw simply because of too much D. Yes, I've taken the "backup" Imodium because I know I'm going somewhere that I can't be sure of reaching a potty in time, like one of my kids' sporting events. Yes, I get sick of it. And sometimes I vent and rant and rave and pout and cry. And then I take my SFS and get on with it.

Naturapanic...dude, I don't know what to tell you. In a way I want to smack you upside the head and tell you to grow up. But I also remember what it was like to be younger (I'm almost 41). When I was 26, I didn't look at things like I do now, even though at that time I had two kids and had been married for seven years. I was younger and I thought I knew everything and I got mad a lot quicker and about things that I really couldn't do anything about. I understand the desire to go out and have fun, and the anger when you can't do the things your friends do. It's hard, it really is.

But seriously...if your friends make fun of you because of a medical condition that you can't help having (the bloated gut being a symptom), are they really your friends? If they are the kind of people who would not understand that you have specific dietary needs, are they really the kind of people you want in your life? Why do you have to get loaded to have a good time? Just because everybody else is getting drunk? I mean, if you had diabetes, you'd have special dietary needs as well, and special meds to take, and special courses of actions to follow. Would they make fun of you then? Just what is "fun"? Because your friends or society tells you it is "fun" to go out and get drunk, that automatically makes it "fun"?

Geriatric meds...SFS have been marketed to the "older generation", but that's just slick marketing on the part of the pharmacetucal companies. Is Gatorade just for athletes? No! It's for anyone who has had problems being too hot or losing body fluids through sweating. My husband works in a foundry and he drinks Gatorade all the time. Do people assume he's an athlete? Oh no.

So you gotta take SFS. Nobody is going to assume you're old. Just put them in a different bottle and take them before you go in the restaurant. Nobody has to even know. Tell yourself they're vitamins if that helps.

If I do have a wheat allergy, then I'm not going to be able to follow Heather's guideline about eating bread, at least bread made with wheat. That's not her fault. It isn't mine either. It's just how it is. No, I'm not "cured" either. Far from it. I've been following this plan for over a year now and I sometimes feel I'm still on square one. But many of the things work for me, while some of the things I have to manipulate a bit to make work, and some don't work at all. I'm still finding out what works and what don't.

You can either buck against it or deal with it, but either way you have IBS. And so do I. I have a reason to want to try and be healthy...I love my kids and my husband and I want to be healthy so I can be the best mom and wife I can be. What is your reason? You're going to have to have one better than "I want to look good" or "I don't want to take old people meds" or you're just going to be beating your head on the wall. What is it, deep down?

I'm not trying to be nasty to you, just trying to get to the root of the problem. This is a place where we can all help each other...at least, I hope it is.

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IBS-D since...well, a long time
(probiotic acidophilous, SF supplements, IBS eating plan)
my blog

Edited by fairleas (05/03/10 10:41 PM)

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