Is your IBS seasonal?
#49640 - 03/11/04 12:01 PM
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AstroChick
Reged: 12/30/03
Posts: 1023
Loc: Chicago, IL, USA
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Now that it's springtime in Chicago, my IBS is getting worse....or, rather, my IBS is swinging towards IBS-D when I tend to be more in the C realm the rest of the year. I swear, all of the nastiest attacks I remember in the past few years have happened between March and June.
Does this happen to anyone else? Do you notice your sensitivity to "more challenging" foods changes with the seasons? I've been trying to figure out if I eat worse in the spring or exercise less or get more stressed out, but none of it makes sense. Maybe it's not due to the crocuses blooming and the birds returning north, but I'd love to know if anyone else has noticed this sort of weirdness....
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I totally know what you mean!! My IBS is much worse in the winter months and once the weather starts to get warm then I notice a decline in my attacks. Weird eh?? 
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My IBS D seems to be at it's worst when the humidity level is high. In Winnipeg we have hot and extremely humid summers and thats when I suffer the most.
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Kristy 
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I lived in New England for 8 years and the hot humid summers nearly killed me. It was a constant struggle to stay stable. Now that I'm back home in Seattle, summers are wonderful, and I don't notice any seasonal fluctuation at all (we have very mild summers and winters both).
There's actually good reasons for this - weather changes affect serotonin levels in the body, and serotonin levels affect IBS!
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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I'm worse in the horrid MidAtlantic summers. A lot worse! I'm to the point where it's ridiculous. I am also verrrry fair-skinned, so have always run to hide from the sun. Now I hide in the airconditioning like a crazy lady.
I'm actually considering getting up the nerve to move somewhere else just for this reason. (Well, I also get seasonal migraines, so there are 2 reasons!)
My IBS is also "seasonal" in that around the holidays I get sick. My diagnosis came after a horrible bout of IBS 2 Christmases ago. Got sick again this year, but not nearly as badly. Also got sick during a huge 3-day 4th of July party I always go to.
So, yes: seasonal in 2 ways! 
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Ouch! - nt
#49707 - 03/11/04 01:02 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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Oh, Really?!
#49709 - 03/11/04 01:06 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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That's VERRRY interesting, Heather! That might explain why I can't tolerate the hot weather. As my IBS got worse, so did my tolerance for heat and humidity. In California I had to have an air conditioner, and I never went outdoors -- my system just couldn't take it. If I went to a ball game -- or any sport outdoors in the heat, I'd get an attack. I couldn't even go to my own office barbecue!
It's one of the main reasons we moved up here from California.
Serotonin, eh? Hmm... VERRRRY interesting ....
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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It is interesing, isn't it!! Funny thing is, high heat without humidity (like desert heat) does me just fine. And cool humid weather (like drizzly Seattle winters) are not a problem. It's just that heat/humidity combo.
There's a section on this in the First Year book with the relevant study. It's got something to do with barometric pressure and the body's response, and the heat/humidity combo is the real killer.
Probably didn't help me any that I just HATE weather like this with a passion so I was always really upset and stressed out in the summers on top of it all. I was just so ticked off to be trapped inside all summer long when I'd grown up spending every minute of the day (and even night) outside in Seattle summers. My favorite time of year had been stolen from me... 
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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The weird thing with me is that I'm better in the summer than in the spring! I've lived in the midwestern US nearly all my life, too, so I'm used to hot & humid summers.
Admittedly, I have other problems in the summer (if I don't get enough salt in my diet, my energy just plummets), so perhaps I just take things slower and thus don't trigger as many attacks. I know my smoothie consumption goes way up... 
It's very mysterious...and it doesn't appear to be just humidity and heat for me.
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Heather,
I bet that you hated weather like that because your body knew how bad it was for you. I loathed the rain here in NYC for years before finding out I had fibromyalgia and the rain made my symptoms worse. The wisdom of the body may not be an old wives' tale after all!
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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