Looking for your help
#228981 - 12/03/05 08:58 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
This may not be the right message board to post this, but here goes anyway!
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
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Hi Stuart! Well, you did post this on the "wrong" board, so you might not get as many replies to it... you might want to repost it in the Living Room for more responses. 
1. I first experienced IBS symptoms when I was 12 or so. I had GI tract symptoms earlier than that, but it wasn't until I was just entering puberty that they became consistent and somewhat constant. By the way, I'm 30 now, so that's a long darn time.
2. I wasn't diagnosed with IBS until last summer (2004). I had a terrible time with doctors. Most of them either told me it was a virus, all in my head, or gave me a diagnosis of things like "gastritis" without doing a single test. When I was finally dx'd last year, I had already "known" for about 5 years that it was IBS, and my doctor confirmed this for me based on my symptoms themselves and also the number of years I've had these symptoms, on and off, without any significant worsening. Like you, my medical coverage situation is such that I can't afford to have tests done, but I'm ok with that, because I'm comfortable with my diagnosis.
3. I lived my life as normal. I spent bad days popping Imodium, but for the most part, I didn't let IBS stop me from doing whatever it is that I wanted to do. It wasn't till my mid-20s that I started having REALLY bad spells, where I'd be so sick for several months at a time that I could hardly leave the house. Usually these are triggered by doing something incredibly stupid, like trying to low-carb diet (my most recent mistake; it nearly landed me in the hospital, the result was so bad). For THOSE times, all I've been able to do is roll with it: quit my job if necessary and take care of myself. I'm thankful that I'm in a position where I can do that.
4. I cope now by following the IBS diet (which controls my physical symptoms) and taking a prescription anti-anxiety/antidepressant drug daily (which helps the mental/emotional part of things immensely). I still have bad days, but I've been "attack-free" for months now. I have zero reservations about public events, gatherings, holidays, shopping in crowded stores, etc etc. (For the record, I still get stupid comments from people about my heavily modified - and very healthy - diet, but I just shrug them off. What I eat is my business, not theirs, and we'll see how much they're laughing 20 years from now when I'm in perfect health and they've all had heart attacks.)
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
i think it's good you are doing a study on the never really talked about sickness....so here's help from me..........
1. Looking back, when do you think you experienced what was your first bout with IBS?
IBS-D came on about 3 years ago....it started with lactose intollerence..but if i look back even further, i remember when i was really young and having bm was hard, and i never felt like i was empty...and it use to actually hurt...but i never told anyone becase i was embarrassed...then at the begining of this year i kept getting sick and not knowing why, until i stumbled on this website
2. How long was it before a diagnosis of IBS was made? Did you have a hard time with doctors?
it took about 2 years before the doctors would take me serious, i stopped eating almost everything, and got down to 100 pounds...they finallly decided to figure out what was wrong with me....one doc i had because my doc that day was sick was extremely worried about me, and since then, i went to a g.i. specialist and met my now g.i. as well as my reg doc, and she's my ob/gyn who will deliver my baby in june. so i came to a lucky fork in the road!! they thought at first i had an eating disorder of that i was just being crazy, then i met good caring docs
3. How did you cope in the meantime?
took immodium, didn't eat much...some days i would cry because i was so hungry, but was scared to eat. my boyfriend was supportive of me...and patient with me not feeling good too...and my daughter would rub my tummy
4. How are you coping now?
i take dycyclomine (spelling?) i listed more to my body, if it saeems to be having a hard time that day i lay off anything that may irritate it...and stick to blander foods, but if i have a good day i can get away with a few fries, maybe a decaf soy coffee...and take it one day at a time, i really felt poor me for a long time, but since i've been stabilized for the most for about 2 months...it's not as stressful. where ever i go i still scope out the bathroom where they are, just in case, but i've been doing really well lately
hope that helps...
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
Posts
