Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: To the Newbies, the Frustrated, the Just-Really-Ticked-Off about having to deal w/ IBS...

Hi Everyone,

First of all, I'd just like to say how grateful I am to have found this site as I finally feel that I am around people who understand what I am going through. I have read all the information on this site and it has been extremely helpful to me so far.

I was diagnosed with IBS about 2 years ago and my main problem is severe C and bloating. I saw my doctor a couple of times before I was given an explanation of my condition, and I was prescribed various fibre supplements such as Movicol and Fibrogel, but these seemed just made my symptoms worse. I was also prescribed a powerful laxative which only worked after taking it three nights in a row (the max dose) which gave me severe D, but if I stopped taking it for more than a week I got severe C so it was like a vicious cycle. I was referred to an IBS specialist who advised that I only eat fruit and vegetables for a week until I had a BM. It worked to a certain extent, but the bloating and gas I had was unbearable. I took it upon myself to research IBS and all the sites I looked on advised a low fat diet, excluding as much dairy and high fat foods as possible. I cut out almost all dairy from my diet and switched to Rice Milk. I also cut out all sugary and high fat foods. I took peppermint caps and drank volumes of fennel, peppermint and chamomile tea. I also increased my exercise because I read that it can help with C. What I hadn't anticipated happening (although it seems obvious now!) was that I would end up losing 3 stones of weight in just 6 months (not sure what that is in lbs) which left me in an awfully weak state with a BMI of only 14

I was living in fear of eating and barely left the house. My relationship was suffering because at this point I was chronically depressed. I had to leave my job and was basically house-bound for about 4 months, afraid to leave my home. My doctor referred me to an eating disorder service which I have been in contact with for the past 6 months. I didn't (and still don't) believe I have an eating disorder but I accepted the help because I had nothing else offered to me. I felt so misunderstood and it really hurt when a really close family member told me they thought I had anorexia. I suppose it may have looked like that from an outside perspective because I was terrified of eating and whenever a meal that I was unsure about was put in front of me, I just cried. The last year has been hell for me as I have been struggling to put back on the weight. I now have a BMI of 17 and a half which I know is still underweight. I am hoping that with this new found information on what I can and can't eat, my fears about eating will slowly go away. I have been following the IBS Diet Cheat Sheet for the past 5 days and it has been really good for me so far, no bloating at all although I haven't had a BM as yet. I'm a bit worried as to where to go from here though and which foods to try and introduce first. I have ordered acacia fibre from the site and am really hopeful that it will help with the C.

I guess there's no real question here, I just wanted to share my story along with my hopes and fears for the future. My only regret so far is not finding this site sooner. Maybe if I had had this information from the beginning I would not have gone through all this. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing??!

One thought, when I was referred to the IBS specialist, they tried to pinpoint a reason for my IBS. After a few questions, they told me it was down to stress because I was very unhappy with my life. I just wondered if anyone else knew of a reason as to why they have IBS. I read on the site that it is to do with a brain-gut dysfunction, so are we born with that or can it develop due to stress?

Yours hopefully,

Jennifer

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