Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

That phenomenon was actually a joke around here. We'd get all ready to go and I'd announce, "Well..." and my husband would say, "I'll get the car, open the gate, and meet you out front." It was truly amazing: perfect calm all day and then as soon as it was time to walk out the door...

I'm much, much better now - not perfect, but better. Three things helped:

Heather's diet
SFS
Immodium (I take one pill about an hour to and hour and a half before I leave - I used to take two pills)

If it's a big trip to a strange place (read, "I don't know where there are bathrooms"), I take Donnatol instead of Immodium. It makes me a little spacy, but it's worth it right now.

I guess I've kind of been doing a desensitization thing without really thinking about it, but to me it's more bootstrapping: Heather's diet and SFS reduce the symptoms so the Immodium works; the Immodium working makes me feel like I can go out with some safety; going out with safety make me more comfortable about going out; being more comfortable with going out makes it less likely I'll have an attack when I do go out, so I get more comfortable. And so on.

And I started small. The 10-minute drive to the library used to be a white-knuckle event. Now I do it without thinking about it most of the time.

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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