Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Here's a weird pattern I've experienced- anyone else?

Oh, yeah, that's me. I'm fine at home; when I go out, I suddenly have a D attack. There IS a psychological component to IBS, so for me I'm sure that's what it is. I'm anxious about going out because of the D and the anxiety about going out actually triggers the D - which makes me more anxious the next time I go out. A vicious cycle.

I'm straight D, so Immodium helps a lot for local trips or trips with no time constraints and 1 tablet is enough so I don't suffer rebound from it. (And I actually went out twice last week without Immodium or any other med. Yay!) For longer trips (in other words, I don't know where the restrooms will be), especially when I have to be somewhere at a particular time, using Immodium to stop the D is like using a traffic cone to stop a freight train. I'm trying other meds. My GI guy prescribed Donnatol and that helped a lot; my Family Practice physician has suggested Xanax or Valium just to take the edge off - I haven't tried that yet. I'm going to try the hypnosis program eventually.

I have noticed that this problem is not as bad as it was before I went on Heather's diet. Apart from the meds and the hypnosis, I think that as I do well on Heather's diet, I'm beginning to trust my digestive system more which relieves some of the anxiety which in turn makes an attack less likely which in turn increases my trust. I guess that's whatever the opposite of a vicious cycle is.

HTH.

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

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