Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

I agree totally. I am not a male prima dona who needs to be conjuled to hang around or told bluntly to leave. Instead, I am a guy who wants to be supportive of others, since I also need that support from time to time and know how loving it can feel to get it. However, I am wary that perhaps I am at this point in time not helping, even though my overall intent is to help. When someone gives a long diary entry of their food intake and meds, and then plaintively asks "What did I do wrong?" I tend to feel that in addition to giving them a hug, maybe they need a wee tiny brotherly shake! I don't think they did anything wrong, and I don't like the overt philosophy that implies they did wrong. We all know we can eat something bad that will cause a flare-up, but I just don't think every flare-up is due to the wrong food, especially if that person has been eating that food for months WITHOUT a flare-up. So that sense of "what did I do wrong?" does exasperate me, while I think I MUST leave it to more experienced people to respond rather than me. If others feel the most loving response is to "play the game" and suggest that the person ate one banana too many, or had half a teaspoon too much soy milk, or something else, that must be the correct approach, since this area is about diet. So I may have been speaking outside "the box" when this area is for people who truly need to talk about that particular box.

God Bless everyone. I'll still be hannging around, putting my 10 cents in once in a while (are there any states where that is enough to make a phone booth call?).

Best wishes,
Anthem

P.S. I see the same almost superstitious trend in myself. I had a D flare up recently, and wonder "Is it the graham crackers? I've been eating them after dinner as a desert for 2 months but maybe that is it?" At times I think this type of thinking can drive me nuts, which is probably why I am on both Paxil and Lorazepam to round out the edges a bit.

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