Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Help with understanding attacks

Hi there,

Welcome to the boards!

I think the one thing that you'll probably come to realise about IBS from these boards anyway is that IBS is such an individual thing in a lot of ways that there is no exact definition of an "attack" as such. A lot of people experience attacks in completely different ways, so it is hard to pin down exactly.

IBS definitely does vary in degrees and severities, as well as symptoms. I think that "IBS" is now encompassing all matters of stomach complains with doctors, that it could be practically anything that isn't diagnosable as something else. I know so many people that say they have IBS because they can't eat spicy food anymore, or drink beer.. and some people that have such bad symptoms they are unable to function during regular day-to-day activities.

So, how do you know if it's bad enough to try and fix it? Well, I'd say if it was bad enough to get you to a doctor and to go through all the tests, that's bad enough. But obviously, only you can decide when you've had enough and want a change. I know people that are perfectly fine so long as they avoid dairy or don't eat raw veggies or other things that are very minor adjustments to make to their lifestyle, but even that does require the effort to figure out what it is that sets you off and to change.
I, however, have had to make a series of much more major changes including diet, activities and medication. It all depends.

The med your doc prescribed you is really common, but may not be the only step you'll have to take to stabalise your stomach. I would try one thing at a time, see what works for you and what doesn't.. keep in mind though, it takes a long time and you have to be patient if you really want to narrow down what bothers you.

Most doctors don't get too into diet, except to mention increasing fiber intake. I don't know why this is.. it seems pretty straight forward that your stomach reacts to what you put in it, but I guess they leave a lot of that to patients because it can be so individual.

I have attacks that last anywhere from 10 minutes, to several days. It can happen if I eat something bad, if I get really stressed or upset, if I haven't had enough sleep, if the weather is too hot and humid, if I have a bad period cycle, if I am nervous or anxious. My attacks are generally cramping, followed by D and then lingering nausea and fatigue. The severity varies all the time. Like, today I've had two D attacks because I am on day 1 of my aunt flo and I forgot to take some prevention measures against this. But they lasted about 5 minutes each, with just crampiness and nausea in between. I still went to work, drove my car.. no problems, just irritating. About 2 weeks ago, I was in the bathroom for about 30 minutes and was in so much pain I was near sobbing. Felt in pain and had other runs to the potty the rest of the day. Felt exhausted the next day.
I dunno if that helps at all, but that's what I call an attack. I have days where I feel sorta crampy, pretty nauseous all day but I don't call them "attacks", just bad days.

Good luck, hope this helps!

Cheers,
Steph

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~~I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell-I know right now you can't tell~~Matchbox 20
IBS-D,pain.

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