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I have a few ideas that I want to get comments on. For those on oral contraceptives, have you noticed any effects on IBS?
Hey there! I was on oral bcp for 7 years and recently stopped getting periods for about 6 months and was told by my doctor to go off the pill to see if I would go back into a regular cycle. I have been off the pill for about 10 weeks now and I haven't had many IBS symptoms. Usually, I could credit this to just being my tummy doing whatever it wants, whenever it wants without much explanation *BUT* I went to the UK and Spain so was pretty stressed, eating bad food on my travels and all that and didn't have one IBS attack in 3 weeks.
That being said, I got gutsy and have since been eating really, really crappy food and have had bad gas and one day of bloating and needing to run for the loo (though not real D once I got there). Am pretty sure this could be solved by eating a more normal diet.
Is it the BCP change? I have no idea...but thought I'd share.

Also for everyone: has anyone noticed that just eating more in general, not at one time but the day as a whole, causes them problems? I feel better when I eat less in general and that could be why winter is so tough. My appetite just dropped this month and could be leading to my stabilizing.
I don't really find the amount overall that I eat makes too much of a difference, but if I sat down and ate a really big meal, I am definitely uncomfortable and feel worried about it making me have to "go" more.
What about season, besides depression symptoms, do you have worse IBS symptoms in winter and if so why do you think that is?

What about stress, how much of a factor is that to you? I was stressing because my IBS was so bad I was having trouble working and when I got better I don't think my stress was less, so it is confusing.
I definitely think stress influences my stomach. When I get into an argument with my bf, my stomach automatically starts tying itself in knots. If I am stuck in traffic and think I Am going to be late for work, I feel all gurgly and nauseous. I think when life in general is more stressful, my stomach is definitely worse. I should mention, though, that I am taking an anti-anxiety med at the moment as several months ago my anxiety attacks got really bad and I felt sick all the time. So now that I am on it, I dunno how much of a difference it makes for how stress in general impacts my IBS.
Any comments will be helpful.
Hope this helps a little with solving your mystery!
Steph

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