This post was originally going to be much longer, but I'm cutting straight to the chase here:
Recent Years/The Present
I have not followed any specific diet, including the IBS diet, in the past few years. I have, however, changed my diet based on trial-and-error. The result is that I exclude (never consume) coffee, ice cream, and milk while I limit (consume maybe once a week) cheese, red meat, caffeine, soda, alcohol, and high-fat foods. About a year into being on this trial-and-error diet, a gastroenterologist diagnosed me with IBS.
Where My Questions Come In
I see a lot of talk on this site about a "stabilized" gut. Truth be told, I'm not sure if my gut has ever been fully stable, though there are definitely periods where I report very few symptoms. In this sense, it feels like my symptoms are WORSE than average.
I have also seen a lot of talk about painful episodes. This is where I am uncertain how profound an influence that the immense pressure to hide symptoms has had on me. In fact, my mom reports nearly identical symptoms, but she chooses to eat what she wants and simply pay the consequences. To an extent, in that I do not follow a regimented diet, I do the same. In this sense, I feel that my symptoms are BETTER than average.
With... IBS?
The title of this thread kind of sums up my experiences with... IBS? See, I've been formally diagnosed for five years and have had symptoms for fifteen years...
...but when I go online here and read horror stories of pain... well, I just don't have pain like that. It sounds like a much worse condition than I have. When I see this, it makes me feel like I'm doing something right...
...but when I read stories of a "stabilized" gut, well, I've never had that experience either, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong...
Could it be that I'm simply doing it right, but not fully? That I've eliminated most potential pain, but not all?
What I'm getting at - and this is certainly long-winded, I apologize - is I feel like I'm always in a sort of in-between with my symptoms. From what I see here, it's either nothing (stabilized) or severe (attack).
If 0 was stabilized and 100 was an attack, I'd say I fluctuate between 20 and 70 with most of my time spent between 20 and 30. I can't recall a time where I haven't had either abdominal pain or a not-so-pleasant BM, but the last episode that would be above 70 was six years ago during my failed Atkins phase.
What do you all think? Is there room for gray area in IBS? Is it possible for a nearly-stabilized gut to exist? Or is it all or nothing?
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My History With... IBS?
