IBS or something else?

Hi, I'm new to all this and just need some advice.

about a month ago I tried traveling approximately 2 hours to a convention. I didn't feel that great and about a quarter of the way through the journey I started getting really nauseous. I never get motion sickness. about halfway through the journey my bowels started to act up too and I just felt like I was either going to throw up or go to the bathroom in my pants. I made an emergency decision to get off the highway and find a fast food place. I went straight to the bathroom, and had a rather large BM. From that point on I felt much better. I wasn't feeling 100% so we just turned around and went home.

about 5 days later we attempted the trip again. Same thing happened. Started to get nauseous and then the feeling that I had to go to the bathroom. We got a little bit farther until I had to pull into a rest stop and had another large BM. We kept going this time I still didn't feel 100% so we stopped at a mall along the way to do some shopping. After walking around I was feeling kind of nauseous again and decided to try going to the bathroom again. One more time I had a fairly large BM.

I still felt lousy so we called the trip off again and went home. Couple days later I had to travel to the USA by car and got really claustrophobic waiting in the line at Customs. I felt like I had no "escape" if I suddenly had to "go". I finally got to my destination and felt light headed. So I ate a snack and felt better. Spent a few hours over there and was fine the rest of the day.

Since then I've felt extreme anxiety about planning any long trips. Last week I made a couple medium distance trips just to test myself. Both times I did fine. No nausea and no feeling like I had to "go".

But now on Sunday we went on another medium distance trip and I felt nauseous again. I just closed my eyes and tried not to think about anything until we got there. I felt like crap the whole time and was very anxious to get home. BMs that day were normal and healthy (didn't have to strain and good size/shape) and I didn't get that "feeling I had to go" like the previous times either.

Monday I felt totally lousy again. My stomach felt like it was full of acid and my BMs were much more strained. They were very small and somewhat "oily" bits.

Today I feel better but am fearing another long distance trip tomorrow. It's really starting to inconvenience me because I feel like I can't go anywhere, and if I do, I am going to have problems. It's also embarrassing because I have to tell people that I can't go anywhere and make up excuses.

Normally I have no issues whatsoever so I would really like to know what is causing this spontaneous anxiety/BM problems/motion sickness. This isn't the first time I remember this happening though. In summer of 2009 I remember becoming really nauseous in the car and fearing about my BMs. Eventually that just went away but I worried the entire summer about having "problems" so I stayed close to home. Then I just forgot and have had no issues since.

When I was around 14/15 or so I remember a time during the summer when we went on a longer distance trip and I felt really nauseous the whole car ride up. Eventually we arrived and I went to the bathroom (had a big BM) and then ate some food and felt better. That went away on it's own eventually too. Had no issues up until in 2009.

I am normally a bit sensitive about taking trips early in the morning though. I've had a few bad experiences with going on longer trips that started in the morning and having to stop along the way to have a large BM. And twice during exams I had to go to the bathroom with large BMs. Having to wait for an exam invigilator to come to you when you feel like you are about to explode is also very claustrophobia inducing. So I'm already somewhat skiddish and now I have to worry about this.

So what is this and what can I do to prevent it? I'm afraid to take anything for it because I don't really know what's the problem. I've also had bad experiences with taking medication and then feeling worse so I really hate taking a pill. I feel it's best to just "let my body get it all out".

I'm sure this is all very confusing and I'm probably not being specific enough, but anything can help. Please cross your fingers for me and my trip tomorrow. I've already resolved that if I don't feel 100% when I wake up, I'm just not going!

I should probably mention I'm an otherwise healthy 28 year old male.

hippychick79 said...
Hi Gbman,
Sorry to hear about the problems your having and wish you the best of luck on your upcoming trip. Anxiety and stress play a huge role in IBS. It's like a vicious cycle, when you get anxious your IBS flares up and when your IBS flares up you get anxious. And it certainly sounds like your stressed to the max about these trips. I know you said you hate taking pills, but maybe you can carry a dose of immodium just in case? I know i've felt the feeling of "im gonna puke or poop RIGHT NOW" and be on the road with no restroom in sight. If you are 100% against taking immodium or anything over the counter to slow down the bowels maybe you could try eating some cheese before the trip, just a little. I know cheese always helps slow down my bowels, sometimes for me it's a good thing, sometimes not so much. If you think that might work put you some cheese slices in a lil sandwich baggie. Maybe someone else will come along with some better advise for you. One thing i can say is definately avoid any food/drinks that help you "go" such as apples, coffee, fiber, etc until after the trip, that may help. And when u start getting that nauseous feeling before the "gotta go now" feeling, try taking some deep breaths in your nose and out your mouth to calm yourself down a bit, which definately won't hurt calming down your digestive tract. Again, good luck on your upcoming trip. I hope it goes better then before.

Thanks for the advice. I definitely think anxiety has something to do with it.

Last week I didn't have to take any long trips and I relaxed and felt ok.

Then I got really anxious about taking a trip on Sunday and that's when I started feeling lousy again. It's been continuing now thinking about this trip.

I commuted to school for about a year and a half and I never had ANY problems. Regular BMs and I never had any close calls. I had to commute to work for about a year too and again I never had any problems.

So this whole "vicious cycle" thing is really frustrating. I feel like there's nothing wrong with me but it's just in my head.