Any advice??

Hey guys,

Im a 25 year old from Perth, Western Australia, ive suffered with IBS for about two years now and i swear it has put my life on hold. I was soo active before, went clubbing all the time, out with friends, now i am to scared to go out to clubs cos of the toilet situation (actually more the fact that i wont make it to a loo in time). i would rather stay home now than go out. Thankfully i havent lost any friends, but i hate saying no to going out all the time, they understand to a point,but unless u have IBS u dont really know in my opinion :) My thoughts if i am out are basically, where is the toilet and how long are we going to be out for...drives me nuts. The worst thing is im mostly fine when im at home, bowel wise, but the nerves when i go out automatically activates my spastic colon haha..and i need to go to the loo... Sucks... Before i got IBS i wanted to travel heaps, now i want to stay in perth and not leave cos i cant imagine being on holiday with IBS..I hate being a burdon to...Any suggestions or ways to deal with the nerves etc??

Thanks and any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Hey thanks for the reply. the unfortunate thing is, ive tried phycologists, phychiatrists, hypnotherapists , you name it, i think ive done it. and apart from costing me heaps, it hasnt really done the trick...Sorry your husband thinks its all in your head, it probably is in our heads but hey, we cant help it and do you think we want to have this, nooo. if i coudl get it out of my head i would, at the drop of a hat. Lucky i have supportive parents, i still live at home, so makes it a bit easier, but mum gets angry, or worried cos she goes out more than me haha and im 25, she says thats not right...im ok with it for now..but i cant spend the rest of my life at home.grrr

anyways thanks for letting me vent lol tell me how the therapist goes

ciao

Hey, thanks for that, i didnt know about calcium therapy so i will look into it :) And i also didnt realise there was a test to tell u weather ur lactose intolerant or not, ive been off milk for three weeks now and i dont think its made a difference and i loveeeeee milk so ill go take the test and see if i can have it again haha.. any other info from anyone would be great. the doctors ive been to seem to have nooo idea about IBS or what to do..grrrrr

Just based on talking to people here, I estimate that only about 50% of IBSers have a problem of any sort with milk. I don't know that it would be worth the effort of having the lactose intolerence test since you have seen no improvement on your own. There are three different reactions to milk: milk allergy, lactose intolerence and just the guts don't like milk. If you have a milk allergy, it's not enough to not drink milk or eat butter or cheese: you can't have any milk proteins, like caesin, which are found in a lot of pre-packaged foods. If you're allergic to milk but haven't cut the milk proteins out, then you won't have noticed a difference in just cutting solid dairy from your diet. If you suspect milk, then you either need an allergy test or you need to eliminate all foods which are labeled "contains milk ingredients". Caesin is the main one, but I think there's another one used sometimes too. Lactose intolerence should be noticeable if you cut the dairy products out and then try one again; if you get better, then get sick right after eating dairy, then it's probably just lactose intolerence. Milk proteins in packaged foods won't bother you because they don't contain lactose--only actual dairy products will be a problem. Then there is the third kind of milk intolerence that won't show up on any test. It's just when your gut doesn't like milk. It has nothing to do with any sort of allergy or intolerence to lactose, it's just that your gut can't handle breaking down the fat, produces too much acid afterwards, etc. Again, that can be determined by cutting dairy products out and seeing if you get better. Milk proteins in packaged foods shouldn't bother you since they are in very tiny amounts.

If you haven't seen an allergist, you might want to. They can test you for allergies to the usual suspects: milk, peanuts, soy, wheat (gluten), etc. I have heard they are not always accurate, but it might give you a place to start. Some people just have an intolerence, not an actual allergy, which means that you usually can tolerate small amounts of something, but larger portions will aggrevate your body. I think too that allergies produce a diagnosable allergic reaction but an intolerence doesn't; it just makes you feel bad.