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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 4/4/2007 4:01 AM (GMT 0)
How is everyone? First I would like to say that im glad I found this site. Hopefully it will provide some answers. OK, so a little history on my. It all started when I was 20, I think, im 22 now. I would get woken up in the middle of the night, usually 2-3 hours after I went to bed, with horrible adominal cramping and the sensation that I needed to poop. The pain was so bad that it would make me curl up into a ball if I was lying down or stop me dead in my tracks and couldnt breath if I was standing. This is would go on for any where from 30 mins to 1 hour. I would then be able to have a bowl movement that would be in between regular and D. The pain would fade really fast after bowl movement and leave me feeling a bit sore and fatigued. I didnt do anything about it until one night the pain was so bad I thought something was ripping my insides out. So I went to the ER. They put an IV in me and did some bloodwork. The doc said I had IBS but he wanted to give me an MRI to make sure my appendix was ok. I denied that cause at the time I didnt have insurance. I was released a few hours later no longer in pain but very tired from the whole ordeal. I lived with it and tried to have more fiber in my diet and less stress in my life, until now. In the past month ive had periods where I will have mucus with my stool. But now in just the past 2 days im passing mucus without stool. It is sometime clear in color and then sometimes it can be a dark brown. The dark brown smells really bad while the clear just has a very unoticeable unpleasant odor. I dont have any pain or blood, well at least is there is blood it is not visable. Nothing that is yellow is coming outa me. I havnt had a night spell in about a month or so. And I think I should mention that it is only a little bit at a time. Im kinda worried about this because there are people on my father's side that have Diversticulitis (SP?) and 2 people on my mother's side have had colon cancer. And my mother has just recently developed colon polyps. Ive read that mucus can be associated with IBS. But im wanting to hear from other people who has this problem to tell me this is what it is. Ive never had my galbladder checked. But I dont have problems when eating greasy foods. Ive never had a yellow colored bowl movement. I will mention that I do notice that I have a slight pain whenever I push on my left side a little above my naval. But ive had that pain there when I push for some time now. Ive always associated it with the IBS and the soft muscle tissue being sore from cramping. Again thanks for any insight you guys can provide me.
Posted 4/4/2007 4:41 AM (GMT 0)
I've had both kinds of mucus that you're talking about - the clear-ish, and the dark brown. It can definitely be associated with IBS. And when you say that you have blood in your stool, but it isn't visible, what do you mean? have you had an occult blood test? also, have you ever had a colonoscopy?

If what you have has definitively been diagnosed as IBS, I would suggest keeping a food diary to try to identify your triggers - keep track of what you eat and when, when you have bowel movements, and what sort of emotional state you're in - like if you're upset or particularly stressed.

There are lots of things besides fiber that you can do to try to help balance you out, and make sure that you're getting the right kind of fiber - sometimes soluble fiber (like in rice, pasta, breads like french and sourdough) can be better for IBS sufferers than insoluble fiber (stuff like bran, whole grains, fruit/vegetables with peeling, etc.) Peppermint oil or fennel is good for calming your GI tract - you can get those in capsules. I also like Digest (made by Enzymatica) - it's a bunch of different digestive enzymes, all in one little capsule, and i just pop a couple when i know i'm going to eat something that might bother me. hope that helps...
Posted 4/4/2007 4:59 AM (GMT 0)
Hey thanks for the input. I might have not been clear enough but i've never seen blood in my stool but ive never had and occult blood test so there might be the possiblity of it. As far as foods go ive seen to notice some cramping when I eat certain mexican dishes, which totally sucks cause that is my favorite kind of food. My mother who is a RN told me to start adding metimucel as a daily thing. So I went tonite and bought some. As far as bowl movements go, I dont think I have ever been regular. Sometimes I will have a BM once a day. Sometimes I will have on every couple of days, and then sometimes 2 times a day. I will have to start keeping a journal of some kinda with the foods ive eating. Im curious though, how long after eating a tigger food will symptoms arise? I hate having this cause im 22, I just hope it doesnt cause me a lot of problems in life. Thanks again SunShine for your input. :)
Posted 4/4/2007 5:03 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah ... I feel you. I'm 22 as well, and my symptoms started last year after a particularly stressful semester in nursing school. My symptoms usually start right after I eat the triggering food, depending on what it is, and what symptom - sometimes it can be more of an all-day type thing, though, like i'll eat a hamburger for lunch, and start cramping later that evening - it just depends. My main symptom is bad gas pains/bloating, and i get queasy from the gas pains a lot of times, which is definitely not fun. I was doing really well with mine for about 3 weeks, but i ate really horribly today, and it's back with a vengance tonight.
Posted 4/4/2007 5:08 AM (GMT 0)
I would definetly get a fecal occult test to see if there is blood. You normally dont see that type of blood. Usually we see blood from a hemmie or something like that cause it is fresh but this is different. I think you can even buy the test at drug store if you don't have insurance. Keeping a diary of food will help but there are so many things in food that we don't even realize it is only a guide but a really good place to start.
Posted 4/4/2007 2:58 PM (GMT 0)
Did you read my post on gall bladder disorder? Everything you describe sounds like a gall bladder attack to me; God knows I woke up plenty of times in the middle of the night in horrible pain, couldn't stand up straight, got terribly sick to my stomach, and then have a bowel movement 30 minutes to an hour later and start feeling better. I was 18 and in college when mine started. I did have yellow, burning bile diarrhea, but that's not an absolute requirement. Did no one ever bother to check your gall bladder? Look up the symptoms in your nursing book; I looked up mine in my mother's and I was a textbook case. Don't ask me why none of the doctors i saw in five years, though, could figure it out.

Pizza and caffeine are two things to be avoided at all costs. You should also give up all fast food, especially fried things like chicken sandwiches and french fries. If you want a burger, it's always better to cook one at home in a healthy-fat oil; olive and canola oil shouldn't make you sick like partially-hydrogenated oil that most restaurants cook with will. Frozen fries even have that partially-hydrogenated crap in them; if you like potatoes with your burger, try buying some raw potatoes and baking your own potato wedges.
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