Im scared, please read, looking for help

I have IBS-C for about 2years now. I'm a male, 47, 5'7" tall normal weight 135lbs, I'm now at 116lbs. I have nausea all the time, gas constipated. I went to several doctors including a over night at the hospital, blood tests all night every two hours, x rays, mri and some special x ray machine only two in the world. I left there negative, was told IBS-C Spastic colon. I went to teaching on the internet, found the best G.I Doctor in the area and saw him. He did all the test, you know with the cams, and long metal ...you know what I mean. He checked everywhere. Took a biopsy of some h.p Lori or something that was negative. Blood tests negative. I was diagnost by him again with IBS and spastic colon. Gave me amitiza and ondansetron for nausea. I found chewing on crystallized ginger works much better. But I'm concerned and scared . I stool color changes, right now its been soft one day, harder the next and a light yellowish. I have it go from thin and short/long to thick and over13" or so the other day. But the last almost two weeks this yellowish. No stomach pain, I can press hard everywhere, no fever, no jondus ( yellowish skin,eyes ) my eyes are bright white. But I'm so sick everyday, a bit better after b.m It seems I have IBS symptoms everyday. I thought this was once in a while thing. I don't eat right, don't take in much calories , I work outside all day in Florida. It's too hot to eat and I just feel sick. I'm getting really over all this it so hard to deal with. I can hardly work or get out of bed. I feel if I had time to take off, and eat right. concentrate on me and my weight and health I could gain some weight back and maybe feel better. I have no energy at all...NONE. I feel so stuck, with..I just feel I'm totally stuck. I just have to keep going until I collapse . Thank you all for reading this, I really needed to say this.

IBS is pretty much a default diagnosis when they can't find anything else wrong. Have you asked about diet changes? My sister had chronic IBS and found a strict diet helped immensely :)

Hi there, welcome to the HW forum. Lots of really great people here, very helpful and many experts. I am not one though, but I can commiserate with you and tell you that you are not alone. So you have come to the right place. I don't quite have the IBS dx but landed in a similar chronic health place from having had the bottom part of my colon removed, due to cancer. I've struggled ever since (13 years now). What can I say? Well, for one keeping a food journal is very helpful. I kept one faithfully for 2 years to determine which foods agreed with my touchy gut and which ones to avoid. I used an ordinary school spiral bound 1 subject notebook, writing only on the front of each page, designating 1 page per day. I would take the bottom right hand corner and rate each day - great, good, bad - so later I could go back thru previous dates to find great or good days so I could mimic that specific day's food/beverage habits, etc. I went on a low residue diet (but this is only helpful for those of us experiencing D or the dumping, loose stool episodes). If you find that you need bulk or additional fiber, then a low residue diet wouldn't be for you.

I have determined 2 things in these past 13 years - the saying "we are what we eat" is very true for people with bowel disorders. I can usually trace a bad day back (24-48 hours) to something I shouldn't have consumed. One time I had 2 glasses of dark keg beer (which tasted great BTW), at an outdoor bonfire party. That beer did a massive and total cleanout of my gut, 12 hours later. Better than any bowel prep ordered by a GI doc! It's not always solids that mess us up. Keep that in mind.

The other characteristic of my touchy gut is - it's ~not~ always predictable. Even if I do everything right (for me), plain food, probiotic, mild stool softener (this gives my stool consistency), my gut still can give me a really bad day and I don't know why. At this point I accept that my gut just wants to purge itself of all stool. And even though you'll have lots of folks tell you - take imodium - I feel much better if I don't stop these multiple trips to the bathroom. I allow my body this purge effect, because I do feel better - but later. This natural purge my gut likes to do is about once a month now. I'm long past menopause so I don't think it's hormonal either. Just one more aspect of my wacky gut.

Sometimes living with my touchy gut reminds me of the movie Alien - my gut heaves and rolls, to the point where I joke any minute now a creature will be crawling out of my stomach.

Well, once again, stick around. This is a great place. I will warn you though, this IBS board is very quiet. The UC one is very active (even if you don't have the UC dx, venture over there sometime, you may find useful topics, I have in the past).

Mary/Marsky