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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 10/29/2007 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone,

I'm new to the IBS board so I'll give a quick intro. I'm 23 and was diagnosed with IBS-D 5 years ago, but I have been suffering with it for as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed during one of my worst flares ever -- I passed out in the bathroom in my dorm because the abdominal pain was just that bad.

Now I have suffered from D pretty frequently for the past few years, usually with really bad episodes (in bed for the day episodes) one or two days a week. The D could usually be controlled with Imodium. Lately though, I'm having a problem. I will get a bout or 2 of D and it has been happening in middle of the night. I will take an Imodium following that -- I would just let it run its course but it's hard to do because I work full time and I am also a high school cross-country coach. Sometimes I have meets where I have to be outside all day long with no bathrooms, only port-a-potties. I just can't be running around with D all day, plus the abdominal cramping I get with it is horrendous and I just can't handle it. In the past, this method has been fine. But now after I take an Imodium I find it binds me up really badly. I won't be able to go to the bathroom for 3 or 4 days and when I do I'm tearing things and giving myself fissures. I'm afraid to take a laxative or stool softener because I already suffer so much with D. Usually after the 3 or 4 days of not being able to go, and then going once, the D comes back. Boy does the D burn the fissures! I can't stand it.

I have been trying to eat a high fiber diet just to regulate things but it doesn't seem to be helping. I stay away from raw veggies and acidic juices (apple and cranberry juice just kill me) but it's so hard for me to figure out how to eat when I'm alternating between D and C.

Does anybody else have a similar problem? Any advice would be so much appreciated.
Posted 10/30/2007 3:58 AM (GMT 0)
When was that last time you saw a gastroenterologist? How were you diagnosed with IBS? Did you have a complete work-up to eliminate all other possible causes of your diarrhea and pain? Diarrhea from IBS usually does not awaken a person from their sleep. I think it time your see a GI and get re-evaluated.
Posted 10/30/2007 5:41 AM (GMT 0)
i agree, it seems like you should see a GI person. if (by some randomness) you are in the san francisco bay area, i can give you lots of good names (any other place and i am useless).
Posted 10/30/2007 12:39 PM (GMT 0)
The last time I saw a gastro was in 2003 or 2004. I think it was 2003. I did a barium swallow and then had some sort of scan...I don't remember what it is called, I just remember drinking the barium. Other than that I believe the only thing they had me do was try a gluten-free diet for a while. It didn't really seem to make a difference and I hated it, so I stopped. The odd thing is, some days I can eat certain foods and other days those foods bother me. And the D will go away for a while and then come back suddenly. If it was any other chronic condition besides IBS, wouldn't I have the symptoms all the time? Just to note, the D comes sometimes in the middle of the night, but is not necessarily what is waking me up. Sometimes my stomach bothers me before I go to bed and then I lay down and have to get up to use the bathroom before I go to sleep. Or I wake up for other reasons and while I'm awake the D pays a visit. I'm not sure if it wakes me up out of sleep. I've never really paid attention to whether or not it's doing the actual waking. I am going to see my GP soon for other reasons (chronic body pain) so I will mention these new symptoms to her and see if she thinks I should go back to the gastro.

Thanks for the responses!
Posted 10/31/2007 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
Birdiem, I am in the Bay Area and wouldn't mind some names of some good gastro Doctors. I live in Fremont
Posted 11/1/2007 3:53 PM (GMT 0)
Add a fibre supplement daily into your diet, this is what my GI told me to do...I have crohns 9for almost 17 yrs now) but he suspects I also have IBS as well and I started taking the fibre supplements daily (4yrs ago) and still do because it's done wonders for both my crohns and IBS.

:)
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