# How IBS Turned My Life Into A Landslide



## _Landslide_ (Jun 29, 2011)

Hey Everyone, I'm brand new to this forum, though certainly not new to IBS. I am a frequent member of other forums online (mostly pet related) and I find that the community feeling they bring is so great that I got to thinking why not join an IBS one too, where people actually understand what I'm going through on a day to day basis. Well here I am and here's my story:My name is Steph and I'm a 21 year old fourth-year University Student (currently taking Sociology but really have no clue what I'm doing haha). The funny thing about my story is that up until two years ago I was known as "that kid who never gets sick" and was basically the care-giver in any relationship I had (re: parents divorced when I was only 6 years old, basically raised myself and took care of myself and everyone around me). But in all honestly, I don't think I ever took a single sick day from school, I had the chicken pox so mild that they almost thought I didn't have it and except for a few broken bones and some childhood asthma (which once again was so mild compared to everyone else who had it) I was the perfect picture of health. Sadly all that changed in my second year of University (September 2009). As I'm sure you all know, this is when the oh-so-lovely H1N1 or Swine Flu Epidemic broke out. Well I ended up getting sick and missing a lot classes right around the same time. It was nothing too serious, just overall feeling really blah and just not being able to completely get over whatever I had picked up. Of course NO doctor would see me because everyone was so worried about H1N1, so I suffered along for 2-3 months, missing classes and failing midterms (I should also mention that I was a straight-A student up until this point, full scholarship, 4.0 GPA in my first year, so you know something was wrong). Well finally I convinced the University Doctor to see me (since my own family doctor refused) and they prescribed me Tami-flu (the H1N1 treatment) but couldn't really say if I had H1N1 and didn't want to test me. Well I got better FINALLY, so obviously I had some kind of viral infection I couldn't beat on my own, and I continued on with my life. Sadly I had been sick for so long that I ended up failing one of my courses (Organic Chemistry) and my dreams of getting into Veterinary School or Medical School after 2 years of University went straight out the window. Well things just went completely downhill from there. Health issues starting popping up with me left, right and center. I started having what appeared to be allergic reactions (Sensation of throat closing up) to peanuts and tree nuts (Have NEVER been allergic to a thing in a my life), I suffered excrutiating abdominal pain attacks which sent me to the emergency room thinking I was having an appendicitis, I had a 2 week period where I was so dizzy I couldn't even stand up, I would wake up every morning and not be able to breathe because I had so much mucous dripping down my throat from my sinuses, I started getting mirgraine attacks with aura (basically visual and motor disturbances mimicking a stroke which resulted in me calling 911 the first time it happened), anxiety attacks like you would not believe and then finally... the dreaded IBS started. It actually started as acid reflux during my final exams in April 2010. I was suffering from such bad heartburn (assumed to be stress related) that I was sure I had a stomach ulcer. And then the real digestive symptoms kicked in. Now I had always been a fairly constipated person (having a bowel movement once a week or not even having one for 2 weeks at a time was just the norm for me). I had mentioned this to various doctors, my parents, etc. but no one really ever seemed concerned so I didn't worry about it either, heck I was just a kid. Well I started having stomach aches ALL the time. I would feel nauseous, I'd have abdominal cramps, I'd be constipated half the time and then I'd randomly get bouts of diarrhea or loose stools. I also started noticing mucous in my bowel movements as well. Now at this point EVERYONE thought I was crazy. I mean, how could they not? A perfectly healthy person suddenly starts having every issue imagineable. The funniest part of it all is that with everything else that was going on with me, the IBS seemed to be the LEAST of the concerns. In fact the first time my doctor brought it up, it went like this: "Sounds like you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, eat more fiber". I got tested for Celiac disease, and parasites (I work a lot around animals), and wasn't showing any symtoms of inflammatory bowel disease so the Doctor was like "Yupp, IBS, take metamucil". And that was the end of that discussion. Period. Well the hell that had become my life continued on and the Summer of 2010 was honestly the worst period of my life. I was convinced I must be dying. I must have cancer or something awful like that because nobody could give me any answers and nobody seemed to take me seriously anymore or believe me or even care. My boyfriend of 3 years at the time, who had also been my best friend for 6 years previously started resenting me, my family started to view me as a burden, all friends I had packed up and left and any new friends I made got the heck out once they got to know me. I went from a straight-A student to barely scraping by and all of this of course lead to anxiety and depression, coupled with the death of one of my coaches and good friends and I was just done, I honestly was. Well finally, a year later, this April 2011, I couldn't take it anymore. I started looking into Private health care (I live in Canada - we have universal public health care or whatever it's called) and I found a really good private clinic that wasn't ridiculously expensive and I signed up. Well they ran every test under the sun on me - we're talking complete bloodwork, heart tests, ultrasounds, lung tests, you name it. I also finally got tested for allergies after a year long wait. And everything came up clean. And the Doctor could finally for 100% say what I do have and this is basically what happened to me:-In September 2009, I contracted H1N1 (well the Dr. is 99% sure anyways, but it's too late to test now obviously) and despite not getting overly sick or needing to be hospitalized, it completely wiped out my immune system (apparently they are just starting to figure out the detrimental long term effects of this virus now).-The physical stress on my body combined with the mental stress of losing relationships, failing school, not knowing what was wrong with me, etc. was the "trigger event" that brought on my IBS (which I probably always had a touch of, it just was never this severe).-I possibly also have GERD (Gastric Esophaegael Reflux Disease) but the Dr. can't tell for sure if my IBS is just so bad, that it's causing my whole digestive system to be off balance, or if I have GERD as a separate condition as well-My immune system is basically shot. This is why I feel sick all the time, am exhausted constantly and started to have mock allergic reactions-An immunologist/allergy/asthma specialist finally determined I'm not actually allergic to nuts (besides them being a major IBS trigger food for me) but that I have ANOTHER chronic condition called "Non-allergic rhinitis" which basically means my upper airway is chronically swollen --> this has also caused my immune system to over react, is making my IBS symptoms worse (according to the Dr.) and is why I have been having mucous problems, fake allergies, etc. etc. -Finally I have seen a psychologist and do have generalized anxiety disorder brought on by all this horrible stuff that has happened to me, but overall the Dr. said I handled everything amazingly well. -I do also have some other minor conditions such as Migraines with Aura and severe PMS, TMJ problems, etc. Which ironically have been linked to IBS, as well as the anxiety has been linked to IBS.Anyways.... The doctor prescribed me a bunch of drugs (acid reflux meds and Dicetol for the IBS) and said for me to decide if I wanted to go that route or not, but being out of school for the summer now + FINALLY KNOWING what's up has reduced my stress enough for me to hold off on the drugs for now.However, I still feel pretty low most days. Not so much the IBS symtpoms (although the attacks absolutely suck) but I also have the fatigue and feeling depressed that goes along with IBS and I ended up having to break up with my boyfriend of 3.5 years and have basically no friends, my family still does not understand how severe of a condition IBS is, and I just don't feel the doctors are fully helpful either, I guess I'm just feeling really blue lately. I hate leaving my house and I feel like I'm just not cut-out for real life anymore or like I'll never be able to live normally or achieve things. So that's what brings me here. Just looking for support and some people to talk to and hopefully go from there.Would also love to hear people's experiences with medication (I'm really against meds in general because my body is sensitive to everything and I get awful side effects) and just more holistic approaches to controling your IBS too.Well that's my story, I'm off to read some of yours. Thanks for listening







~Steph


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## Wanna (Jul 12, 2011)

Hi Steph, just wanted to let you know that you are definitely not alone. My IBS started about almost three years ago after a troubling medical exam. I've always had issues with depression and anxiety but nothing severe enough to require medications. My anxiety spike through the roof when I spent almost two months worrying about my medical issues. Turns out the medical issue was nothing but it started a chain reaction I have yet to completely recover from. I have a lot of the same issues you described but I'm learning every week how to handle my IBS with diet and exercise. My biggest issues right now are eating regularly and feeling weak/fatigue especially during the first half of the day. I think the two are connected in my case so I'm trying to eat 5-6 small meals per day instead of three large meals. Hopefully getting enough fuel will give me energy. Another thing that seems to work for me is peppermint tea in the evenings at the first sign of stomach upset and a heating pad placed on my stomach. The one thing I've learned from lurking on this forum is that each person is different. What works for some won't work for everyone. You have to commit yourself to figuring out what works for you. Eat as healthy as you can. Junk food is the enemy now. Take a good multivitamin and drinks as much water as you can stand. I can't do caffiene so I've switched from coffee to decaf green tea and herbal teas. I'm also showing signs of lactose intolerance so I use soy, almond and coconut milk. I eat chocolate and beef only when I'm craving them and then only in small portions because both are triggers for me. Keep coming back to this forum and keep reaching out to others who are suffering. IBS may not be a life threatening disease but it is life altering.


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## AnxietyPrincess (Jul 20, 2011)

_Landslide_ said:


> Hey Everyone, I'm brand new to this forum, though certainly not new to IBS. I am a frequent member of other forums online (mostly pet related) and I find that the community feeling they bring is so great that I got to thinking why not join an IBS one too, where people actually understand what I'm going through on a day to day basis. Well here I am and here's my story:My name is Steph and I'm a 21 year old fourth-year University Student (currently taking Sociology but really have no clue what I'm doing haha). The funny thing about my story is that up until two years ago I was known as "that kid who never gets sick" and was basically the care-giver in any relationship I had (re: parents divorced when I was only 6 years old, basically raised myself and took care of myself and everyone around me). But in all honestly, I don't think I ever took a single sick day from school, I had the chicken pox so mild that they almost thought I didn't have it and except for a few broken bones and some childhood asthma (which once again was so mild compared to everyone else who had it) I was the perfect picture of health. Sadly all that changed in my second year of University (September 2009). As I'm sure you all know, this is when the oh-so-lovely H1N1 or Swine Flu Epidemic broke out. Well I ended up getting sick and missing a lot classes right around the same time. It was nothing too serious, just overall feeling really blah and just not being able to completely get over whatever I had picked up. Of course NO doctor would see me because everyone was so worried about H1N1, so I suffered along for 2-3 months, missing classes and failing midterms (I should also mention that I was a straight-A student up until this point, full scholarship, 4.0 GPA in my first year, so you know something was wrong). Well finally I convinced the University Doctor to see me (since my own family doctor refused) and they prescribed me Tami-flu (the H1N1 treatment) but couldn't really say if I had H1N1 and didn't want to test me. Well I got better FINALLY, so obviously I had some kind of viral infection I couldn't beat on my own, and I continued on with my life. Sadly I had been sick for so long that I ended up failing one of my courses (Organic Chemistry) and my dreams of getting into Veterinary School or Medical School after 2 years of University went straight out the window. Well things just went completely downhill from there. Health issues starting popping up with me left, right and center. I started having what appeared to be allergic reactions (Sensation of throat closing up) to peanuts and tree nuts (Have NEVER been allergic to a thing in a my life), I suffered excrutiating abdominal pain attacks which sent me to the emergency room thinking I was having an appendicitis, I had a 2 week period where I was so dizzy I couldn't even stand up, I would wake up every morning and not be able to breathe because I had so much mucous dripping down my throat from my sinuses, I started getting mirgraine attacks with aura (basically visual and motor disturbances mimicking a stroke which resulted in me calling 911 the first time it happened), anxiety attacks like you would not believe and then finally... the dreaded IBS started. It actually started as acid reflux during my final exams in April 2010. I was suffering from such bad heartburn (assumed to be stress related) that I was sure I had a stomach ulcer. And then the real digestive symptoms kicked in. Now I had always been a fairly constipated person (having a bowel movement once a week or not even having one for 2 weeks at a time was just the norm for me). I had mentioned this to various doctors, my parents, etc. but no one really ever seemed concerned so I didn't worry about it either, heck I was just a kid. Well I started having stomach aches ALL the time. I would feel nauseous, I'd have abdominal cramps, I'd be constipated half the time and then I'd randomly get bouts of diarrhea or loose stools. I also started noticing mucous in my bowel movements as well. Now at this point EVERYONE thought I was crazy. I mean, how could they not? A perfectly healthy person suddenly starts having every issue imagineable. The funniest part of it all is that with everything else that was going on with me, the IBS seemed to be the LEAST of the concerns. In fact the first time my doctor brought it up, it went like this: "Sounds like you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, eat more fiber". I got tested for Celiac disease, and parasites (I work a lot around animals), and wasn't showing any symtoms of inflammatory bowel disease so the Doctor was like "Yupp, IBS, take metamucil". And that was the end of that discussion. Period. Well the hell that had become my life continued on and the Summer of 2010 was honestly the worst period of my life. I was convinced I must be dying. I must have cancer or something awful like that because nobody could give me any answers and nobody seemed to take me seriously anymore or believe me or even care. My boyfriend of 3 years at the time, who had also been my best friend for 6 years previously started resenting me, my family started to view me as a burden, all friends I had packed up and left and any new friends I made got the heck out once they got to know me. I went from a straight-A student to barely scraping by and all of this of course lead to anxiety and depression, coupled with the death of one of my coaches and good friends and I was just done, I honestly was. Well finally, a year later, this April 2011, I couldn't take it anymore. I started looking into Private health care (I live in Canada - we have universal public health care or whatever it's called) and I found a really good private clinic that wasn't ridiculously expensive and I signed up. Well they ran every test under the sun on me - we're talking complete bloodwork, heart tests, ultrasounds, lung tests, you name it. I also finally got tested for allergies after a year long wait. And everything came up clean. And the Doctor could finally for 100% say what I do have and this is basically what happened to me:-In September 2009, I contracted H1N1 (well the Dr. is 99% sure anyways, but it's too late to test now obviously) and despite not getting overly sick or needing to be hospitalized, it completely wiped out my immune system (apparently they are just starting to figure out the detrimental long term effects of this virus now).-The physical stress on my body combined with the mental stress of losing relationships, failing school, not knowing what was wrong with me, etc. was the "trigger event" that brought on my IBS (which I probably always had a touch of, it just was never this severe).-I possibly also have GERD (Gastric Esophaegael Reflux Disease) but the Dr. can't tell for sure if my IBS is just so bad, that it's causing my whole digestive system to be off balance, or if I have GERD as a separate condition as well-My immune system is basically shot. This is why I feel sick all the time, am exhausted constantly and started to have mock allergic reactions-An immunologist/allergy/asthma specialist finally determined I'm not actually allergic to nuts (besides them being a major IBS trigger food for me) but that I have ANOTHER chronic condition called "Non-allergic rhinitis" which basically means my upper airway is chronically swollen --> this has also caused my immune system to over react, is making my IBS symptoms worse (according to the Dr.) and is why I have been having mucous problems, fake allergies, etc. etc. -Finally I have seen a psychologist and do have generalized anxiety disorder brought on by all this horrible stuff that has happened to me, but overall the Dr. said I handled everything amazingly well. -I do also have some other minor conditions such as Migraines with Aura and severe PMS, TMJ problems, etc. Which ironically have been linked to IBS, as well as the anxiety has been linked to IBS.Anyways.... The doctor prescribed me a bunch of drugs (acid reflux meds and Dicetol for the IBS) and said for me to decide if I wanted to go that route or not, but being out of school for the summer now + FINALLY KNOWING what's up has reduced my stress enough for me to hold off on the drugs for now.However, I still feel pretty low most days. Not so much the IBS symtpoms (although the attacks absolutely suck) but I also have the fatigue and feeling depressed that goes along with IBS and I ended up having to break up with my boyfriend of 3.5 years and have basically no friends, my family still does not understand how severe of a condition IBS is, and I just don't feel the doctors are fully helpful either, I guess I'm just feeling really blue lately. I hate leaving my house and I feel like I'm just not cut-out for real life anymore or like I'll never be able to live normally or achieve things. So that's what brings me here. Just looking for support and some people to talk to and hopefully go from there.Would also love to hear people's experiences with medication (I'm really against meds in general because my body is sensitive to everything and I get awful side effects) and just more holistic approaches to controling your IBS too.Well that's my story, I'm off to read some of yours. Thanks for listening
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My name is Lauren. I am currently sixteen. My freshman year I was going out with a less than good guy. I got to a point so low that I though I was clinically depressed, turns out, it was that I hate him so much. I met this oother guy that actually made me happy. No I did not cheat. We were simply friends until AFTER i broke up with "Z." Z would never leave me alone in school and would constantly text and call me. Finally i told "A" I liked him, but we both wanted to wait til summer so drama didn't start. Z started so much drama in school. My stomach hurt so bad the one day from worrying about seeing him I left school early. A and I started going out after that. (I was so done and over with Z for months so..) Since then I had bad stomach pains. At first I thought it was a virus, but it kept getting really bad. School coming up made me kinda anxious because I had a teacher that EVERYONE hated. I would be nervous every day to go to that class, so I would get sick. After about 2 months of that I all of a sudden felt 100% better. I could eat and everything. That lasted for all of a week.. :[ Since then life has been a whole lot like hell.. I would dread riding the bus to school because I would get motion sickness that would last up to about lunch time. I would wake up sick and miss the bus. Come into school late and miss the teacher's class. Then I would go see the teacher later about it and ###### because my stomach problem "was not my (coming from her mouth) problem." She would mark assignment late even when they weren't. She would talk to the class about me when I wasn't there. She would say stuff to me in front of the whole class. I would ask for work I missed and she would ###### at me and not give me all of it, but she would give it to other classmates in my class without a problem. I dreaded school. My mother had to talk to her multiple times. She was the only teacher I have evr had a problem with.I was diagnosed with IBS around March or April. I was put on Bentyl. The doctor asked me a bunch of questions. She asked me if anything traumatic or stressful has happened in my life... Well I've had more stuff than a 16 year old should handle. And she asked me what settles my stomach.. my answer: my dog. Something about being around my puppy helps calm me down. So I was diagnosed with anxiety.. I now have to go to a therapist that deals specifically with adolescents with mental "issues" that cause their IBS. The worst part of all of this is... I went from eating whatever I want and when I want to now I never eat. I eat at times and get sick multiple times from it. Or I'll go to eat and I start gagging. I get sick so often and feel so much pain. I get ###### from everyone because I have missed sooooo much school this past year, but they never see the struggle I go through day to day. Most of my friends do not understand that I am sick. They think I'm just saying ######. My boyfriend "A" is amazing. He knows I have IBS. He knows I get sick.. ALOT. He knows I am in a lot of pain for the most part. He has sat with me when I am in pain instead of going out. I couldn't ask for more. I also have a sister who has IBS, but she lives far away. My best friend is about a year older than me and more mature than most girls I know. She knows all about my stomach issues and is so understanding, but I have adults that don't believe I have IBS and that I use it for an excuse because i go out with friends, but schoool is hard. Anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this??


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