# Extreme IBS?



## Prough (Mar 6, 2011)

I am 17, turn 18 in about 20 days. In high school, top of the class (ranking of 9) in school, and my life still has relatively little stress..I've been having very bad IBS for months now. I haven't been able to leave my house at all, besides school which is nearly unbearable since it started. My friends are starting to get mad because I never go out with them, and I am too embarrassed to tell them I have IBS.Since summer of 2010, this has been happening. It just appeared out of the blue too, I never had these problems before, but the day we left for Myrtle Beach I started to get them. They were actually so bad on my vacation that if I had a chance to lay down, I would just lay down for hours in the fetal position in pain.Now, I have alternating diareha and constipation, extreme stomach cramping (especially in the morning), nausea, and gas. I've also started to notice this smell. I don't know what it is..it kind of smells like rotting flesh. On really bad days, I can smell it, and if I ask someone to smell my stomach (weird, I know) they smell it too. :/My doctor put me on stomach acid medication. Didn't help. She put me on anti-spasm medication (IC Dicyclomine) which had no help at all.I kept a food diary from November to now. There was nothing linking food to my episodes at all according to my doctor who looked at it.I don't know what to do anymore. ;_; The pain was so bad today from first period to third period that I couldn't do any work at all. I just sat there with my hands balled up, squeezing them just so I wouldn't make a grunt or some other sound. I had to take 3 anti-diarehal pills just so I could go through school X_X (The normal dose is 2, which no longer does anything for me.)I've seen a specialist. they're the one who said it was IBS. I've had a small bowel follow through with Barium..and x-rays..and stuff.But it seems like it is getting worse the longer I have it. At times I think it's all in my head, but I didn't even know what IBS was when I first started having this. Sometimes I think it's anxiety but I remember when I actually enjoyed going out. I didn't have all this when I went to Canada a year before I went to Myrtle Beach. I actually went out with friends and went to school. Nothing happened. It just appeared out of the blue in Summer.Help!


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

I had severe off the charts pain too.Sometimes the imodium will cause more cramping. So I always take an anti gas gel tab with it. (An anti-gas med has simethicone in it. I buy the store brand and it works fine for me.) Try if that helps you reduce the bad cramping. Also... do you know those heat patches you see for people to put on their backs??? Well I bought them and use them on my gut when the pains real bad... the heat really helps. Course I also take the antispasmodic med too when it's bad. I throw all I can at the pain.But bar none the best thing I did for my pain was use hypnotherapy. Worked better than even narcotics at managing my pain. Please see the CBT/Hypnotherapy Forum for more info. But I wil tell you this.. hypno gave me back my life.As far as your friends go.. just tell them you have a chronic "stomach thing" and can't always go out with them. If they are decent friends... they will understand!I wish you all the very best and Congratulate you on your academic accomplishments!Keep us posted on how you are doing!


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## Prough (Mar 6, 2011)

BQ said:


> I had severe off the charts pain too.Sometimes the imodium will cause more cramping. So I always take an anti gas gel tab with it. (An anti-gas med has simethicone in it. I buy the store brand and it works fine for me.) Try if that helps you reduce the bad cramping. Also... do you know those heat patches you see for people to put on their backs??? Well I bought them and use them on my gut when the pains real bad... the heat really helps. Course I also take the antispasmodic med too when it's bad. I throw all I can at the pain.But bar none the best thing I did for my pain was use hypnotherapy. Worked better than even narcotics at managing my pain. Please see the CBT/Hypnotherapy Forum for more info. But I wil tell you this.. hypno gave me back my life.As far as your friends go.. just tell them you have a chronic "stomach thing" and can't always go out with them. If they are decent friends... they will understand!I wish you all the very best and Congratulate you on your academic accomplishments!Keep us posted on how you are doing!


I tried to take gas stuff today. It just gave me diareha. @[email protected] Didn't help the pain or nausea at all. Pain killers never work. At least, not ones like Aspirin.Hypnotherapy? I don't like that..I'd rather just treat the symptoms directly than do that. D:*---UPDATE---* I missed school yet again today (4th time in the past 6 days, luckily, my classes are easy this year) because the symptoms are so bad right now. I had to call my dad, because my mom forbade me to miss any more school. I was reading this pamphlet my doctor gave me regarding IBS and it says:


> The complications of functional diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are relatively limited. Since the symptoms are often provoked by eating, patients who alter their diets and reduce their intake of calories may lose weight. *Fortunately, loss of weight is unusual in functional diseases, and it should suggest the presence of a non-functional disease.* Symptoms that awaken patients from sleep also are more likely to be due to non-functional than functional diseases.


I've been losing weight. I am not exercising. I am on a diet, but it's not really that good of one. I still drink pop, I still eat things like flaming hot cheetos from time to time, I just don't do it as much. I stopped doing it as much since October, and I have been consistently losing weight. Shouldn't I have stalemated right now?Is it possible that this isn't IBS?Is it also possible that this is just depression? I know depression can cause IBS (or IBS-like symtpoms.) Lately, it's been happening only when I go to school and going away when I get home. I don't know why. I actually enjoy school, I feel no anxiety at all. Well, the only anxiety I feel is on Sunday night I think "Well, tomorrows going to be hell" because I normally don't have symptoms on the weekend. But..this is the only thing that makes me think depression. I don't think about death a lot..or anything that would normally make someone clinically depressed except for when..like..I get in a fight with a close friend. But I normally don't think about death even then. @[email protected] I rarely even think about death..But lately I have been having symptoms at home and on the weekends. It's getting progressively worse. This weekend I was nauseous a lot. Right now, even though I am home, I feel my stomach cringing for no reason, and I am a little nauseous.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Well you are treating the symptoms directly when using hypno but... w/eIBS can be very painful.If you think you might be depressed.. try taking this: http://depression.about.com/cs/diagnosis/l/bldepscreenquiz.htm And see how you do.And then.....Why not ask this question of your Dr?


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## Prough (Mar 6, 2011)

BQ said:


> Well you are treating the symptoms directly when using hypno but... w/eIBS can be very painful.If you think you might be depressed.. try taking this: http://depression.about.com/cs/diagnosis/l/bldepscreenquiz.htm And see how you do.And then.....Why not ask this question of your Dr?


No it's not. Let's say you have IBS because of a minor food allergy. Hypnotherapy makes your mind ignore any thing that may occur, but it still technically still occurs. It's only treating it directly if the cause of your IBS is completely in your head."You answered 2 items out of 10 "Yes". According to The National Mental Health Association, 5 or more yes answers indicates that you may be suffering from clinical depression. This test cannot substitute for a visit to a mental health professional. It is meant only to give you an idea where to start a dialogue with your healthcare provider."I can't talk to my doctor without my mom taking me or giving me their number. She refuses to do both.


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Hi ProughI have had severe IBS since 1983 - took all the meds,etc. had all the tests - and clinical hypnotherapy was the best thing I did - IBS is not all in your head - it is a mis-communication in the way the enteric nervous system - the little brain in the gut, and the brain communicate with each other - this can be measured. Having a food allergy is not IBS, though you can have both at the same time. I speak with young people and their parents all the time who have similar symptoms to yours and who have opted to address these symptoms with hypnotherapy. I know it sounds kind of out there - and I balked too - my problem is in my guts, not my mind - but it does work for most people - especially those who have tried everything else and nothing works.Hypnotherapy does not make your mind ignore symptoms - it changes the neural pathways in the brain to eliminate or alleviate them. You no longer have the symptoms. There is over 25 years of clinical research studies showing that this method is effective for many severe refractory IBS patients who have not responded to other treatment methods.So do keep trying to find your way - I had IBS from 1983 until about 2001 when I used clinical hypnotherapy. From time to time, I may have symptoms, but nothing like being housebound with it like I was before. There are reports from people as far back as 2000 on this BB who have had good success with it - not for everyone, but it does help many!Hope this help and all the best to you in your journey to feeling better... I know it isnt easy - if you have any questions, feel free to ask - and please do take care


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

> I can't talk to my doctor without my mom taking me or giving me their number. She refuses to do both.


Why? Does she not know how you feel? If not.. perhaps you need to show her what you wrote here??? Communicate with her...But I guess... it won't matter in a few days anyway... Once you are 18 you will (hopefully) be able to look up your Dr's number and call for an appointment for yourself without your Mom. (If she doesn't want to go with you.)


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## clovertail13 (Apr 20, 2011)

I feel for you man.... I have a lot of the symptoms you have, even the weight loss. I lost around 20 pounds when all my symptoms started, and I did not change my diet that drastically. What's the most frustrating thing is that EVERY source says ibs DOES NOT cause weight loss.... Well, I've have lliitterrallllyyyy every test, and all came back normal. The ibs had to have contributed to the whole weight thing. I'm sick of having doctors ask me if I have an eating disorder and my family constantly asking what I ate just keep on fighting..... There's always an answer! (determined)


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