# 10 year old seems to have inherited my IBS



## Christian with a thorn

I believe I have read and it is my understanding that IBS can be hereditary. This does seem to be the case as my ten year old already displays most of the symptoms that my IBS began with. Her attacks are very similar to mine. Starts off with bad cramping, but she can't go, sometimes for an hour or more. Then she goes and the first round is normal. Cramping continues and then the stools get progressively looser until it's diarrhea. It breaks my heart every time I have to watch her suffer through an attack. Luckily, she only seems to get hit about once every 2 months or so, but it is always at the worst times. It happened to her at Six Flags and she was so sad. She asked me "Why does it always have to happen when your having fun?" All I could do was sympathize and tell her I knew exactly how she felt. I also told her she would have to cut Jalepeno peppers from her diet permanently. I suspect they were the culprit, as she had a few on her taco, and that is an absolute NO-NO for me. Any one else have a child this little with IBS symptoms? Suspect hereditary? And really what can you do? She 's so young that I don't want to put her through the testing, etc. unless it starts happening more often. Plus where I live the nearest gastro for peds is in the City of Chicago, and no doubt very expensive. Any advice, thoughts, or suggestions are always appreciated!


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## ekforbball

My 11 year old daughter has just started some of the testing. Her ped-gastro Dr. says it is inharited. Stomach problems of different types have affected women in my family going back at least 4 generations. We will do no serious or highly painful test. We are starting with a simple ultra-sound to rule out any other issues. We are changing her diet and adding fiber and miralax to her medication list. The best way for me to get her off to school was to always promise she could leave after she got there if her pain got worse or didn't get better after an hour or so. It was hard to ensure I could keep this promise, but I've only had to 2 or 3 times over the past few years. I also spoke with the school nurse and her teachers on a regular basis. The school will be more understanding if they're kept informed. Elizabeth, my daughter, said it helps her to get more than 8 hours of sleep and to never go to bed with a full stomach. She also said that cold foods do help, exspecially fruit.


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## Gmonkey

Heartbreaking to hear that your little kids have got ibs.I cant help wonder if it really is contagious.IBS as a virus is not to be dismissed.I hope they are ok.


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## Nancy from Safety Harbor

It's funny that his topic came up. My daughter was visiting with us for seven weeks as she had a nervous breadown due to her panic/anxiety disorder. She used to chuckle along with her dad when I would scope out the bathrooms no matter where we went. Just two weeks ago, we traveling from Sarasota to Tampa and all of a sudden she says, "I hate to tell you this but I have to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW". We pulled off the highway and found a Circle K store/gas station. She went running into the store going, "oh God, oh God". She was in there awhile and when she came out I went in and boy did it smell like after I have an explosion. When we got in the car, she said, "Mom, now we both have to scope out the bathrooms". How my heart broke knowing she is going through this now. Yes, I believe it is heriditary. So far, she has my roscea, and now IBS. When I look back, I believe my deceased Mom had it too.


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## Nancy from Safety Harbor

I just posted that my daughter had the same thing happen. But, after re-reading your post, I remembered that my daughter had jalepeno's on her taco too. Hope it was a isolated thing because of the peppers and not full blown IBS.


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## Gmonkey

Nancy from Safety Harbor said:


> I just posted that my daughter had the same thing happen. But, after re-reading your post, I remembered that my daughter had jalepeno's on her taco too. Hope it was a isolated thing because of the peppers and not full blown IBS.


Face Palm


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## Guest

Christian with a thorn said:


> I believe I have read and it is my understanding that IBS can be hereditary. This does seem to be the case as my ten year old already displays most of the symptoms that my IBS began with. Her attacks are very similar to mine. Starts off with bad cramping, but she can't go, sometimes for an hour or more. Then she goes and the first round is normal. Cramping continues and then the stools get progressively looser until it's diarrhea. It breaks my heart every time I have to watch her suffer through an attack. Luckily, she only seems to get hit about once every 2 months or so, but it is always at the worst times. It happened to her at Six Flags and she was so sad. She asked me "Why does it always have to happen when your having fun?" All I could do was sympathize and tell her I knew exactly how she felt. I also told her she would have to cut Jalepeno peppers from her diet permanently. I suspect they were the culprit, as she had a few on her taco, and that is an absolute NO-NO for me. Any one else have a child this little with IBS symptoms? Suspect hereditary? And really what can you do? She 's so young that I don't want to put her through the testing, etc. unless it starts happening more often. Plus where I live the nearest gastro for peds is in the City of Chicago, and no doubt very expensive. Any advice, thoughts, or suggestions are always appreciated!


Oh I definitely know how she feels. All of the women on my mom's side of her family had "stomach issues" growing up. My aunt still has them. Mine started when I was about your daughter's age, I was always an anxious child and didn't like being away from home or my parents, so I'd get attacks every time I traveled or visited my grandparents. I would have terrible cramps, sometimes I would have to go to the bathroom but mostly I was just doubled over in pain. Unfortunately everyone thought I was just exaggerating because I was away from home or something, which really made it worse. There's no worse feeling than the feeling of an IBS attack and having everyone think you're faking it! Finally when I was in high school I signed up to go on a trip to Australia and told my mom I could not go unless I went to the doctor first. I was prescribed an anti-spasmodic, which helped SO much. However, I am now 24 and my problem seems to have reversed itself as I suffer from daily bloating and constipation...so I wonder if it is the result of taking the antispasmodic for too long.Anyway, I'm rambling now, but I wanted to let you know that just listening to your daughter and making her feel like you take her problems seriously and that you will do whatever you can to help her...that will already help an incredible amount. You are doing a great job and I can't even tell you how much I wish I had someone as understanding around when I was younger. Maybe they can prescribe something that your daughter could take when she is going to be in situations where an attack might be more likely. I believe the medication I took was called Bentyl.Just keep doing what you're doing, listening and being there for her. Hope she feels better!


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