# IBS? university and bowel noises! HELP!



## Kayden (Feb 21, 2014)

Hi,

I'm a 22 medical student. Now I'm slightly overweight, most of the time I try to eat healthy, and I used to exercise. My story begins last year when I was sitting in our weekly meeting discussing cases when suddenly my stomach started making these noises, they were loud I could hear them however since the teacher was talking I think only the girl next to me heard it but she didn't say anything. From that day I started to notice the noises getting louder and more frequent, I know all bowels make noise but when they start doing that out of the ordinary you begin to notice.

The noises of course came with a group of symptoms; abdominal cramps, constipation (been suffering from this almost two years now, it comes and goes), sometimes the feeling that I cannot fully empty my bowel, no blood except maybe couple of times due to straining, bloating and extra gas.

I have never been diagnosed with social anxiety, however, I don't get comfortable in public places or when too much people are around, I get nervous, start to act all tensed up and my stomach start hurting. Maybe it is a cause for this problem? I don't know!

Anyway, in the summer of that year I had to do a retake of two tests. During the first exam, 30 min into the test, my stomach started to sing, it went on for 20-25 mins rumbling and making all sort of sounds, mostly fart-like sounds, sometimes weird sounds, just the normal sounds but 10 times louder (I know to me it might sound even louder) my friend who were next to me was smiling to me and the girl three seats in front of me heard it as she looked back after the last sound my stomach made and looked with a strange face. I panicked, finished the test early and got out and off course failed the test as I couldn't focus on the rest of the exam since I wasn't thinking about it but I was thinking about the beautiful lullaby (not really).

I tried eating a lot on breakfast to solve the problem, it looked that it helped in some sort of way however not always. I tried going on a specific diet every week, this made my stomach calm down a bit, some days my bowel would be all good and quiet and the next day it goes back to being an opera singer so basically it wasn't a solution.

I also tried probiotics which helped for about a week but then did nothing so I cut it off.

I tried taking 2 tablespoon of olive oil (no real effect)

I treid excersing for three months (also no real effect)

I went to the doctor he ordered a sigmoidoscopy as he thought I had hemorrhoids after I told them about a lump-like thing down at the opening of my anus, but he said it was nothing! He didn't really explain what it was he only said it is normal, how can a lump sized thing near the anus be normal??!!

Anywho, he found nothing but said it might be IBS this also was backed up with the fact that my father was diagnosed with IBS two years ago.

I know this is a lot to read but this problem is making me fail med school, I don't go to most of the lectures, meetings, and sometimes even exams as these all occur in super quiet rooms where anything can be heard, how about a talented stomach that can go on for at least 20 mins?!

PLEASE ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!

Thanks!


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## IndianRopeTrick (Jul 25, 2013)

Since when do you have social anxiety and why ?

Have you taken any other medical tests ?

What are your meal timings, sleep timings, meals like ?

Do you exercise regularly ?

Is there anything bothering you ?

I am no doctor, but these questions could help others know more about you and possibly help you better.

Good luck.


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## NEW2IBS&ITblows (Mar 21, 2014)

Hey Kayden,

I can relate with your stomach noises in class. I am a fourth year Ph.D. student in clinical psychology and I have never had problems going to class, but recently I have anxiety going to class simply due to stomach noise. I try getting up early and eating to allow time for my stomach to settle or waiting to eat until class, but without fail there is always the noise. I wonder for me if this is also triggered by anxiety. I am only hypersensitive to this in class when I am shoulder to shoulder with other students and concerned they will think less of me







When I am in the clinic in my own office or far enough away from a patient across the room I have zero anxiety and/or do not notice stomach noises. I was just diagnosed with IBS two weeks ago and my primary difficulty right now is anxiety going to class. I am on the down hill slope at least and will be done with classes in 6 weeks. Maybe you could try an anxiety medication just to get you through classes so you can take quizzes...I disclosed my diagnosis with my training director since she is my mentor for my dissertation and my only didactic class at this time. She mentioned this is a common concern for graduate students and you can gain accommodations just as you would for a disability. Such as being able to miss class, sit by the door, if you need to leave often during class, be allowed more time for exams, or take an exam in a separate room to reduce anxiety. Good luck to you and I hope we can both figure out how to alleviate these LOUD NOISES!!!


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## ajerahian (Mar 25, 2014)

Heres a couple solutions that may help, i am in high school except and going through the same thing. I started to exersize more, eat healthier and smaller portions, taking digestive enzymes and just simply thinking more positively about this. Trust me, you can have so much control with the way you think. Try dropping weight and see how big of a difference that makes. I lost 20 lbs in one month and feel a lot better than before. Even though i still am in pain every morning i still make sure i use the bathroom before school... It takes pain away. Anyway, anyone who wants to message me and talk about it feel free i find that it helps a lot because we are a big family that actually understand eachother.


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