# Was recently diagnosed - SUCH a misunderstood illness!



## nilobaby (Apr 20, 2012)

Hi Everyone!So I was recently diagnosed with IBS after the stomach problems I've suffered with for years worsened to the point where every day was a struggle







My problems started when I was about 15 or 16 (I'm 21 now) and for a few years they were pretty mild (a bit of bloating or slight cramping here or there) but since I started university in 2010 my symptoms seem to have gained a new lease of life or something, to the point where pretty much every meal resulted in excruciating bloating, cramps and constipation (I know you know how it feels, it's awful!)The thing that really irritates me about having IBS is how misunderstood I feel. To me, especially when I'm experiencing a particularly flare up, food is NOT my friend. I have to be really picky about what I eat, and even when I eat (eating late at night tends to set me off, especially the following morning) and I feel like people, although they try to understand, can get impatient and frustrated with my seeming fussiness, which upsets me all the more as I am generally (IBS nonwithstanding) not a fussy eater - I would give pretty much anything a go if you could guarantee I wouldn't blow up like a balloon after eating it! I think a lot of people who have never experienced IBS don't understand how painful and truly debilitating it can be - sometimes I get in so much pain that I literally cannot move. They assume its just like having a normal stomach ache....but even a normal stomach ache would be wearing and exhausting if you had it pretty much 24/7 for six years! I'm still in the process of figuring out what my trigger foods are, and finding a way of eating that works for me...at the moment I still feel like food and my body are conspiring against me to make me feel constantly awful, and I kind of feel alone in this process. As much as people try to understand my predicament I can tell they don't quite get how bad it is sometimes. I just wondered if anyone else ever felt like that when they were initially diagnosed??Thanks xx


----------



## Cassie90 (Oct 4, 2011)

jdhfkjhdkjh


----------



## nilobaby (Apr 20, 2012)

Thanks so much Cassie90!I totally understand what you mean about how IBS is seen as a comedic thing....can't remember what show/movie I was watching recently but one character spread a vicious rumour about another saying they had IBS, and the whole thing was seen as a hilarious joke, intending to completely embarrass the person by implying they had this "gross" or "disgusting" condition....I spent the whole time thinking that if they had felt what it was like they would SO not be laughing. I think the media has a lot to answer for in making IBS such a taboo illness to talk about. I feel that I really don't want to tell my friends about it for fear that their reaction will be to laugh...which is completely unfair if you think about it, because nobody would laugh if you were diagnosed with pretty much any other condition, but IBS is seen as funny. It is so frustrating!And yeah, I really understand the whole not wanting to put yourself in a social situation with food thing. At the moment I can't even think about certain foods which I know will make me ill (wheat based products and heavy dairy being the biggest culprits) without getting a feeling of dread in my stomach...food is turning into the enemy which is heartbreaking to me, as I used to enjoy food so much







To be fair my friends have been supportive as far as they are able, but seeing as how I haven't explicitly told them I have IBS they think I've just got a sensitive stomach, and so they can't really understand the extent of the problem. They live with me though, so they have seen me go through a few attacks and they know I'm not exaggerating the pain...I'm not that good of an actress! Thanks for all your advice! It's nice to know there are people out there who understand what living with this issue is like


----------



## threeheadedmonkey (Aug 9, 2006)

It is bad how things are portrayed in the media. I haven't really told many people how sick i am either. Most of them just know that i have a stomach problem and that's about it. It's hard at work without wanting to tell everyone what's wrong as well. My Dad has ibs as well and even my Mum doesn't really understand how we feel and will get angry if we refuse to go do something that we know will make us sick.


----------



## DAD (Jun 12, 2009)

I would recommend that you read any recent post I have just made in this discussion forum the past couple of days, because without repeating myself on this site too much, stress and/or food allergies can create big gastro-intestional problems for people, but you can learn to control them in your life and improve or rid most of your IBS symptoms. The sooner you learn more about this, the better for your overall health of course. Without knowing your past medical health history I would say that you need to purchase the NAET book "Say Goodbye to Illness" 3rd edition or "Say Goodbye to Your Allergies" 2nd edition and learn how to immediately test for food allergies with each other by using MRT or muscle response testing. It's easy to learn, but takes a little practice at first and is very accurate . . . then you'll know what foods or substances you need to avoid or to treat to eliminate the allergy. It's all in this book and you will refer to its techniques for most all your health issues way into the future too. You will not believe what you will discover from this book. Cost is about $17 to $24, buy it from amazon or the naet website. My wife and I use these techniques all the time and its the new allergy energy information for the 21st century that should work well for most anyone experiencing IBS issues, etc.Food sensitivities, intolerances, allergies play a bigger role in health than most people realize and they can wreck havoc on your gastro-intestinal tract and you need to learn to try to ease that up. Of course stress can play a part in this too so if stress is a problem, learn how to release that as much as possible and try not to let it build up either.DAD


----------

