# IBS or LI?



## cet1830 (Aug 31, 2012)

I don't even know where to start. I don't even know if this is the appropriated site to post my problems on, I just need some valid information... just some help is needed. My mother, grandmother and aunt all had their gallbladders removed - not sure if that has to do with anything or not.I use to be obsessed with ice cream, cake, cookies, ugh, anything sweet and delicious. Pizza too, I LOVE pizza.I'm 21. For maybe a year (maybe less as I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to my problem until recently, so it's hard to tell when what started happening and stuff...) I couldn't "handle" ice cream like I would use too. I could eat a little bit of it, but if it was too much, a little while later, I would run to the bathroom, and probably be bloated for the rest of the night, with constant trips to the bathroom.... I have anxiety too. I'm not sure if that effects anything either. Before I would go ANYWHERE, like the mall or anywhere with my friends, that would make me nervous, I would get the "D" before I went out, at least a couple times & when I was out, doing whatever, I'd be fine... My doctor put me on paxil... I was on that for a little less than a year.. and went off them when I turned 21 and my insurance stopped.Recently, I've noticed, or, I thought I was showing signs of LI. I did a little research online and thought it was very possible that, that is what I have. I need to visit the bathroom after I eat pizza, almost all the time, ice cream. Actually, I made pudding a couple months ago, and ate some, and had to visit the bathroom, not even 30 minutes later.... Last night my family ordered some pizza from Greco, and I tried to pick the pieces with less cheese and I still had to go to the bathroom about an hour and a half later.... The other night, my boyfriend and I had french fries and pork tender loins for supper - I was completely fine. We had friends over and I made a big supper of baked potatoes, corn on the cop, homemade hamburgers and hamburger buns, and I was fine... I even put butter on my corn, and I was perfectly fine... The next day, I had some left over baked potatoes with butter on them, and I had to run to the bathroom all day.When these "episodes" happen, I'm incredibly bloated, and I seriously look like I'm pregnant...Every morning after my boyfriend leaves for work, I have to run to the bathroom... every morning, I have stomach cramps and have to visit the bathroom... I hate it.. I don't remember it ever being this bad. I try to watch what I eat, but it's SO hard... I don't eat ice cream anymore, and I do not drink milk.. unless it's in my potatoes or KD. That reminds me... My boyfriend made mashed potatoes for supper once and added ranch and tons of butter and milk, and I was fine... I too a swig of chocolate milk out of the carton once, and I was in the bathroom all day.... It just doesn't make sense...So, I was convinced I was LI. My cousin sort of has the same problem as me. She has stomach issues, (I don't know much about it) My grandmother has stomach issues as well... But my cousin went to the doctors and is being tested for IBS... and now that's something I'm considering... I've done some googling, and sometimes I feel like it could be IBS but others its LI..... LI says online, usually it runs in your family, but noone I know is diagnosed with it...I don't know...I'm confused with it. I'm annoyed and frustrated.... I'm a student with no income, and my boyfriend works and pays all the bills.. (we live together) and I just don't have the money for medication (no insurance) and buying lactose free food or soy produce's are just so expensive... We literally live week to week.I just don't know... Someone please help? I just need to vent & scream, this is so frustrating....


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Well Lactose Intolerance is a funny thing.If you test a bunch of people some people who have it. If you look at them, some people will have no symptoms, some will have a lot.So I tend to think of it this way. If you don't digest lactose, and you have something that makes you sensitive to gas volume (like IBS) you will tend to have a lot of symtpoms from lactose. So if you are having symptoms from the lactose intolerance you probably have IBS.But there is the other side of the coin. You can react to dairy foods even if you aren't lactose intolerant if you know you ate dairy. Sometimes the nervous system decides a given food is bad so you can react to it from that conditioned response.In either case, avoiding the foods that reliably set you off is reasonable. IBS can sometimes do the good day bad day thing so sometimes foods get the blame even if you can eat them safely when the IBS is calmed down. So generally a one off problem isn't enough to ban something from the diet, especially if sometimes you eat it and are fine.Also sometimes the mere act of eating (not which food you ate) can set off IBS symptoms as the colon gets more active after meals. That activity increase alone can be enough to cause problems.


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## cet1830 (Aug 31, 2012)

Kathleen M. said:


> Well Lactose Intolerance is a funny thing.If you test a bunch of people some people who have it. If you look at them, some people will have no symptoms, some will have a lot.So I tend to think of it this way. If you don't digest lactose, and you have something that makes you sensitive to gas volume (like IBS) you will tend to have a lot of symtpoms from lactose. So if you are having symptoms from the lactose intolerance you probably have IBS.But there is the other side of the coin. You can react to dairy foods even if you aren't lactose intolerant if you know you ate dairy. Sometimes the nervous system decides a given food is bad so you can react to it from that conditioned response.In either case, avoiding the foods that reliably set you off is reasonable. IBS can sometimes do the good day bad day thing so sometimes foods get the blame even if you can eat them safely when the IBS is calmed down. So generally a one off problem isn't enough to ban something from the diet, especially if sometimes you eat it and are fine.Also sometimes the mere act of eating (not which food you ate) can set off IBS symptoms as the colon gets more active after meals. That activity increase alone can be enough to cause problems.


I'm thinking that it's more to do with IBS then LI. I've started a food diary this morning...Last night I had fries & gravy for supper - nothing.I had chips - nothing.I had ice cream/cake - I had to visit the bathroom once with some pretty bad cramps.... I had cramps for the rest of the night... I had the poops this morning - like every morning, as soon as I wake up, I have some pretty bad cramps and pretty much have to run to the bathroom, every single morning. It sucks..But for breakfast, I had french toast, and nothing... I felt a little acid reflexy earlier... but only when I had a smoke... (I use to smoke, but quit... and now I just have one, every once in a while) It's weird...


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