# Living with IBS at 21 is a total disaster



## AndySl (Jun 29, 2016)

Hello! I am here because I felt like I needed some place where I would be able to communicate with people who know and understand what I am going through. Because being a 21 year old girl suffering from IBS is really hard. Most of my friends brush off my symptoms as just gastritis or my "bad eating habits". But I have been controlling what I eat for 2 years now and still no cure, and I have been to all kinds of doctors - none of them can tell me exactly why this happened to me and how it can be cured.

My "stomach" problems started when I had food-poisoning 2 years ago, in summer. I was never a big eater and bad food like fast food and chips always irritated my stomach, so I always stayed away from them. I don't know what poisoned me, but I was at the sea with friends and it was extremely hot, plus my body can't really cope with such heat, and the food there was bad or the water was bad or something and me and my other friend got poisoned. She was vomiting for 2 days but I wasn't, I was just extremely nauseous and bloated and my abdomen ached and it lasted for good seven days. After that, I lost some weight and was more in control of what I ate, I didn't want to irritate my tummy even more.

But that winter, it got really bad. I was really stressed because of family problems and problems at the University and had a lot of stuff to do and somewhere between all that my IBS started. At first it was just the pain and constipation from time to time, then came dizziness, fatigue, nausea, weakness, I started to look extremely unhealthy, lost weight, people actually came up to me to comment that I was extremely white and had to color on my cheeks. Then came the bloating, the reflux, indigestion, no matter what I ate I had nausea, I couldn't sleep, I was tired all the time and couldn't do anything so naturally my grades suffered as well. I started taking motilium, which only relieved my nausea and fatigue, which is good, but not that good. Whenever I passed stool I would feel sicker after that and more bloated so bloated I couldn't even pass gas. And it was really hard having no energy when all my friends were having fun and I being called "old" and "unfun" because they simply couldn't understand that it wasn't just a stomach ache after a bad meal. But slowly as I was even more in control of my food intake, I didn't eat dairy, no junk food, no fast food, no fried food, no liquid except tea and water, no late night snacks - it slowly began to fade and I went to Germany for 2 months and there I didn't even remember IBS. I had so much work to do and I wasn't really controlling my food intake - I ate processed meat and white bread and muesli and milk - but nothing! I was so happy. I don't know maybe it was the air or German food is better or whatever. after I got back, till this summer, there hadn't really been any IBS symptoms for 10 months, except when I ate ally bad and it just got better after a few days. I was less in control of my food intake, eating chocolate and pastries and dairy and so on... and it started again a few weeks ago. Now I have to take care of myself the same way - extreme control. I think in my case it's the stress - the heat is impossible, I have to finish my Diploma work, family troubles appeared again. I don't know what to do except for controlling the food I eat and the time I eat it and to take my time having meals.... But even that doesn't seem to help sometimes... no matter what I do the symptoms just appear and disappear on their own... It makes life really hard having to think about what will happen after each meal and how you will feel after taking each single poop!


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## Sarah Aldrich (Jul 5, 2016)

Hi there. I totally understand where you're coming from - I'm 23 and my IBS has completely ruined my life. I have to worry about what happens after every single meal too. My symptoms are mostly in the form of nausea - I literally always feel like I'm about to puke, without the relief of ever actually vomiting. But it's so bad that I can't go out in public in fear that I'll throw up. As a result I have no social life. It's so hard to find friends who understand what I'm going through.

I don't have any advice for you, but I wanted to leave a reply so you know you're not alone


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