# Confined to my apartment by IBS



## Celiac<3Elephant (Sep 12, 2016)

*Hi! My name is Sam, I am 24, female, and my life is completely ruled by my gastrointestinal issues. *

*My tummy history...*

I was diagnosed with *Celiac Disease *(gluten/wheat intolerance) when I was 2 years old. As I was growing up my stomach was fine as long as I stuck to my strict gluten free diet. During my teenage years (15-20) I developed eating disorders. *Anorexia* for the first few years and then* bulimia* into my early 20s. Once I recovered I started college and everything seemed to be going well until I started getting diarrhea suddenly and often. After 2 years of searching for answers I now know that I am not only Celiac but I also have *fructose malabsorption, lactose intolerance, and IBS (can't have caffeine or any fatty foods). *My doctor says my eating disorders are most likely the cause. Alcohol is also a big issue. I cant have a sip without tummy problems.









I use to live off of *Imodium, pepto bismol, and tums* but now I am on *dicyclomine* 4 times a day. The pills are working with my food issues, but anytime I get anxiety its like I'm not on any medication. Anxiety about everything and anything equals instant diarrhea multiple times about 20 minutes apart. I feel like my life is over.

Ive always had anxiety growing up. Doctors have told me that my anxiety most likely caused my eating disorders.* I have tried Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and kolonopin.* But all of them had negative side effects. They increases depression, made me sleepy to the point where i was just a zombie. I just *haven't had positive results. *

I have *failed tests* because I need to use the bathroom and my teachers do not allow bathroom breaks (avoid cheating), so I have left early to keep myself from having an accident. My relationship with my boyfriend is *suffering* because I avoid everything social. I cant get excited about going anywhere or doing anything because my first thought is* "what if I have to use the bathroom?" "What if I have no privacy?" "What if I have an accident?"*. My IBS is driven by my anxiety. So 9/10 I do have diharrea when I go out because I am so nervous about getting sick that I do actually physically get sick.

I have dreams of going to Medical School and becoming a surgeon and having a family. But I cant because my IBS. I cant sit through tests, or do clinical hours, and forget about standing through a 7 hour long surgery. If I have kids i wont be able to sit though sport games or take them to the park or do anything social without having diarrhea. My boyfriend was with me before all my issues started and hes waiting for me to go back to "normal". If we don't work out how will I ever date again? With my symptoms I just dont know how im supposed to live anymore.* I am stuck in the small space that is my apartment.* The only place I feel comfortable, because I have a private bathroom nearby whenever i need it.


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## AlisonfromSickofIBS (Dec 21, 2016)

This was posted a while back, but I hate to see posts where there are no replies.

You are feeling very stuck.

I think your priority should be to look past anxiety and find where its roots are - usually in fear. But fear of what?

You may need to go and talk to a professional for this, or just try to work it out by reading around the subject.

To help you feel a little better now, I suggest you go and see a Reiki practitioner for a few sessions. It should help you offload some of your stress.

You may find some useful stuff on my blog SickofIBS.com too. I had IBS for years and I managed to beat it.

Look after yourself,

Alison


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## Veaen (Apr 5, 2017)

AlisonfromSickofIBS said:


> This was posted a while back, but I hate to see posts where there are no replies.
> 
> You are feeling very stuck.
> 
> ...


Do you maybe have some material to recommend for reading?


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## AlisonfromSickofIBS (Dec 21, 2016)

Well, I have just written a post about stress and fear that might interest you: https://sickofibs.com/ibs-triggers/stress-and-ibs/

On anxiety, I found this book an interesting read: Panic Attacks workbook by David Carbonell

Alison


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## Veaen (Apr 5, 2017)

AlisonfromSickofIBS said:


> Well, I have just written a post about stress and fear that might interest you: https://sickofibs.com/ibs-triggers/stress-and-ibs/
> 
> On anxiety, I found this book an interesting read: Panic Attacks workbook by David Carbonell
> 
> Alison


Would you like to explain to me a little bit more how to work out that fear. I find often myself unable to use methods like this because I have feelings that they are made for people who go very often to WC on daily basis no matter what. I also had that problem in middle school, but once I came to university my stress level dropped down significantly so I dont have problems like that. I still go 2-3x per day (its other story if I have exam... then we are back to old story xD) when I go to university but you can say Im happy with present state( before I would go 11x before I would go to highschool, and when I arrived there i would need to go again...) My current biggest problem is that when I get myself in situation when I need to be static, I find myself in big pain, I have feeling that I need to go to WC... Torture... Right now I would like to go for haircut, but before few months I had really bad experience there. She always takes 30-40min to do everything (its killing me to be in situation like that for that long) and my abdomen was killing me all time. She even asked me what is with my face because I didnt look good xD Since that day, I had one haircut, but because I was nervous it didnt went like it usual and I had pain again but it wasnt like that day so Im relatively satisfied. My question, what should I do in situation like that? How should I calm myself? I cant close my eyes, I cant listen to music, I can walk to calm down :S I feel very powerless in situation like this because I cant find a good way to stop tsunami because I know what will happen in few seconds


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## AlisonfromSickofIBS (Dec 21, 2016)

What I have found out from my own experience (and yours may be different) is that the body remembers stuff that our brains have accepted. I was convinced I was not stressed, but I was holding a lot of tension in my body all the time. My partner would touch my shoulders and tell me I was tense - but I was sure I was not.

You have a long history of bowel and digestive problems (and eating disorders). And the bowel problems get worse when you are stressed (confined to a position, an exam).

To get out of your current situation you may need to think back and work out what set these off. For example, think about what started off your eating disorders. What happened during that period.

When you can't go to the WC (in an exam), does anything much come out when you do go. You need to work out if you have a real need, or whether your intestines or rectum go into spasm (i.e. a stress response). If this is the case, you may find that each time you are in a situation where you can't go to the WC or have to be still, your body has learned to get stressed and spasm. You can work on this with a hypnotherapist.

Another way of rewiring your reaction may be to visualize yourself going to get a haircut, sitting in the chair, breathing deeply (you don't need to close your eyes) and imagining yourself relaxed. The idea is not to fight the feeling, but to try to stay relaxed as much as possible. You need to do this every day for a month. Start with one minute and increase by a minute every day (you should hopefully be at 30 minutes by the end, but don't worry if it's less), and then try going for a haircut. Tell them it's your break and you only have 20 minutes.

If you find that relaxing is just not possible, do read the book I suggested by David Carbonell. When your read about other people having panic attacks when they see a picture of a lobster, it gives a different slant on things. The author gives keys to overcome panic attacks. They can work on involuntary spasms too.

I hope this helps you move forward. It may take some time to fix - but it will be worth it.

Alison


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## dancy94 (Sep 9, 2017)

I can really relate.. Just that I have more problems with gas.


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## jeffinnh (Jun 15, 2018)

Another thing... since you are US based and having issues in school...

Schools are required by law to provide accommodations for medical conditions, of which you have many.

If needing access to a rest room during exams is part of that, then the school must make it happen. Most places have accommodation offices for these kinds of things. I'd look into that ASAP. Might mean you take exams at a separate scheduled time, but whatever.


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