# IBS 18 Years Old!



## Arcade (Jun 29, 2012)

First of all, My name is Jack, I am 18 and I live in Brighton in the south of the United Kingdom.My story of IBS begun in January of this year. I'd previously been aware of my stomach making some minor movements and audible sounds during exams, however these January exams were different. In one of them, Politics, my stomach was churning so bad that people 4 or 5 away could hear it. I felt a dying need to either flatulate or go to the toilet, however I tried to just get on with my exam. It was an absolute nightmare, not to mention one of the most humiliating days of my life. I was taken out of that exam in the end, went to the toilet, and moved to a private room.I could attribute that incident to stress, because I remember saying to myself I'd never felt that stressed before. I didn't think it would ever happen again, however at an increasing amount of lessons or lectures in the months following, there were these incidents. My stomach would be making these horrible noises in the lessons, and I'd have to rush off to the toilet at the end to 'land the eagle'! I soon begun to fear lessons, things I had previously enjoyed with my friends were now turning into phobias. I felt really stupid. Part of it was the nightmare of going to the toilet and part because of people noticing and hearing that I was clearly in quite some discomfort. In March I was specially selected to interview new heads of the school. This was such a privilege, as only 6 or so people were picked, and yet throughout my stomach was making these awful sounds and at the end I had to rush to the toilet. Awful. I had no idea what IBS was back then!Anyway, since then I've been to the doctors and been informed all about IBS and how the mind can affect that body. It still exists, on my last lesson of sixth form I had an outbreak, at my Leaver's prom I had full scale diarrhea. In work and in college I've been very open talking about it, in my June exams I was in a separate room for all of my exams which was great and at work they make many considerations.I am on Loparimide and Mebeverine tablets, 2x and 3x a day respectively. Loparimide is an absolute godsend, I had absolutely no churning during my Summer Exams - I had constipation because I took them too frequently, but no churning!







The Mebeverine I'm not sure to what degree it works. But the combination seems to relatively keep things at bay - I only need to go to the toilet once a day, whereas without the medication I'd have a constant feeling of needing to go for a dump. The main problem now is that I can still feel things going on down there. As always, I worry my stomach will be making these horrible noises in other social situations - University lecture rooms (in a year, taking a gap year), meditation classes. People say 'oh people really don't care or even notice'.. but they really do, with January exams being one notable example! Anyway, the only way to combat this is to face my fears. I'd love to find some sort of solution to that on here. I consider myself very lucky that my IBS clearly isn't as bad as a lot of people on here, I almost feel intrusive, so thankyou so much for reading this!


----------



## babybird (Sep 16, 2006)

Arcade said:


> First of all, My name is Jack, I am 18 and I live in Brighton in the south of the United Kingdom.My story of IBS begun in January of this year. I'd previously been aware of my stomach making some minor movements and audible sounds during exams, however these January exams were different. In one of them, Politics, my stomach was churning so bad that people 4 or 5 away could hear it. I felt a dying need to either flatulate or go to the toilet, however I tried to just get on with my exam. It was an absolute nightmare, not to mention one of the most humiliating days of my life. I was taken out of that exam in the end, went to the toilet, and moved to a private room.I could attribute that incident to stress, because I remember saying to myself I'd never felt that stressed before. I didn't think it would ever happen again, however at an increasing amount of lessons or lectures in the months following, there were these incidents. My stomach would be making these horrible noises in the lessons, and I'd have to rush off to the toilet at the end to 'land the eagle'! I soon begun to fear lessons, things I had previously enjoyed with my friends were now turning into phobias. I felt really stupid. Part of it was the nightmare of going to the toilet and part because of people noticing and hearing that I was clearly in quite some discomfort. In March I was specially selected to interview new heads of the school. This was such a privilege, as only 6 or so people were picked, and yet throughout my stomach was making these awful sounds and at the end I had to rush to the toilet. Awful. I had no idea what IBS was back then!Anyway, since then I've been to the doctors and been informed all about IBS and how the mind can affect that body. It still exists, on my last lesson of sixth form I had an outbreak, at my Leaver's prom I had full scale diarrhea. In work and in college I've been very open talking about it, in my June exams I was in a separate room for all of my exams which was great and at work they make many considerations.I am on Loparimide and Mebeverine tablets, 2x and 3x a day respectively. Loparimide is an absolute godsend, I had absolutely no churning during my Summer Exams - I had constipation because I took them too frequently, but no churning!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It really does suck. Mine started when i was around 18 too, and i am 37 now and still have it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like you have a good combination going with your meds. Stress and nerves do play a really big part in setting off my IBS too. It is very embarassing and to me the worst part is the unpredictability of never knowing when it will hit you. I can be perfectly fine one minute and the next pain and cramping and running to the bathroom. Most people will understand and not give you a hard time about it, such as your friends. But it doesn't change the fact that you have to deal with it. Wish you the best and hope yours will get better.


----------

