# Recently diagnosed and completely overwhelmed!



## carouselmc2 (Oct 3, 2013)

Hi everyone,

As many of you have written, I too, was recently diagnosed after suffering for months, if not years of slowly progressing symptoms. I am sure that I must take some fault to this, as I was always brought up on fast foods, so my diet is attroshious. I do not eat any fruits or veggies. I can't even say I know how to buy them, much less cook / prepare them. I am obese (surprised?). I rarely exercise (or have time for it). I am a mother of 4 (now grown) kids. Full time worker & full time student...so the anxiety level is thru the roof...not to mention I am a worry wart who is living proof of Murphy's law.

I have suffered at some point or another with IBS, but never had a clue what it was. I always had issues with my stomach. It started progressing with noticing eating certain food made me a marathon runner to the nearest bathroom. I started looking for where the bathrooms were located when my family and I would go out to eat the moment we'd walk into the restaurant.

Later, the loud cramping noises came around...usually during class (when you could hear a pin drop, of course), but at the time I thought it was probably hunger due to the time & last time I ate.

In recent months, I have progressed...or you could say deteriorated into massively severe back pains. I thought was sciatic ( yea I get those too), but nothing OTC I took worked to even alleviate the pain. Not even 800mg of Ibuprophen.

I don't get the normal tummy ache alert to have a bowel movement. I start with a headache on the left side that won't go away, then a sharp on & off hot pain on my right side (my GB was removed years ago)..then pain in the front lower abdomen, followed by down my left leg upto my knee & then my back.

My doctor prescribed Linzess (145 mcg) which makes me pee thru the wrong end every morning & then thats it....I start processing a cocktail of OTC's to either alleviate the constipation or the diarreah...& then the hemorroids...Its definitely a viscious cycle. Going to the bathromm makes me feel absolutely drained...I wonder if that is dehydration?

I've made an appointment with a new physician, because, well, I think this doc sucks. Ive been complaining about my symptoms for years. I hope to get some insight into how to better cope with my new found enemy from this new doc. In the meantime, I am overwhelmed with all the info on the subject. Where do I start? I am a very picky eater & again, hate veggies...well I eat romaine & iceberg lettuce, corn & potatoes & use peppers as spices for my food...as far as fruits go...I'll have grapes, bananas & started apples (still getting to know them). Everything else is good ol'fashion artery clogging comfort foods....Thats all I have ever known....Please help!


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## rmiller1985 (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi carouselmc2,

Sorry to hear about your worsening symptoms.

It sounds like you have a good handle on the problem: your diet. No gall bladder and a steady diet of fast food sounds like a recipe for disaster for any gut!

It may be that you "hate" veggies because of experiences you've had with them in the past: I still remember hating spinach as a kid in the 1960s, and then being very surprised when I tried it much later in my life and actually liked it. I realized that eating the canned spinach that my mom bought had given me a false impression of the food.

If you actually do hate most/all vegetables regardless of source or cooking method, it might just come down to choosing between the foods that you like and the gut dysfunction symptoms that you don't like. Everyone makes different choices in life, you just have to be willing to live with the consequences.

If you're interested in changing your diet to improve your gut health (not to mention your overall health!), the two main diets that you'll read about here in the diet forum (and other forums) are the low-FODMAP diet and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Both are fairly restrictive; the SCD is probably slightly more restrictive, but in a slightly different way. It's also a major commitment. I started on the SCD almost 4 months ago, and my IBS-D is much, much better. There's a lot of info about low-FODMAP online; if you're interested in the SCD, I recommend getting a copy of Elaine Gottschall's "Breaking The Vicious Cycle."

Cheers,

Rich


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