# IBS has taken over my life



## mc123 (Mar 30, 2012)

I am new to the forum and I thought I would start by sharing my story.I am 21 years old, in university and I have been sick for about two and half years, diagnosed with IBS over a year ago. It came on very suddenly mainly with severe abdominal pain directly after eating, I couldn't even walk. I would have to bend over just to walk anywhere because standing up made it feel like I was "stretching" my stomach and made the pain worse. I was taking many different pain medications, but nothing was helping. I was in pain ALL the time and extremely tired. I went from playing a few sports a day (competitively), to lying on the couch for an entire summer, sleeping, and barely leaving the house. I have seen about 10 doctors, including a nathropath, had countless blood tests, an ultrasound, CAT scan, endoscopy, seen dietitians, taken fiber supplements, medications, and I am now waiting for my colonoscopy appointment in a few weeks to rule out anything else. The endoscopy (upper GI) came back with lactose intolerance and gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) but after antibiotics that settled down, and everything else was negative or didn't improve symptoms. My symptoms have gotten slightly better over the last few years but I am no where near where I used to be (I still go to bed about 8pm every night of the week, randomly on weekend nights I make it until 10pm then crash) . I am still having testing done because I am lactose and gluten intolerant, allergic to potatoes, and don't eat any refined sugar or red meat. I also have no caffeine in my diet and alcohol is very limited (I try to be social about once every 2 months, but always regret it afterwards). I have been on this diet for about ten months (as recommended by many doctors) and I am STILL having problems. Thankfully it is not as severe as it once was, and my symptoms have changed a lot. But I am still very tired, and it is so weird to have barely any social life compared to what I was like before having these symptoms. I also have a lot of cramping, spasming, gas and bloating (it looks like I'm pregnant), every day or every second day. I also go to the bathroom 2-5 times a day, usually D but sometimes it's formed. I am on an elimination diet right now to go through each of the foods I am still eating and see if any of them is causing any of the significant problems but I really think it's just my body. I mean I can't be intolerant to every single food, can I? During the elimination diet I had two days of horrible pain. I couldn't associate it with the new food I had tried a few days prior and continued to eat it and after those two days it went back to normal discomfort, which is tolerable. I am not really sure what else I can do to make things any better. Everyone always says to me, "you must have so much will power to be on a diet like that", I always respond with something along the lines of "I wouldn't really consider it will power. If anyone felt the way I did after eating certain foods they wouldn't eat them either". I'm not doing this for fun or to lose weight, I want to get better! I'm actually scared to try new foods or foods I've been staying away from for so long. I'm more frustrated with not getting better than I am with not eating "normal" food. IBS is controlling my life, but I am doing everything I can to hopefully change that in the near future. Any suggestions would be great appreciated!


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## Acash93 (Mar 31, 2012)

You're my alone I have the same problems IBS has also taken over my life and I pray everyday it will go away as fast admit came on!!


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## oceannir (Mar 6, 2012)

Have you tested for celiacs?


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