# Progression of IBS over your lifetime



## QuiQui (Aug 15, 2010)

As I've been reading through the threads in this forum, I'm noticing that some of us have mild symptoms that are fairly easily managed, and others have truly severe problems that require surgery.*What I'd like to know, particularly from the older site members with serious issues, is how IBS progressed during your life. Did it start out very mild and then just get worse and worse? Or did you have severe problems, right from a young age?*When I think back on my own experience (I'm 40 now), I can remember as a child my mother struggling to get suppositories into me. So I must have had some constipation issues as a child. I don't remember having any real trouble though until my late 20s, when I would get severe diarrhea from stress. That's around the time when I also noticed that I would become constipated, without fail, whenever I traveled. Now, I'm at the point where any slight change to my daily routine will prevent me from having a BM. And when I think about what might happen in the future, I think about the fact that my grandmother had a prolapsed uterus and bowel. I have no idea whether she had IBS, but it seems to me that she probably did. On one of her visits, we had to take her to the emergency room to have an enema because she was so constipated.*Is there anything I can do, to make sure that my problem doesn't get any worse?*


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

IBS has no set progression, so it is hard to say do this so it can't get worse. It sometimes goes into remission on its own so even what someone did may or may not have had that much to do with why they got better if they were one that would have gotten better anyway. Also doesn't seem there is a good "if you do this it will get worse" it kinda gets worse on its own as well if it will do that. But typically it isn't something that can only get worse and will always get worse. A few people are unlucky (mine was really mild until I had a GI infection that triggered a severe period that has gone into remission) but there is no way to predict.I would (from my own experience) suggest that good food hygiene and hand washing to avoid getting GI acute infections is probably a reasonably wise thing, but that is really true for anyone.


----------



## alwayshappy (Mar 11, 2009)

QuiQui said:


> As I've been reading through the threads in this forum, I'm noticing that some of us have mild symptoms that are fairly easily managed, and others have truly severe problems that require surgery.*What I'd like to know, particularly from the older site members with serious issues, is how IBS progressed during your life. Did it start out very mild and then just get worse and worse? Or did you have severe problems, right from a young age?*When I think back on my own experience (I'm 40 now), I can remember as a child my mother struggling to get suppositories into me. So I must have had some constipation issues as a child. I don't remember having any real trouble though until my late 20s, when I would get severe diarrhea from stress. That's around the time when I also noticed that I would become constipated, without fail, whenever I traveled. Now, I'm at the point where any slight change to my daily routine will prevent me from having a BM. And when I think about what might happen in the future, I think about the fact that my grandmother had a prolapsed uterus and bowel. I have no idea whether she had IBS, but it seems to me that she probably did. On one of her visits, we had to take her to the emergency room to have an enema because she was so constipated.*Is there anything I can do, to make sure that my problem doesn't get any worse?*


i had completely normal bowel habits till the age of 20, at the age of 20 i just suddenly stopped going altogether, i just couldn't have spontenious bms and had to work real hard to get things out. so for me it just happened all of a sudden and only got worse as time went by. so weird and there's no dr who can explain this. nothing worked, and after 16 yrs i finally had surgery and feel much better now.


----------



## QuiQui (Aug 15, 2010)

alwayshappy said:


> i had completely normal bowel habits till the age of 20, at the age of 20 i just suddenly stopped going altogether, i just couldn't have spontenious bms and had to work real hard to get things out. so for me it just happened all of a sudden and only got worse as time went by. so weird and there's no dr who can explain this. nothing worked, and after 16 yrs i finally had surgery and feel much better now.


What surgery did you have, and how bad were things before you finally had surgery? What would've happened to you, if you hadn't had surgery?


----------



## alwayshappy (Mar 11, 2009)

QuiQui said:


> What surgery did you have, and how bad were things before you finally had surgery? What would've happened to you, if you hadn't had surgery?


i had my whole colon removed and my small intestine attached to my rectum, so there was no bag (ileostomy). my condition got so bad that NOTHING helped anymore, even the prep stuff they give ppl before a colonoscopy - you know which one i mean? this is THE most laxative exists - even that didn't help me to have a bm, it just turned everything into water in my intestines, but nothin would come out, it was just sloshing inside for 2 days, like a washing machine, till i had to force it out.my condition was bad, i couldn't eat, my weight got down drastically and if i didn't have surgery, then i would have either gotten skeletal, or i would have had to be addmited to the hospital every couple of weeks with obstuctions, till maybe i'd have an emergency surgery.my diagnosis, according to a team of drs at the hospital who followed my case for almost 2 years, was colonic inertia. i've read about and talked to dozens of women who had surgery for CI. in most cases the surgery is successful and they do just fine w/o needing an ostomy, but in my case 2-3 months after the surgery i started with constipation again even though i kept a sof-liquid diet. at 6 months post op i couldn't have spontenious bms again - i have a pelvic floor dysfunction - sever anismus, plus it turned out my small intestine is also very slow, so on July 8th of this yr i had an ileostomy surgery and can finally say i feel gooooood. havn't felt this good in 17 yrs. if someone would have told me that's how it'll all turn out, i would have thought it's the end of my life.. BUT, it's so not true and living with an ostomy is really not that bad, you can do everything with an ostomy, work, travel, swimming, camping - everything. it doesn't show, it doesn't smell, it doesnt make any noises - thing are just flowing so quietly and it is so easy to take care of - i love it and it sure is better than having to keep all the cr****p inside of me for weeks YUCK! this is so much better and i love it.but i must remind you that most ppl with CI don't have a slow small intestine and have a successful outcome from this surgery and don't need a bag.


----------



## QuiQui (Aug 15, 2010)

alwayshappy said:


> i had my whole colon removed and my small intestine attached to my rectum, so there was no bag (ileostomy). my condition got so bad that NOTHING helped anymore, even the prep stuff they give ppl before a colonoscopy - you know which one i mean? this is THE most laxative exists - even that didn't help me to have a bm, it just turned everything into water in my intestines, but nothin would come out, it was just sloshing inside for 2 days, like a washing machine, till i had to force it out.my condition was bad, i couldn't eat, my weight got down drastically and if i didn't have surgery, then i would have either gotten skeletal, or i would have had to be addmited to the hospital every couple of weeks with obstuctions, till maybe i'd have an emergency surgery.my diagnosis, according to a team of drs at the hospital who followed my case for almost 2 years, was colonic inertia. i've read about and talked to dozens of women who had surgery for CI. in most cases the surgery is successful and they do just fine w/o needing an ostomy, but in my case 2-3 months after the surgery i started with constipation again even though i kept a sof-liquid diet. at 6 months post op i couldn't have spontenious bms again - i have a pelvic floor dysfunction - sever anismus, plus it turned out my small intestine is also very slow, so on July 8th of this yr i had an ileostomy surgery and can finally say i feel gooooood. havn't felt this good in 17 yrs. if someone would have told me that's how it'll all turn out, i would have thought it's the end of my life.. BUT, it's so not true and living with an ostomy is really not that bad, you can do everything with an ostomy, work, travel, swimming, camping - everything. it doesn't show, it doesn't smell, it doesnt make any noises - thing are just flowing so quietly and it is so easy to take care of - i love it and it sure is better than having to keep all the cr****p inside of me for weeks YUCK! this is so much better and i love it.but i must remind you that most ppl with CI don't have a slow small intestine and have a successful outcome from this surgery and don't need a bag.


Hmm... That was weird. I hit "reply" and it just quoted you and posted automagically. Anyway...I just wanted to say I'm glad you found some relief. I can't imagine somebody not responding to a colonoscopy prep!!


----------



## alwayshappy (Mar 11, 2009)

QuiQui said:


> Hmm... That was weird. I hit "reply" and it just quoted you and posted automagically. Anyway...I just wanted to say I'm glad you found some relief. I can't imagine somebody not responding to a colonoscopy prep!!


yep, that's how the colonoscopy prep act for ppl with CI. thanks for your kind words


----------



## rcomom (Sep 20, 2010)

This is my first post here. I've had chronic constipation since I was a small child and remember having lots of stomach aches. The IBS first hit when I was in high school. I would have to go home from school because I couldn't stand the pain sitting in those chairs (let alone the running to the bathroom). My IBS usually starts as constipation but then ends in diarrea. It stayed bad through college, although finding out I was lactose intolerant did help somewhat. In college I had an endoscopy and a lower GI which showed that my food digested slowly in my stomach and I had a long colon, but nothing that they could really help. After a bout of stomach flu, I was at the point I couldn't eat or drink anything without pain. I was put on Zantac and Librax, which did help (they think the flu caused an ulcer & GERD issues). I stopped taking Librax when I got pregnant with my 1st child in my late 20's(after the 1st trimester, my stomach felt wonderful when I was pregnant). Since then, my IBS has gone in spurts, sometimes better than others, but never going away. At one point, I was even going fairly regularly. In the past month, my IBS has been back with a vengance. I'm now 38 and I've been on Zantac for a very long time for my GERD as it seems linked to my IBS issues, but I believe it's stopped working. I started Prevacid on Friday, and so far it seems to be helping. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get back to a point that it's managable again.


----------



## whiteelephant (Jul 27, 2010)

I don't remember any problems as a child but I do think I know what triggered it - a plate noodles from a takeaway stand at the seaside when I was about 17-18. I remember having the most horrific pain across my abdomen like nothing before and thought was dying! Little after that had a small fissure and was on fybogel for a while which cleared up. Bowels pretty much behaved themselves for a few years and on and off with mild constipation and odd abdo pains, normally cleared with the odd senokot here and there, and on very rare occasions a Dulcolax but tried to avoid that! Had acid problems during that time but eventually settled back down. Then last xmas I caught the D&V bug that was doing the rounds at work, and its pretty much hell since! Constipation got far worse, even not responding to 2 dulcolax







and eventually got prescribed Movicol, which am pretty happy with.. Though doesn't always work and my stools are now often loose, with a tendency to diarrhoea lately







Also have the delights of bleeding haemmorhoids which are being banded this week and a flexi-sigmoidoscopy to find out whats going on hopefully....


----------



## Yarm (Sep 18, 2010)

I have the same issues as you do... when I am travelling or when my routine changes - so difficult. I always keep Prune Juice (Prune Nectar) on hand and that helps me out immensely. I drink it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (followed by water, then coffee - can't kick the coffee).


----------

