# My Story



## Figureskater1989 (Apr 29, 2015)

Hello, I am new here and was just diagnosed with IBS yesterday. It's taken about six years to get this diagnosis which has been frustrating.

Here is a list of the symptoms I've dealt with:


Diarrhea and constipation but it's not severe. I suppose my stools (sorry TMI) are just loose when it is Diarrhea and constipation doesn't happen very often.
Headaches which happen frequently
Shakes, my hands shake very often
cold chills at night and some fevers
Skin lesions
Fatigue 
Sometimes short term memory loss
Nausea and actually vomiting but this is a rare occurrence
Back pain
Weight gain
Abdominal pain which is what I find to be the biggest problem
Abnormal heart rate, normally 80-130 beats per minute
High blood pressure lately
I drop things a lot, my hand muscles sort of just lose their grip
Muscle weakness, it's hard to carry things for a long time
I notice random bruises on my body, though I could just be bumping into things
Sensitive skin that I never had before
I get colds, flu's, and the like very easily if I'm around other sick people
daily tasks are hard to handle because I run out of energy/steam

Okay, now that I have that little list down which I am probably forgetting somethings I deal with, I can continue on. I'm a 26 year old female. I used to figure skate 5 hours a day or more, so I was very active. I graduated from high school in 2007 and went right to college but did not finish my degree because I realized that's not what I wanted to do in life. I started working at a real estate company and enjoyed that so I got my real estate license. My problems of health started to surface in college and at my part time job but it was never anything serious. Just an overall feeling of unwell, when I started real estate it was getting worse but not unmanageable. I've tried various diets, paleo, no dairy, no gluten, adding more veggies, adding more fruits, I've done no grains, really everything to see if it changed the symptoms. None of them did. Food doesn't seem to cause a reaction for me, most of my struggle is the abdominal pain which is constant. I don't suffer with diarrhea like what I've read, my stools are just loose all the time but I don't feel relief when I go, when I eat something I don't need to go right away and I'm never concerned about finding a bathroom. It's embarrassing to have loose stools a lot but that's my only real issue with that.

I've been actively going to the doctor to see why I'm feeling the way I do and the first thing they did in 2011 was remove my gallbladder, thinking that was the cause. It helped for a few months and then the symptoms came back. They've gotten so much worse in these last 3 years that I had to stop working, each day is a challenge for me to even feel like a normal person. They've done a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, I've had numerous amounts of blood tests and other various testing done. I've worn heart monitors but my skin is so sensitive that the patches cause me blisters. I wasn't able to keep the one on for the full month, I made it about a week and a half. I did have heart surgery when I was 6 years old, which is why they have put a little focus onto my heart.

Doctors have also told me that they will call this IBS and diagnose me with IBS but that's not what this is. Which is confusing, I've also been pawned off from doctor to doctor until yesterday where someone has finally said, yes this is IBS and here is some medicines to try. No other doctor wanted me to try any medicine, not even over the counter because they didn't want my symptoms masked by it. So I'm thrilled to be trying anything to help. I haven't picked up the medicine yet so I can't remember what they're called. They have no side effects from what this doctor told me, which is nice. He thinks all my other symptoms will calm down once my GI is functioning normally, to which I really hope it does.

He did mention that some of my symptoms might not be due to IBS but due to stress, which I have noticed that when I have more stress the symptoms get worse. Reading other peoples stories and what they have going on, I feel like I don't have it as bad as some when it comes to IBS. It's really mainly the pain and not so much the act of needing to relieve myself. I'm praying these medicines work and I can go back to being a normal person and join society again, figure out what I'd like to do for a career, go back to school, work, anything. My social life has suffered a lot due to this because how do you explain it to your friends? My husband has been amazing and so has my family, I couldn't ask for anything better when it comes to them.

That's my story for now or a shortened version of the last 6 years of this. Thanks for reading and I hope to get to know more of you as I read over other peoples stories and maybe I can learn new tips to deal with this or even offer some of my own.


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## AlanZ (Mar 7, 2015)

While I'm no doctor, with everything you are going through I'd be very hesitant to accept an IBS diagnosis. Try the medicine and see how it goes, but as frustrating as it can be do consider seeking out new doctors.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Figureskating, we share something in common. Pain is also my main problem.

Please tell us about that medicine and its effects.


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