# I am scared



## 123abc (Nov 5, 2001)

Hello everyone. I jsut discovered this website tonight, for the first time. I am hoping to find some advice, and perhaps comfort, in this online community. Reading some of the messages posted here, I feel so much better to know that I am not alone. I would appreciate it if you would take the time to listen to me, and perhaps respond.When I was ten years old I had a terrible episode of a bowel problem. It lasted for ten terrible months. It was diarhea, cramps, cramps from h*ll. It was terrible! I felt like a needed to go all the time. I lost most of my wight. I went to the local hospital, where I was ridiculed by doctors, and told that I had the stomach flu. After it lasted for a couple of months, they soon realized that I had something else. Many tests were run, some worse than others. They all came back normal. I had no deadly illnesses, or anything else of that sort. Many doctors suggested IBS, but I was too afraid of what that might be like, to come to terms with it. I had some terrible tests, and then, miraculously, after ten months, it went away.I was so happy! I moved on with my life. I went to high school, and made the honour roll, and got a job, as well. Now, at age 15, everything seems to be going just right... until yesterday. For the past week or so, I have felt nauseated. I wrote it off as the stomach flu, but yesterday it turned much worse. I spent 45 minutes on the toilet at work. I missed work the entire weekend. I will end up missing school. The pain has not gone away. I have nothing but cramps. I have a constant feeling of needing to "go," but when I do, I feel no relief. This has been going on for a couple of days now. It is just like what I had when I was younger.Thinking I had the flu, I went off of soid foods, so my stomach is nearly empty. In a couple days I will be meeting with my doctor. I am so scared!!! I don't know what to do! I spent an hour or so crying. I don't know how I will be able to live my life the same as before! I remember when I was ten, having "attacks", where I would rush to the toilet, and spend 1/2 an hour or so in there, in agony. I feel just like that, only instead of lasting 1/2 an hour, its lasting days! I feel no relief, even though my bowels are so empty, all I have is gas!My doctor and parent are still hopeful that this is the flu, but I know it isn't. I can differentiate the pain, and I know that this is the same as when I was younger, if not worse.Does anyone have any tips for this? any idea how long these days-long episodes last? how long IBS terms last?It helps to know that other people like me are out there. I am so scared, that I am crying right now. Please respond. Thank you very, very much.


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## slammjamminlammy (Sep 10, 2001)

hey ABC,I'm super sad to hear that you are not feeling well. First, calm down and take a deep breath - stress can make things worse. go see your doctor and figure out what's up. And don't be upset if they want to give it time - a week probably isn't enough for a diagnosis of anything. before you go, you might want to check out the "drugs' section of this website - print it out and bring it with you to give the doctor some ideas. Personally, I take hyosciamine, and it helps with the nausea and feeling like I have to "go" and not being able to. As for how long attacks last, it really varies from person to person - I usually have my worst symptoms for the week before my period, but I'll also feel really ****ty for a day or two if I eat the wrong thing.One thing you can do now, is keep a diary of what you have been doing before an attack. What did you eat? where were you? were you stressed? What time of month is it? (if you're a girl







) Then, eliminate one thing at a time, and see if it helps. IBS is chronic, so the best thing you can do is figure out you're triggers and avoid them.As for the crying, I feel your pain there too. Actually, a lot of us struggle with anxiety and depression related to the pain, frustration, and life-altering annoyance of IBS - and there's stuff you can do for that too. Talk to someone - see a counselor - they can help you learn coping strategies. Your doctor can help too - (I call 'em happy pills - sad but true) Most of all, make sure you still see your friends - feeling like you have been cut off from the world is the worst. Even if you have to rent a video and have everyone over to your house because you can't go that long without going to the bathroom, do that. And, we're always here!







Good luck. hope it does turn out to be the flu. if not - welcome aboard.Sarah


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## kinetic (Oct 19, 2001)

123abc~yikes! I'm soooo sorry to hear you're having problems... but yeah this is one of the best places to come and find out information about stuff... your problems sound like what i get, except mine don't last quite that long... I've learned to get them under control when they do act up too so there is hope that you can get back to a normal life for the most part... Not to scare you further or anything, but chances are your doctor is going to want to do a lot of different tests now to make sure you don't have anything life threatening or serious... requiring a strict diet or otherwise... if all the tests come out normal, don't get depressed and discouraged because they aren't finding anything... be happy that you don't have what they were looking for =) I think that was the most difficult part for me with finding out that I have IBS.... I didn't think "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" sounded serious enough to describe the horrible pains and bathroom episodes I had... but once I read up about it online and stuff I learned that maybe it did fit... I had problems frequently for about a year... quit my job, dropped out of college, ended up staying in bed in my apartment too sick or depressed to go anywhere or do anything...but here's where it gets good







*grin* after 2 years of dealing with IBS problems pretty much consistently from month to month, I finally got things under control... my doctor put me on some "happy pills" (anti-depressants... the one i was on is celexa) and I took those for a little over a month... what i discovered from taking them and from noticing patterns from the previous 2 years... most of my IBS problems happened when I was stressed out either mentally or emotionally, and when i was depressed (which had been pretty often before)... I stopped taking the happy pills because my life has improved so much in the last 2 months that I'm so insanely happy it's almost funny... so other things in my life are keeping me really happy and I've not had anything other than minor problems once a month or so, and that more of an annoyance that I just laugh at than anything else... I think the best thing is when you accept that you have problems but decide to not let them take over and affect your life... yeah you'll have IBS problems from time to time, but it's not much different from getting a bad cold or the flu occaisionally (once you get it under control)... you have to watch what you eat more often, and you'll gradually figure out what makes you sick and what you can eat safely... for me what helped a lot in figuring that out was a book i found from looking online called eating for IBS (www.eatingforibs.com) I don't use the recipes on there but there's a lot of good information in the beginning of the book that tells you what kinds of foods can cause problems, and also gives you some pretty good information on what IBS is and stuff...anyway, this board is a good place to be... the people here are all friendly and helpful, and a few (like me) tend to be a little on the silly/funny side so you have someone to laugh at







(and laughing is definitely a good thing)Hope you feel better soon! and if ya have any questions about anything, either post them on here, or if you want, email me and i'd be happy to answer them if i can =)*smile*


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## Nikki (Jul 11, 2000)

Hi 123, I got IBS when i was about 15 aswell, i am 18 now. It started off much worse than it is now. One of the things i have learnt is thart the more i cried and got upset about my condition the worse it got. I just had to try to not worry about getting episodes and go out anyway. The things that bring on an attack tend to be worrying about having one.The Doc will go nasty tests, stool tests, blood and i had a sigmoidoscopy- not very nice, but from what ive heard not as bad as a colonoscopy!Email me if you want to talk.Try not to worry, if tests are negetive then it is a good thing- having something like Ulcerative Colitis or Crohns would be much much worse, so if it is IBS its a good thing. There is still no reasn to panic if it is positive beasue there are ways to control it.Hope you feel better.Spliff.


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