# I wake up every morning and...



## Brian0003 (Nov 5, 2006)

I wake up every morning and my stomach starts becoming inflamed followed by diarrhea. It has only been happening for the last 3 weeks or so.It doesn't matter what I eat- Milk, Salad, Bread, Fruit, Water, Etc the Night before. It only acts up in the morning and starts inflammation.It is strange- My IBS symptoms have been nullified for the past year or so; and I am 22 years old.It is not because of stress- I don't have a job and haven't been doing anything this summer besides studying for an entrance exam into graduate school and working out in the gym.During the school year I had 17 credit hours and worked 20 hours per week- And my IBS never flared up.I don't understand what is causing this.


----------



## lisaaanoel (Jun 15, 2009)

When my IBS first started, for months I woke up ridiculously early with the same symptoms. I occassionally still go through periods that it happens, but its not as constant.


----------



## Guest (Aug 11, 2009)

It takes hours before the food you have eaten the day before is digested. Usually people have bowel movements in the am after they have been mobile for at least 20 minutes. The fact you are waking up with cramps? abdominal pain? and diarrhea suggests the food isn't being digested by the colon. You mention you drink milk and eat salads. Most IBS sufferers are lactose intolerant and if you are having an episode (yes just mornings count) you should lay off the dairy products and salads for awhile. The pitfall of IBS is we never know when it will flare up or what causes it until we do a process of elimination. Try staying off dairy and see how it goes. If that doesn't work make sure you drink at least 10 glasses of water a day and CUT OUT ALL SUGAR. Another thing to think of is you are working out and that can lead to dehydration if you aren't getting the electrolytes your body needs. Please don't use Gatorade etc....I warn people all the time about this.If you are informed about IBS and know the rules then take it one step at a time. If the diarrhea continues for a week see a doctor. You might have an infection that needs meds.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You can have pain and diarrhea without having a inflamed or ulcerated lining of the GI tract. You can't tell the pain from inflammation from the pain of anything else. However since this popped up after a long time of remission it may be worth going to the doctor and getting checked out.Most diarrhea in the morning is independent of specific foods. The colon in all humans has a spike of activity in the morning and just a bit too much of a spike can cause pain from the activity and diarrhea from too much "move things along". Food intolerance may make morning diarrhea worse than when you don't eat those foods you don't tolerate, but they usually aren't the primary cause. The primary cause is IBS and that is from the nerves in the gut over/under responding or mis-responding to signals.Food is NOT digested in the colon. It is digested in the small intestine and stomach. They remove colons from people with serious diseases of the colon all the time and they digest all their food just fine. The colon is for storing what is left over after you are done with it and to remove the water you dumped into the stool back out of the stool.


----------



## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

Misterdx said to cut out sugar-just wondered why? Also carbs break down to sugar-is this a problem too? I cut out saccharin but now am using sugar in tea.


----------



## Brian0003 (Nov 5, 2006)

Following Replies:I have stopped lactose completely. I have been using soy milk and soy yogurt and I feel better. Still has been cramping for the past three days but now is just extremely bloated- Not much diarrhea. Salad is one of the only vegetables that I eat aside from Celery and Carrots. Sometimes they will cause loose stools; but the body has to get vegetables- So what else would I consume on a daily basis?Do you mean all forms of Sugar? What about natural sugar from fruits and juices? I eat cherries, kiwi Fruit, and I drink orange juice and grapefruit juice regularly. I don't eat candy. Some of the foods I consume have sugar- Soy yogurt has 27 grams of sugar, soy milk has 15 grams, cereal has 10 grams, and so forth. How do you avoid sugar completely?When I work out I always try to drink 5 cups of water along with the workout. I also run and drink another 6 or so cups when I run.Kathleen- It doesn't make any sense; I was completely stressed out and my IBS flared never up for nearly one year. Now I am not doing much at all(Simple exercise and studying) and it starts going crazy for almost one month. It is just so unpredictable.I have some mild food allergies so it could be something I am eating and do not realize I am allergic. I don't want to see my GI doctor unless it continues for months....I am 22 and have seen around 9 GI doctor's. The last one had me go to physical therapy and it fixed almost everything.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Have you tried things like steamed carrots or other veggies.Sometimes steamed cooked ones are easier on the system than raw.Your body really doesn't care much where the sugar comes from and some of the "natural" sweeteners are more problematic that table sugar as they tend to be higher in fructose (if you have fructose issues and not everyone does) or are from fruits high in sorbitol (pears, peaches, apples, plums, cherries).Some people need to be more careful of sugars (both added and what comes with the food) than others. Especially those that are fructose intolerant. However food isn't the one and only problem for IBSers and if something doesn't bother you, you don't have to cut it out. If you cut out everything that ever bothered anyone you'd starve to death in a few weeks.IBS isn't just a mental stress thing. Even if you are doing less, you can be physically stressing the system (pulling more all nighters when studying, or not getting up at the same time or eating on a regular schedule, etc.)Also it may depend on if you got a GI virus recently. A lot of people without IBS have touchy colons for a month after any GI illness even if they are normal in between. GI illnesses can also trigger IBS in people that never had it before. (symptoms last longer than the few weeks of normal issues).


----------



## Brian0003 (Nov 5, 2006)

Kathleen:I will try eating steamed carrots and see if they will respond better to the stomach.I took the fructose and lactose tests- I don't have either allergy. Although I am sensitive to milk products.I never knew sorbitol could trigger a reaction.I had one GI virus that lasted for around 2 months while I was attending a University. My grades went from 3 A's on the first three exams to D-, D+, B- on the following exams. I had diarrhea for 60 something days straight and I lost 32 lbs. It was horrible.


----------



## AbbyDabbyDoo (Aug 14, 2009)

Personally my flare ups are at night but for most normal people stool movement occurs in the morning. Maybe your body is trying to produce normal morning movement & obv IBS is causing it to not be so normal.Also I find my IBS flares up more when I'm at home doing nothing. Just because you have no demands of a job or papers doesn't mean you may not be putting yourself under emotional stress. I find I need constant distractions.


----------



## Borrellifan (May 5, 2009)

My mornings are always bad every day. I wake up and within 10-15 minutes my stomach starts gurgling and cramping and sometimes as soon as i wake up i have the urgency to go but usually within 25 minutes of waking up i am in the bathroom. This by itself isnt what bothers me, its the urgency for starters and then the sheer amount of waste that comes out is quite bothersome and not normal at all. Its probably all of my previous days digestion comming out at once. From then on my stomach starts to settle a bit through out the day and can then become quite aggravated again by night, especially before bed. Its been like this for the past 10 months no-matter what i eat or supplements i take. I was absolutely fine last year with little to no trace of problems (only once in a while) and then all of a sudden with no stresses or anything this current attack came on and its lasted all this time.


----------

