# How Did IBS Find You?- Your Stories!



## 22288

Hey guys I was thinking back to the last two years and how I was before I discovered the truth about my stomach and I was thinking maybe it would help if we could tell eachother how we got IBS or what we were doing/eating before it cropped up. My story was my friend was telling me I was fat and needed to loose weight. I wanted the perfect figure and so I started dieting....the bad way. I would have the smallest luches and dunners. I wouldnt have snacks and I cut out most of the fatty foods I once used to eat. I even sometimes over did it with the exercise. All was going well I was getting the figure I wanted and I was getting used to the food changes. Then one day I really did over do it. I had the smallest breakfast and lunch was smaller than usual. I was in my English class and all of a sudden I felt really light headed and sick. My stomach was making horrid noises. I thought I was either a low sugar level or there was something wrong with what I ate. That night I had a proper dinner or what I could eat of it. Things took a turn for the worst. I would try to eat proper food but I couldnt. Whenever I put the food to my lips I felt I would just throw up. My friends thought I was Anorxic and my mum was getting increasingly worried. The summer holidays came up and I saw the doctor and he said it was a matter of have more snacks and it was just trapped wind. I went back to school baring what he said in mind and had more snacks. I was able to eat again but the pain and ugency for the loo was getting worse, Then the noises from my stomach were getting worse. The summer holidays came again and I saw my doctor and he suggested that I had IBS. I came on this site and have read all of the problems that people had and now I am 99.9% certain that it is IBS.So thats my story.....please can you share your stories and then we can idenify similarities between how we got IBS. Maybe it could help towards finding a cure* sighs* (When Pigs Fly) But we shouldnt give up hope...remember that guy who was cured of HIV!!


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## 13488

Hi!Sounds like a tough story! I remember the time I got my first urge about 8 months ago. I was on antibiotics for my skin called oxyteracycline or something like that. I also had a summer job working as a kitchen porter. Although I blame the antibiotics for messing with my insides, it can't have helped being around all the food. It began to get really hard to see throughout every working day but I managed to stick through it (only had to go home twice out of about 20days). I took loperamide or something, completely useless.Diagnosed about 7 months later. (1month ago) and here I am now. Isn't really similar to yours much though!


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## 22288

Hmmm yeah our stories are different but it must be to do with something we were doing continuously to our bodys i think???? Any other stories Peeps?


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## 18944

I had been taking birth control pills for skin problems and just finished my last pill of the month when I had my first attack. It was so strange, because I had been out to the movies with my friends and having a great time - We were acting silly when we came back to our dorm room - I felt so good I actually did a cartwheel out in the hall and was running around. I was sitting at my computer on AIM talking when I first felt sick, and was in the bathroom soon after.


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## 22199

heya, well my story is i was at a freinds bbq and got food poisioning from it real bad had it for almost a month i got treated for it and was great for a while till one morning at work i had to bolt to the bathroom and was real nauseous and stuff and after some tests were done the doctor said it was ibs and just something id have to live with. i was on caltrate which was great for 4 months but now its stopped workin (joy) so yeah thats my story lol


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## 17176

trishizle hello and welcome


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## 18486

One day when I was about 17 I had D all day. Then the next, then the next, then the next,well, you get the point. I went to a DR.and he told me about IBS. He gave me a presciption and besides dry mouth really bad, it worked! After that I found the weather can cause it, hot tubs, spicy foods, stress, milk, eggs, OJ, and just about anything but pasta. I am SO glad I like pasta! if I watch myself, and keep the stress down, for the most part Im fine.


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## 22288

Hmmm all of our stories relate in a small way. Its to do with something we have eaten or taken... Confussing really I cant see any real pattern. Oh well lets hope that more people will post their stories...


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## 23643

Hi there,Well I have only recently come to the conclusion that I have IBS although my Dr hasnt confirmed it. My story is on my honeymoon in Tunisia just 4 months ago I had what I thought was food poisning and D all day.. so I took imodium as I was flying home that night. Then was bungged up for like a week after the more D then bungged up then more D. And thats when my attacks I guess you could call it. started. Its been months now and I still havent been "going" properly have been in hospital and xray showed my colon was not looking very empty..so yea I have been reading things online and I feel my syptoms def show signs of IBS. I dont think milk likes me anymore which sucks coz I love milk!!


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## 14279

My story isint like any of yours but oh well. It all started on the first day of school last year. I had d untill i got home from school. I just thought I was really nervous and it would go away. Every schoolday for the next 6 months i had d as soon as I got to school. It finally went away in March. I was fine during the summer. It started again about two weeks into this schoolyear. It gradually started getting better after about three months. Then after Thanksgiving weekend It got ten times worse and kept getting worse for about a week. Then it was like it is now, awful. My mom took me to the doctor. i had tests done. The doctor said it was most likely ibs. He kept having me try different medicines none of them worked. And thats about it.


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## 16947

Well,I'm 15 and I have had IBS my whole life, but it got worse last year in 8th grade. I had mono and missed a whole quarter from school and ever since then I have had really bad D almost everyday it seems. And then they found out I have a pelvic kidney. Then I had a ruptered ovarian cyst. And then I had kidney stones a few weeks ago. And I'm only 15 and I have adult problems. I don't go to school because of it, and I can't do my favorite sports because of it. It's ruining my whole life and there's nothing to fix it. I feel like I will never get my life together, because everytime I eat I have D. I have been to so many doctors and none of the meds have helped. I am going to another doctor tomorrow and next week. Hopefully they will find a cure for IBS.I'm so glad I found this website. It's good to hear that I'm not the only one who has this problem. Thanks


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## 17176

hello and welcome to rebiec and jillian


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## 21247

I am a mother of 2. I have a 10 year old and a 8 year old. They both have IBS. My oldest started after she had mono approx 3 years ago. She is very much a perfectionist and I am sure that does not help. Her IBS is different for what alot of you are describing. She does not have such boughts of d. She cramps severly! She gets to be in so much pain that she doubles over. Her doc. is talking about sending her to a specialist again. Diet is not controling things any longer.


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## 22288

Hmmm... each story is unique but there isn one thing linking them like I siad before...its to do with eating...and in some cases nerves...i think im my case nerves and axioty are what make my stomach ten times worse.I hope everything is ok Jillianx


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## 18361

my symptoms started after one weekend last summer.Me and my friends had been drinking alcohol all the weekend and eating junk food.. one monday my tommy was hurting and i couldn't fit my pants.. i thought at first i had just gained weight! (i checked the wheigh) but that wasn't the case..i was just so bloated and even my fingers were bloated to!!! the symptoms got worse and worse my stomach hurts all the time i'm allways bloated and i have c...my mom had this at my age, but not every day like me...


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## 22580

hiya, i have just been diagnosed with ibs, i 1st started getting symptoms in the summer hols (2005), i was being sick and had bad stomach cramps on the left side, my doc said i had a water infection despite all the urine tests were clear,i got it again at christmas and spent a week in bed being sick and having bad stomach cramps but hte doc said i had a kidney infection, and eventually everything went away, then bout a week ago i started getting the pains again and i just thought it was the kidney infection coming back but i was bloated a lot of the time, i went 2 the doc and he ordered a blood test and ultrasound scan, but days later i was vomiting continulsy and the pain was unbearable, couldnt swallow any tablets because even sipping water was makng me throw up, my mum took me to the hospital and was in there for two days and the doc said it was ibs, so i just found out really and dont know much aobut it, even though i know its controlled by diet, but its going to be hard controlling everything i eat


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## 18200

i figured out after my mom was trying to explain to me why i have bad stomach aches since i was about 12 maybe younger, can't really remember, but it just popped into my head because i watched this movie with ben stiller and he had ibs... and after about 5 doctor trips and having to almost have a tube shoved up in a very uncomfortable place im glad i finally figured it out, or i stopped freaking out my mom that something horrible was wrong with me.


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## 18200

dude i had to get an ultrasound to was the goo they put on you really cold?


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## 23682

I think I've had IBS all my life. I have the alternating kind. I think when I was younger I was more C. Then once middle school started I was D. High school and college D & C. When I was a baby I was even C. The pediatrican told my mom to put Karo syrup in my bottle. I remember being as little as 4 and telling my parents my tummy hurt.


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## 17042

Hmmm well.I got diagnosed when I was 9 years old. Some doctors think it's because of uncooked chicken at a bbq.. others think it was stress. At the time, i was taking many extra courses outside of school. I went to doctors, did tests, got scoped.. all of that. Then each year it seemed like it was getting worse. When I was 10, I missed about 115 days of school. It was horrible. So I got homeschooled for a little while. Missing school days, horrible pain.. everyday.. it just continued on. My grade 7 year was the hardest i'd say. Because i only had one more year before I graduated for highschool. I'm naturally a high achiever and perfectionist and a very nervous person.. so that didn't help. Took tons of meds.. then all this lead to depression&suicidal thoughts. I just couldn't take it anymore. Thats when i started going for Cognitive Behaivioral Therapy with a psychologist. I then was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and some other type of depression disorder. For schooling, near the end of the year.. In my condition, i was not able to make it to normal school. I was just too much in pain, Hmm i went to a program called 'Day Hospital'.. where its basically like being schooled in a hospital environment. I did better than i was doing in my normal school. But when the transition to get me back there started.. My condition started to get worse again. Sigh, my IBS hasn't gotten well quite yet. It's the same old D every morning, the horrible twisting pain inside of me, meds and such. Anyways, thats my story.


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## 14360

Lets see..it started in 8th grade for me, when I was about 13. My dad has IBS, so I'm pretty sure it was genetics. I don't remember eating anything bad, I wasn't under a whole lot of stress..the only explanation I have is genetics and the possibility of it being triggered by my first period, which I got around 2 months after my 13th birthday. Anyways, I just remember having D almost every morning and having to ask my teacher if I could go to the bathroom, and I remember he'd always ask if it was an emergency, and I would say yes.I was never really officially diagnosed, I went to the doctor about a year later after I realized it wasn't going away. They did a stool test for a possible parasite, but I came out clean. The doctor asked if there was any history of stomach conditions, and my mom told her about my dad's IBS, but she didn't ever tell me to my face I had it. They called with the stool sample results and recommended fiber, which did help a bit, but not that much. I finally did my own research and found out that I do have it, no doubt.


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## 21794

My doctor says I don't have IBS, but I"m more sensitive in the stomache area than most. I usually have a lot of gas. For a couple of weeks i'll have diarrhea and then a couple weeks later i'll have constipation. It all started in the beginning of 8th grade. My mom was having a BBQ celebrating our new backyard and she made beans. Well, for three days in a row i had eaten a lot of beans. Well, of course beans cause gas, so i figured it would go away the next day. Well, it didn't. It's been going on for a year now. I thank god because he has helped me. I always pray to him that he will take my tummy aches away. Sometimes i think i cause my stomache aches because i think about having gas or an upset stomache so much that i end up having all those symptoms. So ya, beans started my stomache pains.


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## 20663

sorry guys, this is gonna be a long one, but i've never really had the chance to tell anyone about my story, and i want to get it right.well, looking back on it i think i really had my first attack of ibs during the beginning of my freshman year. My mom had just gotten a new job that required her to go on business trips(something she never had to do before), and during her first trip i found myself constipated for the first time in my life.( which was wierd to me because i'd been away from my mom loads of time before and it had never given me any trouble)my problems went away when she came back...but i think i had a lot more anxiety after that, that the same problem would come back later.Plus at the time there were a lot of changesgoing on in the house...my sister went to college, and then my 22 yr old cousin moved in with his girlfriend, which took sometime getting used to.but even then, I didn't have anymore attacks...so i figured the constipation thing had been a one time deal.And then around march of that year my family went to the birthday party of my little cousins who at the time were visiting from Brazil. And i swear these kids brought some kind of freaky brazilian plague with them because before you knew it...they were throwing up all over the place(and since i had been watching them...i caught the plague myself) So we went back home...and for about a day nothing happened.But the next day at school, i was 1/2 way up the staircase and had to rushback down to the nurse's office where i threw up really violently. So after that I went home and was more sick than i had ever been in my whole life.I think i threw up about 10 times before it let up. But by number five, my body was in such a shamble..its like it let go of all of its other controls, and i ended up having to sit on the toilet while i threw up in a bucket. So after about a week, i stopped throwing up, but the diarrhea wouldn't go away.(now keep in mind, with the exception of the constipation incedent, i had been totally normal and regular and what not up until now)so i asked my mom and she told me not to worry, and that my body had beenthrough a lot of trauma,and that it probably would take a while to get totally back to normal,which made absolute sense to me...so i waited. And waited and waited...and then a month went by...no improvement...two months...still nothing. And we're talking about signature ibs symptoms. Twisting stomach pain, diarrhea...well you guys know.And it's like I never fully healed from that stomach virus.So by now,i had missed like 14 days of school, when the max. is 15 or they keep you back a year...so we started looking for what was wrongwith me. Now, apparently, there's a handful of people in my family who have ibs, which is where the genetics factor plays in. But so the doctor cofirmed that i have ibs, and i got put on the chronic list at school( which I've found to be really helpful, because it takes away some of the embarassment factor, so that when you are having a bad ibs day(as i call it)you dont havetokeep explaining yourself)We thought maybe i had ciliac disease( where you're intolerant to gluten, but those tests came back negative)I'm a senior now, but i still have attacks of ibs everday. Somedays are better than others(like today, i tried this "activa" yogurt and i really felt alomst normal...something i'veonly glimpsed at since march four years ago) So i'm looking into taking probiotics, because I heard that they help, and whateverwas in that yogurt made today almost feel like normal. this is getting way too long now...but if anyone'd like to talk email me (hockeychic789###msn.com)


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## 14849

I was at Summerfest around 1998 waiting to see Monster Magnet take the stage. I ordered a smoothie and then I started getting bad stomach pains. I ran for a bathroom but all that was there were honey buckets. There were huge lines, so it wasn't going to help my situation. I rushed around looking for a potty and found a "potty building," which had massive lines. With no other choice, I found a huge area of bushes.As I hid in the bushes I could hear people walking by, and some people were even throwing empty beer bottles back there, but I don't think anyone saw me. I think they were simply drinking and chucking their bottles.After about 10 horrifying and humiliating moments I arose from the bushes and my now-wife and I proceeded to make our way back to the car. As soon as I got in the car, I ended up getting another attack, and ended up bailing out in the middle of a city street, sat in the landscaping next to a building, and took another massive dump. What's funny is that the street, which is normally crowded, was devoid of any traffic the entire time.We finally made it home from my trip to pure Hell, and ever since I have had IBS. I never got a warning. I just "got it."


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## 20663

see now...that's really interesting. because a lot of the people telling their stories here got ibs w/o warning after a virus/as reaction to something they ate(me, flat 4,jump5lover,trishizle)...this other lady on this site told me that after havingibs for 15 years, they did a test and found out that she had a parasite, and that the whole thing could've been caused by a parasite. maybe wehave parasites too,from the food/viruses that we had b4 we got sick, and we just dont know it? Its kind of a lame theory...since my ibs definately reacts when im stressed etc. but maybe our symptoms would be lessened. --just thinkin out loud here...


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## 14849

> quote:Originally posted by lucythedog:see now...that's really interesting. because a lot of the people telling their stories here got ibs w/o warning after a virus/as reaction to something they ate(me, flat 4,jump5lover,trishizle)...this other lady on this site told me that after havingibs for 15 years, they did a test and found out that she had a parasite, and that the whole thing could've been caused by a parasite. maybe wehave parasites too,from the food/viruses that we had b4 we got sick, and we just dont know it? Its kind of a lame theory...since my ibs definately reacts when im stressed etc. but maybe our symptoms would be lessened. --just thinkin out loud here...


I've been tested for parasites, allergies, etc. No such luck.


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## sazzy

I think it was over a few years i had bad stress levels. First we had a big car crash and this made me nervous every time i went in a car, which of course was basically every day. The year after i had a horse riding accident and broke my arm, for a good few years after that i was always really safety concious and always worried about just about everything, esspecially when it involved goin fast or any possible danger. I think over the years this triggered my IBS and i was diagnosed properly at 11, when i was suffering more stress from changing schools. These days i'm much morse settled, compared to how badly stressed i was then, i've come on much better but now i'm stuck with ibs for the rest of my life so i guess i'm stuck with a certain ammount of worry and this one's going to take over my whole life.


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## 16772

im a little old to post but mine was stress. I got sick my freshman year.


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## Glamour_Dollxoxo

Mine started during my junior year of highschool and everytime after eating lunch within an hour or so I would be get bad abdominal pain and have D. This went on for the rest of the school year and most of my senior year to but it seemed to improve a little. When I started my freshman year at college I was so nervous about having to share a bathroom with other girls on my floor, but after awhile I was used to it and now I don't mind. The only hard part is knowing that I have to eat the right foods and take my medicine on time.


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## 16148

I was only recently diagnosed with IBS, but have been suffering since 2003. In 2003, in 8th grade, I accidently cut my finger very badly while cooking and had to have surgery in October. Ever since I started getting sick but was too embarrased to tell anyone. It was only in May when i collapsed at home because of stomach pain and had to be taken to hospital that I started explaining all my symptoms not only to my family but to my doctors. However although I was hospitalized around 5 times within 6 months for stomach pain - My parents only took me when I would pass out because every time I went I would be in severe pain, obviously, and the doctors would tell me it was just indegestition and to take some Tums and go home. This was not only humiliating but it was frustrating and I felt like a prize idiot because the hospital obviously didn't understand what was wrong with me.This lasted until 2004 when we finally were reffered to a pediatric gastroenteroligst. I went through testing for 4 months - 2 double endoscopy colonoscopy(yes that was lots of fun) blood work and a ridiculous amount of other random tests with them TRYING to figure out whats wrong with me, at one time it was suggested I may have brain cancer which was scary. Thankfully I was tentatively diagnosed with IBS as most of my symptoms match although the severity of my stomach pain is inconsistent. I just hope that I can try and get better.


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## 21198

My story is a long one but different than all the ones Ive read so far and was from both food and psychological reasons ,it started at age 13-14 (IBS-C) I was always a poor eater ,my 3 foods I lived on were cheese ,bread, and potatoes ,which I ate in excess every day .I never ate any fruit or veggies,and used to sneak in the fridge to eat extra cheese (usually 15-20 slices).So up till 13-14 I had minor IBS-C symptoms ,and also had to deal with ridicule from family about alaways clogging the toilet when I went potty .So I developed a complex so bad I was afraid to go potty ,and held it in for days making it even worse . Then when I started high school I tried going in the bathrooms at school but it was such a long and painful situatoin , I coouldnt ever go ,i was afraid someone ould walk in on me ,since half of the doors were broken there.So now I could only go at home and Id hold it for 2-3 days at a time by then.It was so painful I started bleeding in my undies and my mom found the bloody undies in the wash and insisted I Go to the doc. Well doc told mom I had an enlarged colon ,an anal fissure , and fecal impaction ,and needed to do something about it pronto or it would get worse !!So doctold my mom I needed Mineal Oil enemas every week until I got better ,and had the nurse give me my first one right there in front of my mom .It did feel a lot easier to go potty that first time , so I agreeed that I would take them to help my problem. So since my mom was raising me alone after dad died when I was 12 ,mom was the one to have to give them to me (the doc said not to let me do it my self becaue the anal fissure could get infected if the enema nozzle went in at the wrong angle ) ,which was reall embarrassing for a 14 year old boy .So every week it went on every Monady morning before school and lasted until I was 17 ,I got slightly better every month but then my eating habits made me never fully get over it ,Thats my story


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