# New to group, IBS/Digestive sufferer, I've tried everything!



## daijoubu (Oct 9, 2014)

Hi there, I'm new. My name is Brigit and I'm a 22 year old female. I live in the midwest.

My story starts about a year and a half ago, around March or April 2013. I was 20 at the time, and I came down with some sort of virus (diarrhea, fever, headaches, body aches) and got over it in about a week, but something was off afterwards. I started suffering from heartburn and chest pressure. I started taking some Zantac, which sort of helped, but the diarrhea came back after a few days and I started getting symptoms like chills, stomach pain and nausea. I finally took myself to the ER after one bad night, they ran a blood and urine test, found nothing, and sent me home with some Famotidine and had me make a follow up appointment.

Two days after the ER trip and after taking the medication, I felt immensely better! I went out to dinner with my boyfriend at the time and ate whatever I wanted, finally, after 3 or 4 weeks of feeling terrible, I got a plate of spicy gyros and my digestive system didn't flare up AT ALL. It felt amazing.

Things would flare up occasionally, but once I found out a trigger, I would just eliminate it and it would get better. I stopped eating/drinking so much dairy, I stopped drinking alcohol, and I majorly cut down my coffee consumption. I just tried to eat healthy, smaller meals and stick to easy, comforting meals like pasta, salads and sandwiches.

I fell out of seeing the psych because I didn't have insurance at the time. I just went along taking Pantoprazole (which I was given after a follow up appointment, it didn't make a difference for me really) and trying to eat a little healthier. I was doing fine for a while, as long as I was taking medication, and sometimes supplementing it with Tums. After a while though, I'd started at a new University, I was living on my own for the first time, and the symptoms got worse and worse. I started doing things like drinking gatorade and ensure all the time just to get calories in, but even then I generally felt uncomfortable at best. I came down with food poisoning one day, which started making me paranoid that anything I ate could just be a bacteria minefield.

I started getting this awful gnawing feeling in my stomach, really bad, frequent nausea, my heartburn came back, and I was always making sure I ate at home incase something decided to flare up. I felt trapped. My semester had ended (horribly) and I felt helpless. I was losing all kinds of weight, and nothing I ate was sitting right in my stomach. My grandmother (who used to be a nurse practitioner) suggested that I may have had an ulcer, caused by h pylori.

Finally, right before the holidays, I got a blood test for H Pylori, and I tested positive. I was given some heavy duty antibiotics, a double dose of Panto, and some Pepto Bismol. I finished the treatment, but it didn't really do anything. I went on for a few more weeks, and was finally ordered an upper endoscopy, but again, they found nothing. They actually said my stomach and duodenum looked very normal. I was at a loss.

So, since then, I haven't found anything else out. I have a vitamin D deficiency, but I also live in a cold weather region and it's not uncommon. I take vitamin D supplements anyway. There was a period of a few months where I wasn't taking anything and I was doing just fine, but since July (after another bout of stomach virus or food poisoning, not sure what it was), I've had to take Panto everyday (sometimes twice a day) and the strongest probiotics I can find on store shelves. It's the only thing that more or less keeps my symptoms at bay.

I'm pretty convinced that I didn't even have H Pylori. I didn't even find out until AFTER I'd gotten the blood test that Pantoprazole can cause a false positive on the blood test. Jeez Louise.

I do suffer from ADHD and pretty bad anxiety, but I've always had anxiety problems, even when I was a little kid. I've taken both Zoloft and Ritalin on and off, but I don't like the way either of those make me feel (I lose my appetite and get way too wired).

It's a day to day thing for me. Some days I can go out and eat spicy curry or some big fatty hamburger meal and I feel completely fine! Other days I have to sit in bed with some peppermint tea and crackers and I still feel like I can't stomach it. I'm at a loss.  I've lost almost 25 pounds which I'm worried about because I'm already pretty petite.

I'm really sorry for the long post!! I just feel like I have nowhere I can vent about this anymore. My boyfriend and family have heard it all (hahaha) and just tell me I need to learn to relax.


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## MichaelPJohnson (Sep 25, 2014)

Hello Brigit,

I have had IBS for over 35 years and I can tell you now after searching for help everywhere I have found a web site that has excellent products that have helped me to live a normal life free of the daily yoyo of IBS! I have the type of IBS that is caused by Stress and Anexiety and not by food. I had seen doctors for my problem for many years and now realize I wasted my time and money trusting them. Everything is diet to them! Please try HeathersTummyCare.com for help. The Pepermint oil softgels are great and have stopped my colen pain and swelling as well as relaxing my intestinal tract. I use the audio program to re-program my GUT-BRAIN reaction to the stress and anexiety caused by IBS.

I hope this helps,

Michael


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