# College Student w/ IBS



## Engineer_Girl (Jan 13, 2005)

I am a 19-year-old college student and I have been dealing with IBS symptoms since Nov 2003. I believe that it orginated from a stress-overload when my first college finals were coming up. But even after finals were over, I would hurt all day for about a month. About 30min-1hr after I eat, I feel hunger pains again, although I know that I am not hungery. Sometimes I can feel these weird pains all the way from my stomach up to my throat. Then the "excitement" begins. It sounds as if fireworks are going off in my stomach. I'm not talking about your average stomach rumblings... These are loud and very strange! They include bubble noises, whooshing noises that seem to travel from one side to the other, whining noises, and popping/thumping noises. Sometimes I wake up at night to the thumping noises and it sounds like my intestines are going to burst! I sometimes have constipation, but rarely have diareaha (spelling?) My bowel movements have changed a lot though. I used to go about every other day. Now I go every day, sometimes up to 5 times a day. I get the feeling that I have to go really bad, and then not much comes out (I know it sounds gross, but I have to describe it somehow!). My stools are very soft and loose, slightly orangish/clayish sometimes. As far as foods go, the only thing that seems to make it worse is popcorn. Weird huh?Anyway, I just wanted to share my symptoms with you guys.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2005)

well, corn is really hard to digest...but not to worry you, but have you been through any testing? your symptoms and the sudden change seem pretty extreme even for ibs. did your doctor do any stool tests? it could be likely that you have some kind of parasites or something that are causing all this. or i suppose allergies, but i'm not sure if you have any history of food intollerances. keeping a food diary and trying to see if there are any patterns can help, but if you haven't been through the ringer at the doctors, i would definately go and get some basic stool and blood tests done. not even necessarily a colonoscopy and all that, might not be necessary.anyway, keep use posted.midge.


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## kateandtink (Sep 1, 2004)

i think 5times a day is classed as diarrheoa.. ibs is a pain and for most people it does alternate.. i had ibs D everyday for 3years but this last few months i had had D and C, with no change in my diet or meds i guess its just the ibs. though from the feel of the pain the last few days i reckon its df going back to D. Corn ah i dont do high fibre well at all, cant have normal crisps/chips but i can have doritos you know the little bags. corn is evil to digest and not being to graphic i dont think my GI tract even bothers trying with it these days!!you need to be test colonoscopy like midge says, intolerances and maybe barium enema (spp check) def keep a diary its the only way i got my triggers and i know without id still be fannying around! good luck, get tested though


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## Engineer_Girl (Jan 13, 2005)

Well, I have been to my doctor SEVERAL times. They have drawn blood mulitple times and tested many different things. My liver enzymes were elevated so they ran a more detailed test and did not find anything. Then they did an abdominal ultrasound and found nothing. I have been on Prilosec and it seemed to help, until the next time I got stressed out. So then I tried Nexium and it seemed to knock it out. I was fine for months (summer vacation). When school started back, I tried to keep my self stress-free, and it seemed to work for the most part. Now I'm in the spring semester, and it has started up again. I have been constipated for about 4 days now. I finally went to the bathroom yesterday! YAY! (that is something to cheer about). My IBS may be related to some of my other health issues: I am hypoglacemic, border-line anemic, 10 pounds overweight, I have migraine headaches, and I have anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I am currently on Lexapro for the anxiety.


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## Faustus (Jul 5, 2004)

For your stress, you might try meditation. I know it sounds like a benign exercise, but it really does help. You may have to practice it a few times before you get the hang of it. I can give you some meditation instructions if you need them. I am also a psychotherapist dealing with IBS-D.


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## anderson27 (Feb 13, 2005)

Clayish stools can indicate a vitamin deficiency. i would see a dr, having up to 5 bowel movements a day can easily dehydrate you, and may be the reason your stools are clayish (if as in clayish you mean pale or whitish colored. feeling hungry right after you eat is a sign of ulcer. as far as popcorn it can sometimes block the intestines, so can nuts or any seeds.


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## Nikki (Jul 11, 2000)

Is it really? I feel hungry after i have eaten also. Are ulcers really bad? How do you get rid of them? Goodness me, i sound really thick!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If they get bad enough you can bleed to death from an ulcer. But many people wander around with them without too much problem, but it is something to have checked out.Hungar pains shortly after eating, or pain that goes away only when you eat, can also be gastritis which is just inflamation of the lining of the stomach with no holes in it.If you have them usually first you figure out if you have H. pylori. If you do, take the antibiotics to get rid of it. Secondly start taking meds that effect acid. Either antacids that sop up extra acid or meds that reduce the production of acid (Nexium, Zantac, etc)Avoiding foods/drinks/drugs that irritate the stomach can be important to. Do you take a lot of asprin or NSAID's like ibupropeh? That can set it off, and may need to be avoided by some people. Alcohol can irritate the stomach lining as well. Which foods are irritating seems to always be a debate, but acidic foods or highly spiced foods seem to be an issue for some people.K.


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## LMB0603 (Oct 28, 2004)

hello! i am also a 19 year old college student suffering with IBS C and acid reflux. i am also in alabama. email me if you like and we can try and help each other.lbrugge###yahoo.com


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## lxdreamerxl (Mar 8, 2005)

Question for the college students... do you live on campus with a roomate?How in the world do you deal with your IBS with a complete stranger around you 24/7?I'm facing the same problem in the fall and I don't know what to do about it.


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## 17433 (Sep 3, 2005)

Hi, everyone, my name is Jillian. I am 21 years old and had been diagnosed with Ibs when I WAS 19. The first time I had a symptom was during a visit to a town I had never been to before. My parents were fighting in the car and I was stressed because my Grandmother had past about a month and half earlier. My mom and step dad had been going to see their lawyer and gave me money to go into the mall across the street. I was standing in Macy's picking out clothes, then all of a sudden uncontrollable gas came, I grew hot, and to make a long story short I couldn't make it to the bathroom on time. I wanted to die. I had to be trusting enough to give a woman I did not know money and expect her to bring me back a pair of pants.Thankfully, she did.Since this incident I have had IBS with D. I was taking Hyoscyamine for three months, and then was fine for about 6. Now I am back to the drawing board. The bowel movements are everyday four to five times, in the morning.I am currently a college student, and failed a couple classes for poor attendance. Until I had read postings on here I never thought of talking to my school about my disease. The level of understanding from professors are slim to none, so I was always scared to verbalize my problem to a higher up.I just went back to school two days ago, I hadn't eaten anything the day before because I was petrified of being sick. I drank a half of a bottle of pepto before I left. My stomach was grumbling in class, and everytime I had a gas pain I worried that I had to go. This is a horrible way to feel, you are so uncomfortable that you see your proffesors mouth moving but not comprhending the words because you are too busy planning out your quickest route to the bathroom.Thankfully I didn't have a problem at school the other day, but I am looking for another doctor. My doctor basically felt my stomach asked me where it hurt, and asked me how often I had D. Never did he take any kind of tests besides blood. I thought this was normal because I never heard of anyone having IBS before I had been diagnosed with it. I was wrong.Two years later I am not on medication, very ill all the time, my life has been extremely effected by IBS. I miss important events, cannot travel on a subway without having an anxiety attack, take a long car ride, and most of the time I don't leave the house until after 12 in the afternoon.There was no way that I could take the classes I need this semester after 12, so now I am pretty much down sh*ts creek without a paddle, no pun intented.I started taking Hyoscyamine again in May, but chose to stop taking it because it didn't help at all. I am considering therapy for the stress, because I constantly have that vicious cyle of anxiety followed by D and vice versa.Anyone know a medication that worked well for them?I feel like my life is ruined, and would appreciate any suggestions at this point. Thanks for your time, and good luck to everyone


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## kateandtink (Sep 1, 2004)

your college can support you... im at university adn if you talk to them about what you go through they can offer you help.. i have a note taker and i have mitigating circumstances cfor missing trips, lectures and tests if i need to provided i give a doctors note


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