# Hi, i'm new and would like to share my story:)



## jay21 (Jun 15, 2012)

Hi everyone! This is all new to me and I feel like I need to share my story and see if there is anyone else out there like me. I was officially diagnosed with IBS when I was 17 after a month straight of non-stop diarrhea not helped by any OTC meds and losing 30 lbs within that month. My mom took me to my pediatrician (who luckily is also an adolescent MD) who said I either needed to go to a GI dr or directly to the hospital. We went to the GI who then ordered every GI test under the sun finding, you guessed it, nothing wrong. During this whole trial and error diagnosis period, he performed an emergency colonoscopy with no sedation with my mom in the room. I will tell you, it was the most excruciating experience of my life,including going through labor and delivery of my daughter. So, needless to say I was a little discouraged after hearing there was nothing wrong with me and that I should find a good psychologist. He put me on some meds that helped off and on, recommended Metamucil, which worked off and on, and eventually after changing my diet a little and managing my stress better, i got it under control for the most part. So, now 20 years later, I sit here after having my second colonoscopy (blessedly, this one was under sedation







) and literally went to the bathroom after the procedure and had diarrhea again. This is after having urgent bouts of diarrhea several times a day, every day for the past month. I swore I had parasites or some kind of viral infection bc my IBS never presents like this. I will get pains and know it's coming, but rarely is it so urgent that i feel that i won't make it to the bathroom, which is how it has been these past 4 weeks. I cannot eat anything during the day if I am at work bc I will need to run to the bathroom multiple times, so I starve myself all day, then eat something small and supposedly binding, only to end up in the bathroom 1/2 hour after eating. When the dr spoke to my husband after my colonoscopy today, he said he had found nothing, and prescribed me Librax, which he has prescribed before and has never worked for me. I was angry that he didn't speak to me, since I was out of sedation pretty quickly, and he had done an endoscopy on me a month ago and had spoken to me after that procedure. so, I have had about 5 episodes of diarrhea since returning home from the procedure and a call to the doctor's office informed me that he is out of town until Wednesday. Such is life I guess. I jokingly told my husband he's going to need to put me on suicide watch if they don't find anything wrong and though I would never, ever take my life, I am at the lowest I have been in a long time right now. I have been crying on and off since I came out of sedation bc I dreamt while I was under that the doctor told me that they had found nothing and I was just going to have to live with it. It was so real I had to ask the nurse if he had spoken to me when I was still out of it. She said no bc he was doing another procedure. I feel like I need some kind of solution other than what we have tried in the past. A friend of mine has colitis and takes Bentyl for flare ups...has anyone out there tried that? I was on the Atkins diet before I got married and that worked wonders for my IBS, although I'm aware that it is a very unhealthy diet, I lost weight and was regular for the first time in 8 years. I didn't feel well at all while doing it (tired, sluggish, irritable) but it helped with the IBS. I am willing to try anything at this point, so any suggestions (other than prescription drugs right now) would be great. Thanks!


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## jadjac (Jun 4, 2012)

I was just recently diagnosed with IBS because - you guessed it - every single test that I have had done over the past THREE years has come back saying that I am perfectly healthy. Blah. I am still in the experimenting stage myself, but I have found the book entitled "Eating for IBS" to be quite helpful to me. The guidelines are clearly laid out and I feel like it is easy to follow the eating suggestions. I am seeing a chiropractor for adjustments a couple of times per week, I have started researching and doing yoga poses to help with digestion and I am taking a probiotic called TuZen - I think its distinguishing factor is that it increases the population of good bacteria (Lp229v) in the intestines. I also am trying really hard to keep something in my tummy at all times - I carry saltines, rice crackers and arrowroot cookies with me, and always have a bottle of water to help keep my stomach from getting empty. This has been the hardest thing to implement because I am a busy mom to four kids and I have fallen into the habit of not eating if I am going to be leaving the house. I try to drink a glass of Metamucil every morning, but it doesn't happen as often as I'd like.Those are my suggestions of what seems to be working okay for me so far. I hope that you find something that works soon! Feeling crappy all the time really sucks.


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## jay21 (Jun 15, 2012)

jadjac said:


> I was just recently diagnosed with IBS because - you guessed it - every single test that I have had done over the past THREE years has come back saying that I am perfectly healthy. Blah. I am still in the experimenting stage myself, but I have found the book entitled "Eating for IBS" to be quite helpful to me. The guidelines are clearly laid out and I feel like it is easy to follow the eating suggestions. I am seeing a chiropractor for adjustments a couple of times per week, I have started researching and doing yoga poses to help with digestion and I am taking a probiotic called TuZen - I think its distinguishing factor is that it increases the population of good bacteria (Lp229v) in the intestines. I also am trying really hard to keep something in my tummy at all times - I carry saltines, rice crackers and arrowroot cookies with me, and always have a bottle of water to help keep my stomach from getting empty. This has been the hardest thing to implement because I am a busy mom to four kids and I have fallen into the habit of not eating if I am going to be leaving the house. I try to drink a glass of Metamucil every morning, but it doesn't happen as often as I'd like.Those are my suggestions of what seems to be working okay for me so far. I hope that you find something that works soon! Feeling crappy all the time really sucks. thanks jadjac! i used to do the metamucil, but it's have not done it in years. they have better tasting, stuff with no taste now, right? it was always the taste and texture that kept me from doing it. i never thought about always having food in my belly bc it tends to have the opposite effect on me if there's anything in my stomach...at least it's been that way for the past month. i never had the urgency and no warning signs before with the diarrhea. i used to have enough time to worry about where the bathroom is and gauge if i'm going to have to use the bathroom or if i could get away with not using it. now there is no choice at all. that is really what the issue is for me. i could handle it if i knew i would have a couple of mins to make a decision...i don't like when i have zero control over the situation.


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## jadjac (Jun 4, 2012)

Yes, I drink the Pink Lemonade Metamucil right now, though I am just using it up, then will find something without artificial sweeteners once it is all gone. Artificial sweeteners are on the "bad for IBS" list that I am following. LOL


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