# Why is this happening?



## bumbly (Dec 5, 2010)

I am a 26 year old woman, I was diagnosed with IBS when I was about 15, before that my doctor was sure I had a stomach ulcer, I was on pill after pill until he realized nothing was helping and decided that what I had was incurable, he handed me a brochure titled, "How to deal with IBS" and showed me the door. Growing up, my family didnt understand what I was going through at all, my Mom constantly tried to shove food down my throat at first, convinced she would find the one meal that would not make me sick. After several trips to the hospital from severe pain I decided I would not take her advice anymore and after a handful of arguments about how I would not eat her meals, she "washed her hands" of me and my stomach pains. She assumed I was being an argumentive teenager, refusing anything she offered in spite of her, as if I was choosing to rebel against her help, she didnt understand the pain and uncomfort I felt. I learned after a couple years that NOT eating was the best medicine, the emptier I felt- the better. A school councilor once called my Mother, concerned I may have an eating dissorder, my mom responded by telling her that she was wrong and that I had always been slim- My mother had no idea I just wasnt eating. This was easy as a teenager, I was busy with friends and weekend parties, and alcohol seemed to actually numb most of the pain, the thought of eating was the last thing on my mind back then and this was my way of coping. But once I grew up to a stage in life where I wanted a routine, healthy life style, I began to struggle all over again. A struggle to constantly avoid eating so I could fit into my clothes each day, I tried eating healthy, that didnt help any of the gas, bloating or uncomfortable pains. I tried giving up and eating whatever the **** I felt like, I was starving myself a month after that because I gained so much AIR, WATER and weight that I went up 4 sizes. Most of my "weight" feels like swelling and air, except my thighs have recently began to take on the water weight, a 26" waist with giant treetrunk thighs, trying to find a pair of jeans made for a person of my size is impossible. Then one day my periods stopped, they were always so regular and then Poof! Gone! It's been 3 years, not ONE SINGLE period. I wont even get into the ins and outs of the doctor appointments I have been to, it's rediculous the amount of effort I have put into trying to figure out what is wrong with my body from General Practitioner Doctors to Chinese and naturopathic docs, to accupuncture to even going to a psychiatrist...etc, etc.. and NOTHING. No answers!I am bloated all the time and now on top of it I have the typical hormonal problems of a menapausal woman, yet I am still in my twenties. I don't know why this is all happening to me and to this day, - no one understands it or can help me. I was speaking to my father on the phone the other night and he told me he always thought I was "faking" the stomach pains for attention, all my life- This is the kind of support I have? I eat steamed vegetables and cooked fruit, and follow a very strict balanced, healthy, simple diet, it doesnt help anything. I excersise regularily through out the week and although it feels good, nothing really changes. I have IBS, an eating disorder and amenorrhea (no periods), I'm constantly bloated, in pain and on the toilet, I can't go out and enjoy a dinner with friends and dressing up to go out is just torture, like a taunting bully, reminding me how clothes don't fit my stomach that looks like it's 7 months pregnant. I am tired of trying to find an answer, yet obsessed with not giving up. I'm alone, with no support from anyone and with doctors that look at me like I'm from another planet or who see it the same way my wonderful supportive father does, like I seriously LOVE waisting my time in their waiting rooms for 2 hours just for 8 minutes of their attention. Why is this happening to so many of us? What is IBS caused by REALLY? What have I done to deserve this terrible existence in life?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If you aren't eating regularly or enough (or your body fat % is too low) that can make periods stop. The body is designed to detect times of famine so it can turn off reproduction until there is enough food around to support a pregnancy.Are you willing to do anything for the IBS that involves something other than diet only, or is diet the only treatment you will try.There are a number of medications and herbs that at least for some people reduce the IBS symptoms. Often we react to stimuli other than which food we ate (and it can be the stomach telling the rest of the GI tract that you ate).If you seem to react to all meals eating much more frequently but in small amounts (so 6 mini meals a day of 300 calories each) is usually better than waiting as long as possible to eat. The longer you wait to eat the more the GI tract reacts to the meal and the more that meal will bother you no matter which foods are in it.


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## Reverie (Mar 14, 2011)

Hi, i am sad to hear about your experience with IBS. It is very similar to mine as i am also in my 20s. My family has not been supportive and does not understand. I do not share this problem with them except letting them know i do have a problem and i am unable to do things i use to do. But all they can see is me being irresposible and not wanting to do anything good with my life.I also had a period where i didn't know what was happening, and the instant thought of stomach problems was to link it with food. I had a time where i hardly ate because of the fear of what it may do, but fighting the pain of hunger wasn't easy either. It all got too much and i let everything fall apart. Your case seems more severe than mine... but i am younger so i don't know where this may lead me. When i first got ill i remember reading how people have been with ibs for years and it made me scared... and i've had it for around 5 years now and i'm still scared to hear about how it may never go away, i may never be able to keep going on from where i left off.Please do see a specialist about your period. I have problems with my period as well. They don't seem to come on time and skip often but this has always happened before, however the days it lasts seems to be shrinking and i hope it doesn't stop completely like yours have.I have taken on eating a healthy diet. It doesn't completely help and there are days where no matter how good i am my stomach will just be bad, but i try to eat organic/fresh foods and nothing processed. So try making your own meals that are healthy. Meat is something i feel can irritate more easily. Also getting hungry, try to eat so that it is timed and you never get to the point where you are feeling hungry.I know it feels terrible. That's why i am here and i am sure many other users are also. None of us did anything to deserve something that feels this horrible. But we are not alone and other people feel this way also, and the doctors cannot find a cure or even understand this problem so the best we can do now is support each other because reaching for support from other people who don't understand is pointless.Please take care of yourself, don't change from the normal eating habits. Work hard to get them back to how it should be and find a way to make it work for you. It's what i'm doing now.


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