# is it ibs or is it a stomach flu?u



## MattC1999 (Mar 22, 2016)

I'm 16 and male.

I have only ever been like this one other time before when i had diarrhea/constipation, and all the other symptoms of IBS-A including bad gas and bloating. These symptoms had only started to appear a week after i had moved into my new house and had had a large amount of takeaway food that night as a sort of treat after all the stress of moving. The day after i was constipated and was finding it very hard to go. I however ignored this and assumed it would just go away after a while if i drank enough etc and i went back to my usual crappy diet. Symptoms soon got alot worse and i had constipation/diarrhea, stomach cramps, gas everything. After a few days i visited the doctors who told me it was either ibs or a bout of stomach flu and that i should watch my diet, get more fiber (even though i had diarrhea aswell as constipation) and come back if these symptoms continued for another 4 weeks. My symptoms soon went away a few days after and i was back to my normal self, i could eat pizza, chinese or any type of fast food without any problems and everything was back to normal. i assumed this was just a bout of gastroenteritis and not ibs like i had thought.

That is until last week. I was eating a lot of fast food, this was due to being out with friends and therefore somewhere like McDonalds or KFC is an obvious place to go. I must have gone atleast 2-3 times in a week but was also eating very unhealthily at home, crisps, chocolates, sweets basically anything that ibs sufferers should avoid but i assumed I was not one. After a few days, the same thing happened, constipation, ignoring it and continuing to eat a poor diet. I assumed this would pass, but also tried to make an effort to eat more fibre, drink more and eat a lot of healthy foods. At the weekend of last week, a few of my friends came round mine for the night and naturally we were all eating takeaway pizza, chocolates, pepsi. I tried not to eat as much but i kept going, i eat a lot of fast foods as I am naturally a healthy weight and for some reason never seem to put on any weight. A few hours after the food, i ran to the bathroom and had quite possibly one of the worst bouts of diarrhea id ever had, it was pure liquid and just kept going. I was also having abdominal pains, bloating, dizziness (experiencing right now), numbness and nausea as well as the Diarrhea.

These symptoms have been with me since and are still here at the time of me writing this. Basically i want to know if i do have ibs, or if it is just another bout of stomach flu caused by eating a dodgy pizza? i have all the symptoms of gastroenteritis including chills, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea (no constipation this time) and headaches. For the past two nights i have been waking up in the middle of the nights with d attacks, stomach pain and bloating forcing me to run to the bathroom at 1am, 5am and again at 6.30am

is it normal to be woken up with gas, bloating and diarrhea? I've also not been able to eat any sort of food without having diarrhea? this includes foods like bananas, apples, toast and even drinking water aswell as IBS triggers like dairy. Is this symptomatic of an IBS D flare up or is it more likely to be stomach flu? I am worried that i have IBS and want to know whether or not this is a stomach flu (as they can last for upto ten days) or not.

This is my first ever post on this forum so i'm sorry if I've rambled or everything is too wordy, i just want to get an idea of what exactly is happening with me as i am a natural worrier when it comes to being ill.

edit, i am also under a lot of stress at school due to upcoming exams, coursework hand in dates etc, could this add to IBS if it is that?


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