# I'm a 62 year old female and I have lived with IBS for the last 30 years



## Guest (Feb 7, 2001)

I'm a 62 year old very active female. I have lived with this conditionfor the last 30 years and through doctors, research and self diagnosis,I have learned many things regarding my symptoms, causes and ultimatelyhow to self medicate in order to live a normal life.Symptoms:Constipation, bloating, cramping and yeast breakouts on corners of mymouth, are my biggest problems.Causes:Stress, consumption of "any" antibiotics for treatment of non relatedailment (causes yeast breakouts and bloating), too much red meat and/orsoft breads (recommend toasted breads which break down in the systembetter) and too much spicy food (not a big problem for me but canirritate systems if other symptons have surfaced.Medication:I treat each symptom separately. There is no one "magic pill" to takecare of everything.Bloating and Constipation: I take a daily , or every other day, twotablespoons of plain Milk of Magnesia and drink plenty of water (veryimportant). This relieves my constipation as well as the gas/bloatingwith NO cramping, diarrhea or negative side effects and with normalresults. In other words, no fear of "not finding a bathroom in time".My social life for the past two years is back on line.Yeast breakouts:In my case, yeast breakouts around the corners of my mouth, around myeyes, etc. usually precede a colon attack caused by stress and orconsumption of antibiotics. If my constipation is under control (and italways is if I stay with the Milk of Magnesia), then I treat theseisolated symptoms by taking either doctor prescribed daily doses ofNystatin or Diflucan 200mg (my "quick fix" cure) for 3 days, 1 pill perday, until through taking antibiotics or the symptoms have gone away.On my eyes and corners or my mouth (or anywhere you might have thescaleness breakout, I use the RX Elocon cream or ointment O.1%. Thisworks almost immediately. It is safe to use around the eye and mouth.As far as the stress is concerned, we all have stress and that willnever go away. Everyone has to decide their best way to handle it,either by yoga, exercise, etc. Personally, and not to offend anyone, Ijust keep mine in prayer and let God handle it.Hope this helps someone. As stated, no one pill can take care of thisproblem, because this "problem" is made up of several differentproblems. So, each "thing" has to be treated individually. I havepassed my "regime" on to friends of mine who have secretly revealedtheir problem(s )to me. Let's face it, this isn't exactly a subject thegirls talk about over lunch, so you really can't broadcast openly.


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