# A little advice



## charliecat88 (Mar 14, 2011)

I'm 22, a student at uni and have always ever since I can remember had a strange stomach!! When I was 13/14 I started having really severe cramps and Diarrhoea after my breakfast every morning. I tried different cereal and it didn't help. So I tried changing milk. My parents always got blue top, full fat milk. I changed to semi skimmed and the pain went for about a year. Started again so I changed to red top, full skimmed milk. And am still on that now. Luckily that helped. Then I started having troubles with bread. Again, eating it caused cramps and Diarrhoea. I tried different breads but gave up in the end and haven't eaten bread since I was 15. I would assume that it is celiacs like my dad suffers from but even the bread he has, gluten free, upset me. However, pasta has no effect at all. About a year ago I got a 48 hour stomach bug, and ever since my stomach hasn't settled down again. I get pain every day, usually after eating, which has meant I have lost about 2 stone in weight as I put off eating (I'm not very good with pain). In a normal day I get pain fro about 2 hours, pain I can deal with if I just sit for a while and drink a herbal tea. Worst case scenario, I get really bad cramps, can hear really loud bubbling noises in my stomach and end up sitting on the toilet with really bad diarrhoea, sickness, fainting, sweating, high temperature. This lasts, as I said about an hour in the toilet then afterwards it feels like I have pulled my muscles and I need a hot water bottle on and off for a few days. The severe case doesn't happen as often as it used to, it happens about once every 6 weeks. 6 months ago, it was happening about twice a week. I started taking aloe vera juice twice a day and this has seemed to settle the diarrhoea and sickness aspect, cutting it down a lot. The little pains though are just as annoying. I won't eat out in case I get the pains and end up in the toilet, I eat very little which I suppose in the long run isn't helping.I want to go to the Doctors but (and I know this will sound ridiculous) I am petrified of needles and blood and I know full well I will have to have a blood test or two to get a diagnosis. And also the stress of going to have that done will no doubt set off another batch of cramps and diarrhoea. Does anyone suffer the same of similar problems to me, if so I'd love to hear from you. I know most of you will say go to the Doctors and believe me, I am getting close to it. In fact, I might go home from Uni for a week and get it over and done with. But in all seriousness, any advice would be gratefully recieved.


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## em_t (Jun 8, 2010)

If you don't have any adverse reaction from eating pasta then you don't have Coeliac's disease, it could be that you have a reaction to the yeast in bread (I think that's what sets me off) because wheaten bread (traditional Irish bread) doesn't set me off. The reason why skimmed milk probably doesn't set off the cramps is because its low fat - for diarrhoea you are best eating low fat foods. As for going to the doctor's, don't put it off, the nurses are great at taking blood - if possible ask for the oldest nurse because they are by far the best at taking blood, literally just a scratch. They'll probably take only one or two max sets of bloods and its better knowing that you definitely have IBS as opposed to something more serious. You could also ask your doctor to refer you to a dietician who could give you advice on diet and would tell you what sort of foods to avoid the attacks of cramps and diarrhoea.


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