# IBS/Anxiety Ruining My Life



## Aneurin Starr (Mar 27, 2015)

Hi, sorry for my long story but I really need help. I'm new to this website and I am really needing support from others who get what I'm going through. I'm 16 (17 in a couple months), I live in a not heavily populated province of Canada and I've been looking for a support group for IBS in my area with no results. There's a Crohn's and colitis group in my city but they won't take someone with IBS. I was planning on signing up for a camp for children and teens with IBD called Camp Got2Go but they rejected me too. It makes me feel really left out and like they're saying my illness isn't important enough to get help. I'm struggling with school really badly, too, I had to drop out of high school last semester because I wasn't able to be in classes and got too far behind. I tried to go back this semester but it was still too hard for me to go back so I got stuck doing online classes, which are way harder to do and are causing me most of my stress. Half the time I'm still feeling sick, like I'm going to throw up, and the other half I'm extremely uncomfortable, and I'm not sure why I'm uncomfortable. It might be anxiety but I'm not sure. My anxiety has gotten really bad since I got diagnosed, and it's like I can't do anything without almost having a panic attack. It's almost worse to be uncomfortable because it ruins my focus. I can't do anything for very long at all without getting up and pacing. The doctors that I go to have given up on me, and the closest GI doctor is a seven hour drive away. I can't move up to regular care from pediatrics until my birthday in a couple of months, and then I'll be on a wait list for more doctors for months again, and I'm not looking forward to that. I need to be seen regularly, and I know that, but the healthcare system where I live is horrible. Canadian healthcare may be free but it has not helped me at all. I hope the doctors I get when I move up to adult care will be better, so they at least they won't just tell me to live with it and get used to being in pain all of the time. My doctors that I have now tried lots of antidepressants which didn't touch my pain at all, but they never tried any of the drugs that are listed to help with IBS. I got the drug buscopan over the counter, which has helped my pain quite a bit, but I'm not supposed to take it everyday, just as needed. My illness has taken over my life, it took everything from me including my education. I barely leave my house and no one from school sees me anymore. It's made me depressed but I'm scared of going back on the antidepressants. I'm going to try the FODMAP diet soon to see if that helps but otherwise I'm not sure what else there is to do, since I tried peppermint oil with no changes AND my doctors don't seem to think any pill will help me.

I just feel really alone and it feels like nothing will ever get better. It feels like my life is over, like I'll never amount to anything in my life or do anything. My doctors have told me I'm hopeless and I believe them. I hope some of you who see this will be able to talk to me, as I think it would really help to talk to some people who understand what it's like to go through having IBS.


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## AlanZ (Mar 7, 2015)

Aneurin, above and beyond anything else you need to improve your mental well being. Believe me I know how much easier that is to say than it is to do but it's critical to managing this condition. Anxiety and stress just make it worse, and that's not where you want to be.

I didn't really get mine until I was in my 20's and I feel terrible for you and others here who suffer with it in your teens, but your life is far from over. It's barely begun. Your healthcare situation sounds terrible, so just do what you can with it and hope for the best there. Start experimenting with your diet, cutting things out and slowly adding things back in to see if you can get a handle on what might be safe foods for you. Take things from there.

I'm also going to suggest you search online for stress management techniques. Unless you deal with the stress and anxiety better you will find it very difficult to get a handle on your condition.


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