# Thank God I'm not the only one.



## krystalzip (Mar 5, 2008)

Hello everyone,My name is Krystal, and I am 25, almost 26 years old. My Great Grandmother was diagnosed with Spastic Colin, as was my mother (who still battles it every single day).This is a little weird for me to talk about so.. bare with me, here it goes. When I was growing up, my grandparents took me to my pediatrician. The complaint? I didn't go poo often enough. I do not recall ever noticing a problem, but apparently they did. The doctor said that I held it for so long, I had removed the ability for me to know when to go, and to make me sit on the toilet for a half hour after every meal, and feed me tons of fiber.So until I was about 10 years old, I drank, ate, and swallowed fiber, and sat on the toilet for a half hour playing my game boy waiting for the nothing to happen after every meal. Who ever would have thought I'd end up where I am now, to where I was then.When I was between 12 and 13 years old, something suddenly changed. It started when we would go out to eat at a restaurant. After eating, we would come home, and I would have diarrhea. It wasn't horrible, as in it was only after eating out, didn't hurt terribly, but it would happen. So, I just stopped eating out... ever. The problem went away, literally, for several years.It resurfaced again when I was about 17, 18 years old in full force (I had very minor episodes before, but.. very minor and very infrequent). SEVERE abdominal pain, wasn't sure if it was a "spell" (as my Mom and I call them) or if I was going to throw up. I would get severely dehydrated, didn't want to eat, it was like having the flu every other day.Then one day it happened. I was 20 years old, working for a bill collection agency (extremely high stress). I had just eaten dinner, and a phone call came in. Before I even got the customer's billing ID, I had hung up on them and ran to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the pain was there, but the official spell was not. The pain was so strong, that I got dizzy and fell to the floor. I woke up apparently just a few minutes later with my boss and some other people standing over me, broken into a cold sweat, chills, and a really bad headache. They had called an ambulance.That's when I wanted help. I went to my PCP, who told me that "I ate bad chicken". But, referred me to a gastrointestinal doctor anyway, who I saw the next week. We ran the colonoscopy, endoscopy, upper and lower GI, urine tests, blood tests, went off dairy, fried, and spices, yea, I did all that. He tried me on rubinal (muscle relaxer) and nexium which made life worse. He tried some little yellow pill I was suppose to put under my tongue the minute I felt pain (but never worked), they tried all kinds of things, NONE of which worked. Oh yea, not to mention the sonograms, x-ray's, and ct-scans all of which showed nothing.He finally diagnosed me with IBS (but never specified a type, so until I saw this page I never knew there were types!). I was told I could do nothing about it.A year later, I started having recurring migraines. I went to a pain specialist who diagnosed me with fibromyalga (which I don't necessarily agree with but besides the point). She wanted me to go to a therapist, so finally, I decided maybe that was a good idea. I also had noticed some anxiety and occasional depression issues, so why not.So I did the talk therapy, for quite some time. I tried to continue the things I enjoy (like camping, hunting, fishing), but without a near by bathroom and the knowledge that if I need help someone is around.. it's almost impossible. Apparently, the pain gets so strong that I actually go into shock, which is what causes my cold sweats, chills, dizziness, and having me pass out. I still horse back ride, but that's because the barn has three bathrooms. I go to work, but it's not easy at all, having to ask someone else to babysit our servers while I have a "spell", or when I call in sick and they ask what I have I lie and say the flu (which stopped working when I said flu once or more a week, and I ran out of PTO days).I asked my doctor if he could send me to a nutrionalist to teach me how to eat properly within the guidelines he provided (no dairy, no caffeine, no pain killers which sucked when you also have migranes, no spices, no fried...), but I was told to just figure it out (and of course I never did).I don't care what anyone says. The pain is real, the problem is real, the FEAR of always being sick, or someone finding out is REAL, it's all real. I get depressed about it (which I am at the moment since I had spells all night last night, and have a 10 hour shift tonight), but I wish I could find a real answer.Thanks for listening, best to you all!


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