Hi everyone. I am female and have had ibs since I was 15-16 years old, I am now 35. I get diarrea and bloating mainly but sometimes can get constipation. If I lift something too heavy I feel like I have \"strained\" my stomach and the pain starts. Sometimes I think it is related to food. I have fainted every now and then, sometimes 8-10 months apart since the age of 15. About a month ago I woke in the night with severe pain and usual pattern, I get to the loo but have trouble passing anything. I start to sweat loads, go hot and cold, vision starts to go and next thing I come round on the floor. I get up shaky and cold needing to go to the loo. Last time I hit my head on the sink which scared me but I was lucky that my husband was home at the time. Last night I woke (1.30am) with severe pain, went to the loo, managed to pass something, pain started, hadn't woke my husband so knew i had to get to the bedroom to get help. He is not sure if I fainted. I only remember needing to get to the bedroom and next thing being aware that my head was on the doorstep and my husband asking what I needed, as in medicine/help. I have medicine called Viadil Forte that I use (It relaxes stomach) but I am not getting the warning that I used to so am not always able to use it before I pass out. Some doctors say oh its ibs, another has said no definetely not and yet another says it is the pain that causes me to faint not ibs. Does anyone else pass out with ibs? Please help me, it gets me down so much.
So 'Viadil Forte' is that Papaverine? Where are you getting this from, off a GP? 
I get it in chile from a pharmacy
Oh I see, you are a long way away You need to see a real Doctor soon, you need a Ultrasound (or ideally a CT / MRI scan) to have a look at whats going on in there :?
I am hoping to see one tomorrow. still getting pain. bad night last night and its been on and off today.
Yes please see your Doctor, Im concerned that you are really quite ill, your abdomen really does need a thorough going over to exclude any other cause / s for your condition :? Do please tell us how you get on
The dr advised me to try taking the viadil forte more often until the ibs settles again. So I am going to try that for now. I did not realise that I was able to take it 3-5 times a day. I had only been using it when I was close to fainting.
Lets hope itll all sort itself out :?
Ok and thanks for your comments. It's nice to think someone took the time to read about my problem and gave me some advice to try and help me.
Hi
visited my doctor today and have now started the process of eliminating other gut problems before he will diagnose IBS - however your fainting symptoms are exactly like the attacks I started getting 18 months ago and put down to being associated with my menstrual cycle as it always happened two weeks before my period. Having read a bit more about IBS today I note that a lot of women can link the two together so I may be correct in my thinking except it was a symptom of IBS not my cycle. I agree it is very scary and I now make sure I am lying on the floor before I faint, I also find that taking some pain killers and a heat pad on my stomach make it go away a lot faster. I figure this is just a part of managing our particular symptoms but I hope the fact that I faint with the pain too makes you feel a bit better about it. If I find out more during diagnosis I will try to get back to you. Regards K
Hi K
I had not been on this site for a while. I am so glad to have finally found someone else who faints. Sorry for you though. It is horrible. Also I found out since posting that I am pregnant. Now 14 weeks. Suffered terribly with ibs to start with but finally it is starting to improve now. Have not fainted for a while, was close a couple of times early in the pregnancy though with the usual ibs symptoms.
I have started also using a heat pad or a hot water bottle to help with the pain.
Look forward to hearing from you. G
yES i BLACK OUT PAIN SO BAD YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE DYING, PUTTING IT MILDLY.
Hi. I fainted for the first time with the pain, a couple of days ago. I banged my head on the radiator and was knocked unconscious. I've had diagnosed IBS for 17 years and I am very careful with my diet. I have no idea why it was so severe this time. I am still ina lot of pain 3 days later and have no idea what to do or what to take. I'm frightened to eat. I can't work or leave the house. I ended up in hospital due to the bang on the head but they just gave me pain killers. All of a sudden, something that I thought I had under control, is out of control. No warning, just incredible pain. I'm quite relieved to know other people are also experiencing this.
peppermint really helps me stopmy flareups but I also do yoga and live a relaxed lifestyle as I've realized anxiety triggers my flareups too
I have experienced the same symptoms as you describe many times before. I have had IBS for 28 years, I have fainted several times and almost fainted many times. It can be quite dangerous when fainting as your head makes contact with the walls or floor.
For me the bowel pain becomes very extreme to the point where I lose blood pressure from the brain, feel very dizzy in the head, and often hot/cold temp diarrea and an urgency to expell all my bowel contents. I find that lowering your head as low as possible helps, but this is difficult when on the toilet.
My pain almost always comes at night and wakes me, and get more severe. When I am woken, I immediately take two peppermint pills. They take at least 15 minutes to dissolve internally and if the pain develops slower than the dissolving pills, the pain usually dissipates. Last night I had an IBS attack which was very severe and from the time on being awoken to me fainting was just 10 minutes. 10 minutes of agony ! My wife discovered my on the bathroom floor after being awoken by a noise. I find peppermint tablets help a lot and they would probaby help more if I took them regularly and before meals - rather than when I am in severe pain.
I always try to remember the foods that I ate just prior to the attack and there is a trend. For me it is fatty meats. Fatty meats are found in many products including pizzas, poor quality sausages, lamb, fatty steak, etc. I still eat meat but am very selective and careful about what I eat and I always remove the fatty sections of the meat. Sometimes ice-cream and chocolate - coupled with fatty meat - make things worse. Good foods for me are seafood, chicken and bananas. If your symptoms are severe, I would also avoid cheese, chocolate and some fatty dairy products, ice cream, etc.
Stress is a major factor - I find when I am not stressed, my body will tolerate a wider range of foods and when I am more stressed, the reverse is true.
I also have diverticulitis, which I believe can result in internal bowel infections from rotting food being stuck in the bowel "pockets". I have used prescription antibiotics in the past to clear these infections and I find my IBS is more severe during "blocks of time" - probably when there are internal infections.
There are some good books written on IBS and you can find the names of many herbs which can help. Peppermint tea taken regularly will also help.
I hope this helps.
I'm like another person in this thread. I'm so sorry you are going through this but I'm happy I'm not the only one! I have been to doc's, they just say I'm constipated. I have done the steps to help constipation like eating a salad every day, eating a wheat bran cereal, eat 5 prunes a day, drink 64 oz of water a day. I have normal bm every morning. But then, at night... I get this cramping, pinching, horrible feeling in my gut, feeling like I don't know which end it's going to come out. So sitting on the loo, I then have to breath slow and steady and hold onto anything I can, we have a mounted towel bar on our wall next to the toilet so I hang onto that to get ready, then the cramping gets worse, some times my eyesight gets dark as if I'm about to pass out from the excruciating pain in my gut, then I tart sweating. Cold sweats. Or you feel your going to die. Literally feels as if your guts are being ripped out of your stomach slowly. I'm pregnant now, so this can really be bad. It usually take 30 mins for me to finally pass the smallest amount of bm that must be causing this suffering pain. I do have to get up tho.. take my time, walk around till another cramp happens then I run back to the bathroom. But once I get the tiny bm out I'm fine. I have to add... someone on here mentioned peppermint for the cramping. I was starting an episode of cramping last night and I took that advice, bought peppermint tea with real peppermint oil in it and the soft peppermint candies with peppermint oil in them, and Praise The Lord, IT WORKED!!! After eating and drinking the peppermint, the cramping completely diminished and no running to the bathroom in the night! Thankyou for the valuable advice! I love you!
Hi I have been experiencing the same symptoms since being about 10 years old. Now at age 32 my doctor thinks it is neurological. I must the hot and cold temperatures brings on a deluge of sweating and shaking all because of the pain. If I try stand I always faint. I am going to buy peppermint because the pain is so severe. I think the sweating, extreme temperature changes, shaking and fainting reveal some traumatic spasms occurring in the gut. I find inducing vomiting in between bowel passing has helped. It leaves me feeling quite fatigued. Strange illness that doctors struggle to understand.
Wow, so glad i have read your posts! This happened to me last night again, got woke up with unbearable abdominal pain, thought i needed the toilet then woke up dazed and confused, face down. This is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened over the past few years and you all descibe it to a tee. I seem to relate it to having eaten carbs, bread, rice, pasta or dumpling etc.
Have you been checked for POTS
it's a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.
basically the system does a reboot, passing out or almost passing out diarrhea vomiting sometimes dilated eyes. Triggered by menstruation, the flu, dehydration or becoming overheated.
many people who have this often have headaches, severe exhaustion, achiness in your neck and shoulders diarrhea or constipation as blood flow doesn't work like it should. fluctuating blood pressure and heart rate too.
nasty stuff… That doctors are often too eager to push medicine on each symptom
I have these same issues and found no medical reason but IBS but it didn't explain everything. I looked up IBS with Vasovagal nerve and it covered all of my symptoms. I hope you find an explanation!
Cheers!
Mollie