Hello,
I am a 31 year old, mum of 2 young boys (aged 5 + 6).
I have had stomach issues since I was a teenager. The only time I haven't suffered is through both pregnancies.
Recently I just have no let up from my symptoms. I suffer loose bowels and I can go between 8 and 10 times before leaving the house to take my boys to school. I experience a lot of stomach pain. I get nauseated. I take buscopan everyday and also rely on loperimide.
I do suffer with chronic anxiety too. This I know does not help.
I just can't stand the constant stomach issues. I am so desperately unhappy. I have no social life at all. I can't even cope taking my children out. My diet is becoming more and more limited. I avoid so many foods and most days sit wishing I didn't have to eat. I stay home most of the time. Getting the boys to and from school is so hard every day. I feel so alone with this and if it wasn't for my boys, I wouldn't go on anymore.
Sorry for the long post.
So sorry to hear you're having such an awful time. I know how you feel - a couple of years ago I had reached the point of not wanting to leave the house in case I needed the loo urgently. If I had to go out, I simply wouldn't eat or drink for several hours before leaving home. After being diagnosed with IBS, and going on the Low FODMAP diet I can only say my life has been transformed. I still get the ocassional flare up but 90%+ of the time I can control and manage my symptoms. I don't find the diet at all restrictive, in fact apart from mushrooms I can find low Fodmap substitutes for pretty much everything I used to eat. Immodium is also very helpful to me during flare ups.
Have you discussed your symptoms with your GP? If not, I really would urge you to do so because it is possible to overcome and manage many of the horrible effects of IBS.
Take care, don't despair because there is light at the end of the tunnel, and do let us know how you are getting on.
Jan
Hi Kitkat,
I can understand your problem. In Jan 2017, i was facing exactly same issue. I felt very uncomfortable to move out for my work. Immodium really helped.
But i would ask you to meet Dr. before you take any medication by your own. Try to diagnose the problem.
Meanwhile foods to avoid is Dairy, alchohol, nuts, cereals, uncooked veggies, gaseous / sugary drinks.
Add more probiotic foods like yogurt after your breakfast and lunch, cocunut drink etc.
all the best
Thank you so much for your replies. I have seen my doc regularly over the last few years, and he's got to the stage where he doesn't feel he can do anymore to help.
I am intolerant to milk, so I don't have much dairy at all. I can't eat onion or spices, I struggle with bread and can't eat anything fried or fatty. My list of avoid foods is so long. There's hardly anything I feel I can safely eat. I do feel so very low. I hate feeling trapped by it all the time.
Ask your doctor for anxiety medication and ask to be referred to a dietician with expertise in the Low Fodmap Diet. I have stress related IBS with no food triggers. My symptoms improved after my diagnosis and only appear if I am anxious. Buscopan and Nurofen help me. I am going through a flare up just now because my mum is in hospital due to infections. Beforehand, I had had a good period of remission.
Have you tried the Free from range in the shops? You should be able to find lactose free products. Sourdough bread has probiotic properties and is very good for IBS. Some IBS patients find this very helpful. Have you tried going gluten free?
If you already tried many Dr. you should start working with Naturopath, like i did. it is effective with strict diet and i got cured. But still i am asked to go on diet with a list to recover my stomach.
Hey, I too am in exactly the same situation as you, only I have a 2yr old at home with me! Fortunately my partner works self employed so I'm able to call
Him back for school runs! I don't have any advice to offer as I'm too trying different things o hopefully help improve my situation, just to let you know you're not alone and we're here to listen and help you.xx
Thank you for your replies.
I have made an appointment with my doc. Can you believe the first available app was 5th may! It's mad. But I will try to get together what I want to say etc.
I have tried free from range. I find it very expensive and often find it's not terribly nice. I do make a lot of my own cakes and biscuits and my son too is milk intolerant. We are intolerant to the milk protein, so can't have to lactose free stuff, as it still has the protein in it.
I completely sympathise with you. I am having a very painful flare up right now. Anxiety makes it much worse. Then it becomes a viscious circle.... I take Lorazepan (Ativan) when it gets bad, I find it calms everything down. Ask your GP if they can give you anti anxiety meds and see if they help. I have had this since I was 29 and I'm 66 now. It's very hard to live with soemtimes but there are solutions. Let us know what happens.
You could always take a cancellation appointment if one becomes available to avoid waiting so long. The other possibility is to ask to be referred to an IBS clinic if your doctor can't do any more for you. These clinics will tailor treatment to you and will be able to spend more time discussing your symptoms. They may be able give you a solution to your food intolerances since what you have tried hasn't worke.
Kit kat tried to reply to you but posted in the wrong discussion I think! Anyway....was interested in your story and thought it significant you were better during pregnancy. Have you ever had an endoscopy/gastroscopy?? Just wondered how your diagnosis of ibs came about?
I have had many tests over the years. I had camera down throat in 2006, which showed hiatus hernia. I've had many blood tests. The doc said ibs. It is so horrid. I'm really struggling at the moment. I also get a lot of mucous, sometimes it is all I pass. I am very worried but doc assures me it's ibs and I need to reduce my stress!
Kit Kat
You can try a different way to dry you out, it is used in the Third World when people suffer same
Mix 1 tbs Sugar, with 1tspoon salt, mix in a medium/large glass of water and this will replenish the electrolyts and the salt you have lost.
Good Luck
Hi, Probiotics, prebiotics, have you heard of Kefir, if not could be worth checking out, and white sourdough bread, these things may sound trivial but have worked wonders for me, I've tried many things for IBS symptoms but I think these have been by far the greatest benefit.
ok, I have had similar issues. I have auto immune disease which can affect the gut and for reasons I personally don't understand it often improves during pregnancy. That's why I asked. I've had scans inside and out and blood tests an whatever which showed zero. Was finally diagnosed about 13 years ago after lifetime of suffering.
I feel the same way as you. I don't have kids but something I wish I didn't have to eat or stomach and nobody understand me. Last time a Friend told me that I should go on Antidepressed because of my anxiety. But you know what just know that you are not alone. There are so many people here and I read their story. It helps me. I really hope you keep writing and maybe you can find someone with a better diet. What things make you sick?
Thank you for your reply. It really is a horrid thing to suffer with. I find many things can make me feel bad. Anxiety being a top culprit. I can't eat lots of foods too such as onions, garlic, spices, fried foods, anything oily, I have to be careful with bread. It's so miserable. I feel my diet is so limited and if I have anything different, I suffer for it. I just wish there was a tablet we could take and it would make it all better. For me it just never seems to go away xx
It sounds like foods high in Fodmaps are your triggers. Onions, garlic, mushrooms, spicy foods, and anything other than root vegetables are high in Fodmaps and could be the culprit. You can substitute onions with chives, the green part of leeks or the green part of spring onions. Garlic infused oil is a good substitute for garlic. Avoid vegetables such as asparagus and mushrooms and limit intake of things like cauliflour and broccoli. You can oven bake or dry fry most foods you would normally fry and check all ingredients in purchased products - some supermarket own brands of tomato ketchup contain lots of onion!!!
i'm fortunate that I'm not lactose or dairy intolerant but I can only tolerate very small amounts of gluten. I agree some GF products are expensive but there are many "normal foods" that are GF and low in Fodmaps. You can now get GF sausages, fish and fishfingers, quiches and pies that are no more expensive. So really you can have a very varied diet. I would recommend looking at the Low Fodmap diet. It doesn't work for everyone but it's really worth trying.
Jan
Hi, You should check out the FODMAP diet, it lists foods that may be okay to eat and foods likely to give you problems, as you say onions and garlic can't eat, they are listed as the worst possible foods to eat, judging by myself the fodmap diet is pretty much about right, I have a list of foods I don't eat, this after much trial and error, I think with IBS knowledge is power, my biggest benefit came when I started eating white sourdough bread.