men suffering diarrhea - page seven
The tale of...Wayne
I am now 33 and I can clearly remember my first "attack" at the age of 11. My mum and dad were taking me to see some family friends in the Lake District, England. During the journey I suffered excruciating stomach pains and had to make several stops. Eventually I thought I would be OK until we reached our destination, but I was wrong and ended up making a mess in my clothes. We arrived at our friends with me crying my eyes out and my mum and dad having to explain what happened.
Over the next few years I would go from spending days not going to the toilet followed by several hours sat in pain until everything had "come out", usually during the night. After several visits to the doctors, who eventually referred me to a specialist, who then carried out all the tests (a barium enema at the age of 14 isn't nice) I was diagnosed as having a nervous bowel.
For the next nearly 20 years I have suffered in pain and embarrassment, missed out on many of the enjoyable things I would have loved to have done (not being able to go on trips etc in case there is no toilet), and slowly got more and more depressed as the symptoms seem to get worse and more frequent. My symptoms seem to worsen if I know I'm going somewhere where there may be no toilet or if there is a long (more than half an hour, ha ha) journey involved, and in the mornings.
I used to drive a van around England for my job as a crane engineer and would have to carry my emergency kit (change of pants, bin bags, baby wipes, toilet roll) in the back in case I got stuck in traffic - it was like my own porta-loo which would be heaven to some people. Certain foods do trigger my symptoms off and I find I drink far too much cola which may not be helping. The problem is I have never actually been diagnosed with having IBS and so haven't looked into the various possibilities of causes.
Tomorrow I visit the doctor yet again, who bear in mind still hasn't diagnosed me with IBS, but has given me countless anti-spasmodic powders and anti-depressants. This time after reading all of the other stories on this site I will demand that he looks at the possibility that I have IBS; not that this will help as I have come to understand, but it will at least make me feel that for all these years it hasn't been a condition that is "in my head" and that I may be able to do something to ease the pain, one of which is posting my thoughts on this site and seeing that there are many other people out there like me, thank God.
E-mail Wayne: wrfarrar[at]hotmail.com
The tale of...Paul
Been having a read of some of the tales on this site, both good and bad. Doctor diagnosed me with IBS about five years ago, and yes I agree it is a curse. What between having diarrhea and not being able to go and the bloating, life can feel pretty awful.
Looking back I see the symptoms starting at about secondary school, cramps on the way to get the morning bus would mean running home (if I could run that is) just to spend 20 minutes in the loo.
Anyhow the symptoms have just gotten worse over the years, although not as bad as some I've read about, and I feel sorry (if that's the right word) for them, and realise that perhaps mine isn't so bad after all.
Just wanted to give some info though. Drinking "soft" water seems to help me, as does eating junk food (McDonald's etc), avoid pizza though. Some veg seems to set it off, and give gas and bloaty feeling, mainly cauliflower and broccoli. Mushrooms really do upset things, but these add reflux to the equation (something else I suffer with, perhaps they're linked), but reflux and bloating/gas seem to give palpitations and sweats.
Things usually settle a little if I holiday in a place I'm very comfortable with and with people I trust. In fact they settle so well sometimes that apart from cramps in the morning after coffee or tea or breakfast, about an hour after waking, they almost disappear.
I guess I must be one of the lucky ones to not suffer so bad with this curse, but we all suffer in varying degrees. My best wishes and thoughts to all.
E-mail Paul: user[at]laverp.freeserve.co.uk
The tale of...Peter
I can’t recall the first time I was affected by IBS. I recall the first time it affected my life though. I was around 14, at my friend's house, and my stomach was hurting quite badly and I had the feeling that I just needed to go to the toilet. I made my excuses and got back to my house as soon as I could. I know prior to that I'd had bad stomach aches and diarrhea for around two years on and off, nothing major or drastic, certainly didn’t have a major influence on my life.
Over the years though it all got worse and worse and started to affect my life. I think a lot of it is to do with the fact that as you get older your diet gets richer and more varied, whereas at 12 spaghetti hoops are quite exotic. As time goes on, foreign food and alcohol become staples.
I live in fear of pizza, it's my really bad trigger. Oh don’t get me wrong, if it was only pizza I would be a happy man and not have missed many concerts, events, social gatherings and days off work due to this. No, pizza is just the monster in the closet for me, but he has all his little deathly minions as well, and if I knew their names I could tick them off as I smite them. I don’t though, and that’s the problem.
Let me tell you about a typical IBS incident for me. Let's say midday I have a Big Mac, and around 6pm I will eat again. Around 8pm I will get the slightest little feeling in the back of my abdomen, and slowly that will grow. It may take till around 10pm or it may take till 2am, but the only way I can get rid of this (believe me the pain will be bad, but a funny pain) is by going to the toilet, and it is always diarrhea, which will last 30 minutes or so.
I know it's over as I will urinate, it's odd, that’s like my all-clear sign, I urinate, only for about 10 seconds, but that’s it, it's like an exorcism that has gone well and is now over.
I think because I have had this for around 23 years, the feeling among my friends went from concern, to familiarity, to them ignoring it, to now when you have my family having no sympathy at all, friends fed-up because I call off things or leave early, and all of them suggesting things that will cure it or help things. My wife’s favourite is to take a Nurofen as it will stop the pain, I love her as she does try to help, but it doesn’t and won’t help.
I have tried every form of pain relief over the years and if I had found one that had worked I would have stuck with it, similarly the tummy tablets, things that did seem to work no longer work, maybe my body just got immune to them.
At the moment I am the most down about it than I ever have been. I need to seriously address my diet and food consumption and see what I can do to at least bring it to a manageable state.
Update on Peter: I have changed my diet a little and tried Actimel/Danactive, and although it won't be the case for everyone, it seems to have had a huge and positive effect on me.