women suffering diarrhea - page seventeen
The tale of...Kelley
I am a 21 year-old who has been suffering from IBS since I was about 10. When I was in the third grade I would get these horrible gassy stomach aches after every meal. During school I would beg my teachers to let me go home because I could hardly stand up. It went away for about four years while I was in high school, which made everyone think that my stomach aches were due to stress.
After graduating high school I started getting these horrible gassy stomach aches again. I went to the doctor and she said it was anxiety and put me on Zoloft. Well, the Zoloft didn't help and I went back to the doctors. She sent me to a specialist OBGYN who diagnosed me with endometriosis and I had a surgery to fix it.
Well guess what? I still didn't feel well after the surgery, the pains where still there, but now I had constant diarrhea. I have a full-time job now, and I have to be out the door by 8:00 in the morning, Well, that never works because when I wake up in the morning I feel horrible. I feel like I have the stomach flu.
Usually I can make it through work, but there are times when my stomach is so bad I sit in the bathroom crying, and having a panic attack. The doctors have done many tests including sticking their fingers up my a**. They have diagnosed me with IBS, and are trying to find a medication that works for me. In the meantime I do deep-breathing exercises and try not to panic, but it doesn't work. I am trying to keep a positive outlook on it in the hope that it changes how I feel.
E-mail Kelley: Kelley_Hibbs[at]hotmail.com
The tale of...Jane
As a woman of 45 who has displayed varying symptoms of IBS since the age of 14 and was diagnosed at 19, I feel more than qualified to suggest possible causes of this debilitating disease! For me, the female hormonal cycle can't escape consideration; ovulation pains can trigger a particularly bad attack and period pains most definitely have their part to play.
Most significantly, about 12 years ago (after the birth of my third child) I was suffering particularly badly. In the end, my GP reluctantly decided to send off a stool sample. The tests came back negative, he said. "Nothing sinister, all you have is a high yeast content." OK, I thought, in my (then) ignorance.
So I continued feeling ill, tired, foggy-brained and generally awful. Now I strongly suspect Candida was the culprit. Nothing I have read on this subject has caused me to doubt there was a definite connection between his throw-away remark and the way I was feeling.
Do I still have Candida? Don't know, but although the chronic fatigue has eased, boy it comes back with a vengeance when I have had a 'toilet episode'! People do not realise how much my 'nervous stomach' (yup that's their favourite way of describing my life-limiting condition) affects me. It is definitely hereditary; my beloved (deceased) mother had it, my sisters have varying degrees of it - I was the lucky one who got the worst condition! Now my daughter has been diagnosed with it.
I think the WORST part of it is the embarrassment; the fear of being out in public and people knowing you are to-ing and fro-ing to the toilet - horrendous. Just talking about it now helps. Hope some of my comments strike a chord with someone and perhaps even help.
E-mail Jane: Leslie[at]nolan4366.fslife.co.uk
The tale of...Becky
Just when you think your life is good, about to get even better, something strikes and your life takes a blow for the worse. This is my IBS life-altering story. It all started when I was just 16, a month before my 17th birthday. I started to have these horrible stomach cramps and thought my right side was going to explode. I remember the pain would wake me up and I spent the next two weeks in pain, not being able to eat anything or even sleep.
What I thought was food poisoning from red lobster turned into what I call the "IBS Monster". I didn't like the doctor's office, so I waited for a month to go in. And in that month I didn't step foot outside the house for fear of getting sick where there was no bathroom to run to. I mean, I was so embarrassed to not even know if I could hold my own bowel movements.
My doctor did all the tests: from taking vials of blood, stool samples, and a virus test. My liver was enlarged (hence the right side pain) and they did an ultrasound on me. I was prescribed Prevacid, and a long list of other medicine. At the time, I was starting my senior year of high school. I was involved in nine clubs, and the president of a community club, so I was stuck between all my AP courses, volunteering every day after school, and having this illness.
Finally, I was seen by a specialist, who I'm very grateful to for finally putting a name to what was wrong with me. I admit it was embarrassing to drop your pants and get probed by a butt doctor, and then get probed even more with a colonoscopy, but it finally gave me so-called "proof" of IBS.
Having IBS is hard to cope with, but my friends were sooo supportive. However, after graduating from college my IBS got worse, and I've taken to "hermit-like behavior". I even stopped going out of my house, except to get the mail. I used to be on a course for being a neurologist, but IBS has ruined that option. So I find myself making web pages as the next option. Which has its benefits since the bathroom is right next door!
I just wish a "cure" for IBS would be soon. I think all my "good" days were spent getting through high school, so I only have OK, or bad days now. Having IBS is the pits! But I'm still hoping for a cure. If anyone just needs to vent about IBS, please feel free to email me. Thanks for spending the time to read this.
E-mail Becky: becky[at]joestudio.net
The tale of...Rachael
I have been diagnosed with IBS for about five months now, I wish I never had it. I cannot eat ANY citrus fruits at all, nor can I have any dairy. I dread going out for dinner with my other half, he understands but I still get quite embarrassed by the whole thing.
One time we went out for dinner to this really expensive place, I said to the waitress please NO CITRUS, 30 minutes later she brings me my food with a huge piece of LEMON on it, I was too embarrassed to say anything (did not want to make trouble, plus I did not want to wait another 30 minutes for my food).
So I took the lemon off and started eating. I was feeling fine for about 15 minutes, then all of a sudden everything in my head fell to my feet, I was getting sweaty and went all pale. When this happens I don't want anybody touching me (my poor boyfriend), then the cramps started, there is nothing much you can do but curl over and breathe through the pain.
After about 10 minutes breathing I had to do a dash through to the toilet. People were looking at me like I was crazy, finally I got to my favorite place and let it all out.
IBS is a condition which who ever has it understands, no matter how much people say that they understand THEY DON'T!
We have to deal with this day after day, some better then others, but still what person enjoys watching what they eat, and when they eat something bad who likes waiting to see when you are going to have an "attack".
Websites like this give people like me, whose grandmother tells her to "rise above it", relief knowing that there are people like me going through the same "hell" every day. Thank god for public toilets.
The tale of...Mary Beth
I was diagnosed with IBS when I was 23 years old (but actually think I've suffered with it since I was about 10). I am now 51. Like so many others, I have no life because my family/friends/co-workers/doctors just don't understand.
I just had my fourth colonoscopy in a year because of severe diarrhea and bleeding. They NEVER find anything - of course, IBS has no distinguishing clues unless you're in a flare up of colitis, Crohn's, etc.
I am never constipated - I have the extreme, extreme diarrhea variety. If I were ever constipated, I would think something terrible was wrong with me. The doctor started me on Lotronex, which seems to give some relief some days - but not always.
It is embarrassing to use the restroom in public and even my own home - what if I just went to the restroom and company came - the smell - you can't get rid of it. I'm paranoid. My youngest son tells me I worry too much about what others think. He says "everyone s*&%s", but the first thing he says when he walks through the door when he comes to visit is..."smells like s&*% in here!
So, how am I NOT supposed to be self-conscious? I feel alone and isolated. I can eat something one day and not have any problems - but, let me eat the same thing another day and it will kill me! Sometimes it seems impossible to keep up with my job (I work as a medical secretary in the hospital). I desperately need a support group!
E-mail Mary Beth: dorothyofahhs[at]yahoo.com