Monthly Archives: December 2005

I was recently contacted by a researcher who was looking into the effect that our attitude to IBS can have on our symptoms, and the value of ‘positive thinking’. She was looking to recruit participants for her university study, which was clearly well-researched and entirely legit. I said that I might be able to advertise the study to the readers of my IBS website and newsletter, but after seeing her research papers I changed my mind.

Why? Well, because the research just added to the pile of IBS thought that states it is all in our head. Now, this is a difficult area, because (as the researcher herself rightly pointed out), a positive attitude has been proven to actually help recovery in all kinds of different illnesses, from the common cold to cancer.

The difference is, of course, that cancer patients do not get offered ‘positive thinking’ as the first course of treatment, or get told that their illness is the result of their own neuroses. IBS sufferers do, and this is why I object to this kind of research – it feeds the myth that we could all get better through no physical intervention whatsoever – a myth which, incidentally, the top IBS experts in the world think is bunkum.

One of the reasons why I started my IBS websites was to provide a source of info and support that never, ever blamed the sufferer for their own pain.

And that’s why I’m not prepared to help with research which urges me to consider the positive effects that IBS has had on my life, including “more time to read for pleasure” (always a source of comfort when I’m curled up in agony), and says that if I just think positively I will see my symptoms greatly improve in the short-term and the long-term. No I won’t!

IBS doesn’t just affect your body, it affects your whole life. When you suffer from something as long-term and as difficult to treat as IBS, almost every aspect of your life is altered.

Food – this one goes without saying. I can’t eat pizza, bread, pasta, doughnuts, cheeseburgers. I don’t eat anything anymore because I want to; everything is evaluated according to how much damage it may inflict on me rather than the pleasure it might give.

Friends – by my count I have had at least three friendships end because of IBS, directly or indirectly. Some friendships can’t survive the fact that I’m an old grumpy guts when I’m ill. Some get trashed when I can’t travel, or stay overnight, and some just end because I can’t pretend to be happy all the time.

Travel – I don’t. I kept traveling until I was 20, but the final horrors of a choir trip to Hungary and almost crapping myself in a back street put an end to that idea.

Work – I work from home because of IBS. I nearly lost my first proper job because of IBS. I could never do shift work, or night work, because of IBS.

Entertainment – I don’t go to things if it means getting up very early in the morning, or staying out very late at night. I don’t drink alcohol. Mostly I stay at home and watch TV.

IBS takes over everything. I try very hard not to be eaten alive, but it’s difficult.

I’ve just been given two things which could make my IBS worse – antibiotics to take, and my first ever mercury filling.

That’s because I’ve just had all my wisdom teeth taken out, which actually was less horrific than you would think. The antibiotics, in the form of penicillin (which surprised me; I thought penicillin was reserved for soldiers who got shrapnel stuck in their wounds but maybe that’s a bit out of date) are to stop the gaps becoming infected, and are actually the first time ever I’ve taken antibiotics for anything.

It’s difficult to know whether they’ve affected me (I’ve just finished the short course), as my stomach has been odd but then it’s always odd, so who knows.

I do know that quite a lot of IBS sufferers date their symptoms back to a large dose of antibiotics, and that they can deplete the amount of friendly bacteria in the gut, so I wasn’t thrilled about taking them. Better than having to have my jaw hacked open again though.

And the mercury filling (or silver amalgam to be precise) was again the first one I’ve ever had, and again is sometimes blamed for IBS. However, while even mainstream docs say that antibiotics can affect digestion and gut flora (they’re designed to kill bugs, after all, and might kill some good bugs along with the bad), not many people think mercury really does anything bad – including me.

It’s more of a clutching at straws thing, I think. Just as the silly doctors decide “It’s stress” whenever they can’t think of a better explanation, there are plenty of people who look for causes of inexplicable diseases in the most unlikely places.

And of course, in my case, it’s a moot point. I’ve had IBS for 15 years, and I’ve never had a filling before today. I’ve never had an antibiotic either; my IBS dates back to a terrible bout of food poisoning.

So – I’m not worried about the mercury, and even if the antibiotics do kill off my last remaining friendly bacteria, well, never mind. What can you do?

I have just read an article in the paper about a dating website for people with herpes. Firstly, I want to say that I am not about to make any snide jokes here – if there’s one thing that living with IBS teaches you it’s Thou Shalt Not Laugh at Other People’s Embarrassing Problems, Lest I Smite Thee with Piles.

And secondly, I did a quick search for herpes dating sites and there are hundreds of them! I had no idea. I’ve occasionally seen IBS sufferers talk about having a dating site of our own, but I’ve never seen one.

I guess herpes is ideally suited to the idea – a stigmatised problem but not one that renders you incapable in any way. I don’t know if any IBS site would be successful – would people cope with two sufferers in one house? Do we even feel like dating when we’re ill so often? Would we have enough toilets?