IBS Tales has been mentioned in a good article printed in “Best” magazine, a woman’s weekly over here in the UK, and I just wanted to write a few words about the article (for those of you who’d like to see it, get this week’s issue, dated 12 September, and look on pages 24/25).
The journalist basically just describes a bit about IBS and then lets two sufferers tell their stories, which I always like to see – much better to let the actual experts describe how IBS really feels than have a journalist imagine it. Having said that, I always like to find one or two things in media articles to complain about, so my issues for today are as follows…
Firstly, one of the IBS sufferers says this:
“I was relieved when the consultant eventually put it down to IBS, but she also said that there was nothing she could do.”
Now, I’m certainly not going to quibble with the sufferer who says she is “relieved” it was IBS – if you read the rest of the story this is because she had had to wait six months for a specialist referral and had been told that she needed tests to rule out Crohn’s and cancer and other nasty things, so of course she’s gonna be relieved.
No, what irritated me about this quote was the lovely little consultant saying that there was nothing she could do. I don’t know how many years of training gastroenterologists have to go through these days – what do you reckon, six? Eight? Ten? And in all that time, she wasn’t taught about a single treatment for IBS? Nothing on all the clinical studies that show the effectiveness of hypnotherapy, nothing on the research into diet and food intolerance? Nothing, in fact, whatsoever?
The fact that people in the year 2006 are still getting told that IBS is an entirely untreatable disorder is just ridiculous. And what I find even more ridiculous is the situation of the consultant herself.
I mean, let’s look at it from her point of view. There are stats to show that GI doctors spend around half of their time treating IBS patients. Half. So every day, Dr Not-Got-a-Clue goes into work, sees 10 patients, and tells five of them that she can’t possibly do anything to help them. And then again the next day. And then the next day.
You’d think that after a while that might get a little depressing. That after watching your 1,000th patient break down into tears describing the agony of IBS, you might actually try looking for a solution. But maybe that’s just me.
And the second thing that I would like to complain about wasn’t in the article itself, it was a full-page advert on page 29. It’s an advert for a product called Dida, which allegedly treats candida albicans infestations.
Now I’m not gonna open the whole “Candida – myth or reality” debate, and most of the marketing blurb in the advert is the kind of thing that you might hear if you visited a number of alternative medicine practitioners, ie: that candida can cause gut symptoms, that it’s a yeast overgrowth, and so on.
But there was once sentence that particularly caught my eye (partly because it is printed in huge letters across half of the page), and I really have to record it for posterity. It says this:
“I felt the yeast growing in my stomach.”
Yes. Well. I see. I often feel communities of wildebeest in my intestines, but then later I realize it’s just gas.
Honestly. On the one hand I do think it’s important to try to protect people from misleading advertising messages and over-inflated claims. On the other hand, if there is actually anyone out there who really believes that you can feel something growing in your stomach, they may just be beyond help.
Lol. Well I have been told that I have candida, and since cutting out wheat and yeast I have to say my symptoms have improved, linked or not? Who knows.. As for the “feeling” it lol.. if someone tells you that you have something growing in your insides thats enough to freak you out and of course every little bump or movement you feel will cause a “I CAN FEEL IT GROWING” moment lol… xx
Fabulous rant!! I have to agree with you! My doctor is useless. I did a lot of research into my symptoms and when all my test results kept coming back negative, I wasn’t really surprised when the doc diagnosed IBS – basically because there wasn’t anything else left to test for!! He also said there wasn’t much he could do but that I ought try not to get too stressed. That was it!
Sxx
Hi Sophie, Apologising in advance for going off tangent with my comments! I haven’t read your blog for a while, as I recently moved house. However, reading back over a couple of months off entries I was surprised to see no comments about whether excluding your intolerants foods from your diet has or has not worked.
Personally, having taken the ELISA test and followed it religusly, the results have been nothing short of life changing. It has now been 5 months since I cut out all the foods they listed, plus tea/coffee and a few others I always knew upset me. I have gone from someone who suffered severely from IBS for approximately 17 years to someone who now leads (nearly) a normal life. I say ‘nearly’ because I have to watch everything I eat and I can’t just pop out for a curry or kentucky. I have no pain, no wind, no agonising consipation, no runs, no bloating – or at least I occasioanlly have a bit of wind like any normal person. I keep pinching myself with disbeleif.
Now of course I don’t mean to sound all I’m cured isn’t it great and so on, as I’m not. I will always have IBS, I just don’t suffer with its symptoms anymore – I’m just curious and concerned as to why you’ve made no comments on how successful/unsucessful the diet is. Are you even still excluding the foods? I am sure that this blog is read a great many people, so I beleive it is important to keep people as informed as possible. Sorry to rant Ellie
I have been visiting your website trying to get help. Many of the suggestions have helped and I am thankful for that. My reason for commenting is this; up until 2 years ago, I could eat and drink anything with absolutely no problems….until I was diagnosed with a hereditary rectal cancer during my first colonoscopy. Please note…I was experiencing NO problems so this came as a shock. Thankfully, the cancer was caught early and removed, though unfortunately, the major portion of my lower colon was also removed and now I only have about 12 inches remaining. The surgery also required a temporary ileostomy that was reversed after my colon had healed enough for food to go through. The ileostomy and surgery alone were traumatic enough but little did I know what loomed ahead. The doctor told me it would take at least a year for improvement. Since that surgery, I am suffering from IBS-D and my life a nightmare. My doctor told me at my check up to “eat more fiber”. Don’t have to tell you what happened there, I have had to educate myself and learn about “fiber”. I have tried anything that states a side effect is constipation, hoping it will curb my frequent trips….and thanks to you for the list of trigger foods/etc. Finding your site has been a blessing. My reason for saying this…why do I have the same symptoms as you and the only thing that has happened to me is removal of a section of my colon? I know that with the shortened length, less fluid can be extracted from the food being processed, but why do the trigger foods impact me the same way? I am still unraveling what affects me.. using soy milk, no yolks, watching meat, etc. has certainly made my life more pleasurable. Again, thank you for keeping this site available.
I was thinking about writing to you when I was in Germany last week visiting my husband’s grandpa. We were visiting some cities in the mountains and we stopped at a little restaurant. It was all very nice. Except that I didn’t know what I could or couldn’t eat, and that we were 200km away from his house and I didn’t know what reaction those dishes would have in my intestine. I couldn’t stop the tears in my eyes, and I just felt really crappy after all. I hate having it, and I hate the limitations it gives me. I wish it would all go away
And I can imagine why she would feel relieved. So did I, when I found out. When you’re going through the weirdest feelings and you don’t know what the heck is going on inside you, it’s pretty scary. But I can’t accept the whole “I can do nothing to help you” concept.
Regards
*writing a message to you*
Hi everyone. Ellie – sorry about that – hopefully my latest post makes up for it!
Patricia – I’m very sorry to hear about the cancer and your subsequent problems. As you say I’ve heard of people who have some of their colon removed and then suffer from diarrhea.
With the trigger foods affecting you it could be a number of things I guess…that these are foods you would also be vulnerable to when your digestion is compromised. Lots of IBS sufferers can date their symptoms back to surgery of different kinds as well, so maybe that could have been a trigger for this type of syndrome. Have your doctors offered any advice or ideas?
Sophie
My doctor has tried to help and I actually have an appt with him next week to update him on progress….but, I have gotten more valuable information from your website than I have from him and you don’t charge for information!! From reading your posts, I am now on peppermint pills, fiber, imodium, calcium, and probiotics. Even taking all of this, and eliminating trigger foods, I am still horrified when placed in situations that limit availability of a bathroom because I never know when my IBS will “rear its ugly head”. Ex: Attended a wonderful wedding this past weekend at our coast. The wedding was on a large boat and around 60 people on board. Lovely day, wine, food, and music… except only one ladies room and it was very small, so as many of us do, watched what I ate 24 hours prior and I did not eat or drink while out on the boat for fear of “something” triggering an episode. When the bride and groom started walking down the small aisle to the rear of the yacht, bear in mind we were all very close on the upper deck to watch the ceremony (bathroom downstairs) my stomach goes..bubble gurgle…and I stood there hoping they said “I do” quickly so I would not have to run through the wedding party to get to the steps down to the ladies room. I started sweating so said a prayer that I would be okay and not have to disrupt the beauty of the moment for them. What do we do? Just live with this and do the best we can. If I could just find something to help me with times like this. I can make if okay when I am home at at work and have a comfort level of being near the RR, but with times like this, I see why sufferers just stay home where they are not subjected to what “might” occur!
Hi, im mary, a 17 yr old ibs sufferer, ive had ibs for 2 yrs, and i need help, my ibs is one of the worst cases, my diet is so restricted i bascially live on crisps and water, i have no energy n cant walk, i just want my life back, plz help, plz rite bk.
Hi Mary – sorry to hear you’re a fellow sufferer. I hope that you’re getting support from your parents, and that maybe they can take you to a specialist gastrointestinal doctor who can offer more help. If you want to give your mum or dad my email address if they have questions about IBS (or, heaven forbid, don’t believe you when you say how bad it is) then please do.
I’d definitely try to get more help from the doctors as you do sound like you’re suffering a lot. Try to be clear about how badly you are suffering – you could maybe write your symptoms down on a piece of paper and just hand this to your doctor, so you make sure he or she knows exactly what it is going on.