The weekend of the guy who lives in the flat upstairs
On Saturday, he wakes up with his girlfriend. They talk and giggle for a while (the ceiling is fairly thin, and the sound just travels down). They then make love (girlfriend is pretty loud, bed is pretty squeaky). They get up and clank pans around, presumably for breakfast, laugh and talk a bit more, and then go out at about noon, presumably for lunch.
They come home later, talk and laugh again, make love again, and then go out at about eight. They don’t come home on Saturday night.
My weekend
I wake up and feel fairly uncomfortable, because I am constipated from the day before. I have breakfast and a cup of coffee, but when I try to go to the bathroom nothing much happens. This means that I have now been constipated for two mornings running, which means bloating and tightness and pain.
I try to sleep some of the day away, and don’t do much in the evening. I find it difficult to sleep on Saturday night, and my gut feels congested and stretched. On Sunday I wake up and have breakfast. I go to the bathroom and finally manage to have a bowel movement, but it is hard and reluctant to greet the world, and I have to strain on the toilet.
In the evening I am in the shower when I start getting some really vicious stomach cramps, and after about half an hour of terrible cramps I have another bowel movement.
And then I feel fine.
Hey Sophie, I know it’s horrible comparing yourself to others who have an easier fun filled life. How are you getting on with your diet? I don’t mean to sound picky but you said you had a coffee – caffeine was one of the first things I gave up in my bid to beat IBS so you could try this too… It definitely helped for me. I’m sure there is an end to your suffering but please don’t resign yourself to painful weekends – keep trying everything you can to beat it, I know you can do it. Hugs
Pinky
Hey Sophie,
Yep, it’s a hard life, I know. At work, I have ladies come to me to talk about my “diet”. ARGH.
I wish all of us wouldn’t have this
I agree with Pinky’s comment re-coffee ! Have you tried decaff. also caffeine free teas – the best one – with a good flavour is Red Bush ( or Roobish – that’s the SAfrican word for it !) I found leaving caffeine off, was a good help – and if I go out to dine etc. I always avoid the after- dinner coffee – and help myself to a double helping of mints !! Sophie – do give Laxoberal a try for constipation – it was prescribed for me by the Consultant – it is very gentle. If I have missed a day, I just take 5ml. before going to bed – little or no pain, and quite palatable – I get it on my repeat prescription – no problem – just as well, as it is £7 a 300 ml. bottle. I only use it when I have missed a day – which is not very often. I think you did mention it as suggested in one of your blogs. You could try it on the bed springs upstairs – but I doubt if it will cure them !!!!
Hi Sophie,
About the coffee….I had been told to switch to decaf by the doctor. Then on another IBS website, it said to give it up completely. Well, I love coffee so that didn’t go over too well. I noticed that Foldgers now makes a coffee called Simply Smooth which is supposed to be gentle on your stomach. I have been drinking that (decaf) and haven’t had any problems with it. If they sell Foldgers brand in your area, maybe you could try it. Take care and I hope you’re feeling better!
Hi all – I stumbled onto this site through a google search and have been laughing and relating to it for the last few weeks. It is refreshing to hear people that suffer just like i do. I’ve always had IBS, but never so bad as when I got engaged about 3.5 years ago. That began a bout of nausea, acid reflux, IBS, and weight loss like no other. Once I conquered the nausea and acid reflux, i gained back the weight after getting married… but the IBS never really recovered. I’ve had messed up bowel movements for 3 years…. including all the symptoms.
This post made me laugh because it really is like this for us. Most of the time I’ll be thinking about wanting to make love to my husband, then all of a sudden I’ll have an attack and I’m on the toilet and can’t get off for 35 minutes. Then after that my insides feel so exhausted, emptied, and torn up that all i can do is crawl into bed and pray for sleep.
Another funny antidote is that iw as recently in the U.K. (Wales, Manchester area mostly) for a vacation. We were all driving to Liverpool and my mom (who also suffers from IBS) and I both were feeling nauseaus because we were constipated. So we stopped at a Toilet (we call them restrooms
) that was like a 5 minute walk from the parking lot. by the time we got there i was convinced I could go. but my mother, my sister (who has no IBS symptoms at all and a very healthy bowel) all got in the 3 stalls and waited. I said “I wish I could get some poop out” and my sister said “I’m doing it!” and within 30 seconds she was finished, refreshed and raring to go. I, on the other hand, was only able to relieve myself a tiny bit and ended up feeling much WORSE than I did before….. it just goes to show how completely different our systems work than normal people.
My last comment here (sorry this is so long, I’m just trying to get into the group)
is a question. When do you get to a point where you start to investigate whether your symptoms may be the result of something more serious like Crohns disease or colon cancer or colitis? Sometimes I’m sitting on the toilet in misery and I’m convinced I need a colonoscopy even though I’m only 24 years old…. but then things will be ok for a week, i think i’m fine, then boom misery again and a scare and want to go to the doctor. any thoughts?
I agree with the coffee thing too. In my study notes it says that caffeine actually absorbs water and dries out the system.. so if you have constipation it is the last thing you should have. I suffered the other way round so figured I should drink loads of caffeine to stop it. Drank tons of red bull.. didnt sleep for a week and ended up constipated and bloated.. wont try that again
Not that I am bitter lol. xx
Its horrible watching everyone else get on with there lifes without a care in the world.. making it look so easy, so simple.. taking it all for granted too no doubt..
Yes, indeed, IBS is a terrible condition from which to suffer on an on-going basis.
However, IBS is merely one of the many “auto-immune” diseases to which modern people are succumbing.
The “key” key to IBS is to renormalize your body’s pH. If you do that, you are most likely to find that reducing your excess acidity brings important, and near immediate relief.
Please don’t “knock it” ’til you’ve tried it.
Looks like I’m giving up coffee then! To be honest I normally play safe and drink boring herbal teas (like the red bush stuff that Juliet mentions, or peppermint) but coffee used to help me go to the bathroom, although it seems to be have stopped helping now.
To Rachel – it’s sometimes difficult to know when to ask for further investigations. Have you had a diagnosis of IBS from your doctor? Did he or she do any tests? IBS can cause the kind of symptoms you describe, so I wouldn’t be too worried that it was something else, but on the other hand if it is something you’re worrying about then it might be a trip to the doctors, just to check.
To Dan – body ph as a cause of IBS, that’s one I haven’t heard before! You say “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” but I’m afraid that if I tried every single IBS solution suggested to me over the years then I’d be both bankrupt and exhausted…is there any evidence that ph affects IBS?
Don’t give in!! My hypnotherapist has helped me see light at the end of the tunnel, and with all my herbs/supplements, and the wonderful wonderful calcium, diet etc I am beginning to have normal days again. Everyday life is ok now, so I’m beginning to challenge myself – working for the BBC this weekend on location means I am going to have to think of everything but my bowels. Before, I would have wasted a career chance because of my IBS, now its just something that happens. Please don’t let it rule your life, i got to the point where i just couldn’t be bothered with it. So, finally I didn’t! You know you are getting better when you are loving to worry about boyfriends and money etc…Good luck to all…x