women suffering diarrhea - page eleven
The tale of...Angela
My name is Angela, I am 23 and I have had IBS since I was 10. I stumbled upon this site for the first time tonight and I am absolutely amazed at the sheer volume of us who are living with this condition. I have lived with the pain from this condition for 13 years and I had no idea that so many people were suffering from the EXACT same symptoms and intense pain as I do. I had always felt like I must be the only one in the world who lives in this kind of misery.
After 13 years I have tried everything. Three years ago I gave birth to TWINS, and I can honestly say that there are some days where the pain from IBS is WORSE than the pain from having my children.
My IBS has gotten so bad in just this last year that I have lost 45 pounds because I am just in so much pain I can't eat and I now also suffer from horrible panic attacks. But I came to a breaking point last November on my 23rd birthday.
I was feeling horrible as usual, but I had not left the house in a month and I needed to buy some things for my kids. So I just tried to "suck it up" and my husband and I went to Wal-Mart. After being there for only 10 minutes, I began to feel "the pain", which in turn led to a panic attack. I went to sit in the car as my husband paid for our items and when he came out I could hardly breathe.
The more pain I had, the worse it made the panic attack, and then the stress from the panic attack made my stomach pain worse. It was a circle that landed me in the ER that night. I decided I couldn't live like that anymore. My IBS pain had ruined some of the best days in my life. It controlled how I lived every moment my life. But after that day in the ER last November, I decided to take control back. I have finally found four things that help to control some of my pain.
First - I only drink water now. No soda, no gatorade, no coffee, etc. This has helped TONS! People with IBS focus mostly on what we eat, but what we drink can be just as important.
Second - I don't eat anything with artificial sweeteners in it. You would be amazed at how many people have digestive problems because of artificial sweeteners in foods and drinks and don't even know that's what's causing it.
Third - I don't eat any fast food at all. If I even touch any fast food I'm sick for three days.
Fourth - painkillers. Yep, good ol' Tylenol, Advil, ibuprofen, etc. A lot of people never think to take them for IBS. I didn't for 13 years! Then one day I had PMS cramps while I had an IBS tummy ache and I took some Aleve for the cramps. Well 15 minutes later I had realized that it had relieved the pain from both. I have found that for me, Aleve works better then Tylenol. It still amazes me to this day that I never thought to take painkillers for this pain.
I still have to watch what foods I eat and I still have pain some days. But I don't have pain as often, I don't have panic attacks any more, I don't feel nauseous all the time, and I don't feel tired all the time. I have been able to get so much of my life back by doing those four things in the past few months.
E-mail Angela: usmcwife[at]lakenet.com
The tale of...Jan
I began having symptoms of IBS (diarrhea type) in my 20s. We were told that our community well was contaminated with giardia which may have started it off. Over the next many years I became allergic to many foods, and eventually got down to only two that wouldn't cause internal hives and diarrhea. I tried different medications and had reactions to all of them, too, including prednisone, so I kept trying to find my own answers.
I had studied nutrition and biochemistry in college, so I had some background in the field. I began reading scientific articles and tried to sort out anything that might give me clues. I did find out that I have abnormally high levels of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). I spoke with a researcher to see if he could give me any leads to possible natural treatments. He suggested a form of lithium which I tried in very small doses but had too many side effects. But I felt that I was on the right track and kept looking.
I had read that a cofactor in the production of PGE1 is zinc. I theorized that if I could get my zinc levels down maybe it would help. I finally found some information on an amino acid called histidine which has an affinity for many metals including mercury, nickel, iron, calcium and zinc. I started taking it and within just a week the diarrhea had disappeared for the first time in almost 20 years and I could eat almost anything with no reaction. It was just amazing.
I experimented for several months with the dosage and found that I did best with about 250mg per day along with 15mg of zinc to be sure I didn't get depleted in zinc - if you chelate out too much zinc your nose will get stuffy. (Also too little zinc affects histamine release which will in turn diminish sexual response.) If I took a slightly higher dosage I could even experience what it was like to be constipated for the first time in ages!
Because histidine both transports and chelates out zinc, it seems to be very effective in moderating high prostaglandin levels that cause overcontraction of the smooth muscle and excess cytokine production in the intestines. I have been using it for 10 years now with great success. The only time I experience the IBS symptoms is if I quit taking the histidine for a week or so and eat a food that used to cause allergic reactions.
I read through the stories on the site, and it brought back so many memories of embarrassing situations. It's wonderful to be free of the symptoms...no extra changes of clothes, no fear of going to a football game! A nice side effect was my headaches that had plagued me for years also disappeared.
I am a nutritional consultant and have recommended this treatment for several of my clients. One lady with IBS was able to get off all her medications for the first time in years and take a vacation to Mexico. It may not work for everyone, but it's an inexpensive experiment and worth a try. The brands I recommend are Tyson, Montiff or Jo-Mar.
Hope this is helpful to someone, and to all of you, I wish you success in finding relief and a better quality of life.
E-mail Jan: mcalisterclan[at]hotmail.com