women suffering diarrhea - page twelve
The tale of...Sarah
I was told I had IBS when I was about 15 but have probably had it since I was little. My current doctor is completely ignorant and just tells me that what I'm going through is due to the IBS but offers no solutions. Like most sufferers I wake up in the morning wondering what sort of stomach day will it be. Is it a heartburn day, diarrhea day, constipation day? Some mornings I wake up with a funny metallic taste in my mouth and those are the days I know to get right back in bed.
I am now 23 and the list of foods that make me sick is growing all of the time. I don't understand how one day I can eat a peanut butter sandwich, but the next day it sends me running to the bathroom. The scariest problem is the nights I am awaken out of a sound sleep only to have to run to the bathroom to have uncontrollable and painful diarrhea plus shaking and sweating for an hour or two. Those are the nights three Imodium tablets can't even help me.
I am seeing a gastroenterologist for the first time in two months. Hopefully he can offer me some relief. If anyone out there has experienced the same scary night-time episodes and has found a way to deal with them please feel free to let me know :) For now all I can do is deal with attacks when they hit and try to ignore the people who think I do this for attention or that I'm making my symptoms up. I would never wish this problem on anyone.
E-mail Sarah: vw3sarah22[at]yahoo.com
The tale of...Beverly
I have recently been diagnosed with IBS. I just started looking around on the web for information in regard to this subject. I have been feeling terrible for many years. I thought I was alone. The only problem that I have now is trying to figure out how to feel better.
I hate having to worry about whether there will be a bathroom wherever I go. Travelling is a nightmare. I have had a hard time convincing my husband that I have to limit the amount of food that I eat. He gets so upset when I either don't eat or eat very little. He looks at me like I am crazy.
Now that I have this syndrome I wonder whether or not I can really live a normal life. As I am writing this I feel very depressed. I don't feel like myself anymore and I have started taking my anti-depressant again. I felt pretty good for the year that I took that. Things seemed like they were going along pretty well.
About three weeks ago, an extremely dear friend of mine died of colon and liver cancer. These three weeks have been so hard. I feel like I am never going to be happy again. Two months ago I quit my job and started another. The new job turned out to be stressful and so I quit. I am now working at my previous job and it just does not feel right.
I hope that things start to work out. I'm just tired of feeling fat and nasty all the time. I hate looking for clothes for fear they won't fit because of my gut hanging out. Well, I have spouted off too much. I just want to feel better and maybe sharing my thoughts will help. I don't really know anymore. Thanks .
E-mail Beverly: militarychick1[at]hotmail.com
The tale of...Jerre
Well, here goes. I have suffered with IBS for two years now. It started when my Mom was dying of cancer. I'm sure stress brought it on. As a kid and through the years I think I had spells of it but never went to a doctor for it.
Anyway, I mostly have upper pain in the chest area. Sometimes around the belly button. I have given up most everything that would contribute to IBS without fail, though it comes back. No rhyme nor reason to it. I'll have pain when I go to the bathroom but briefly. Sometimes hard with hard pain and sometimes soft and water with relief afterwards.
I take Nexium and I have tried Librax and I have tried peppermint oil caps and I have tried Lexapro pills. If I do all at the same time I get relief but I do not want to be held down to tranquilizers for certain forever. I do stress easily, however, and I'm going through a complete change of lifestyle with this, and that's the stress itself.
So everyone out there who is in the same boat as me, I feel compassion for you. I have gone a while without problems and I put smiley faces on my calendar. It is so great. I could write forever about my problem but needless to say, it gets to be the same ole story. Pain, pain, pain, stress, stress, lifestyle changes ... pain, indigestion, bathrooms and staying home when you have a planned affair and this IBS pops up. How stressful it all is...
E-mail Jerre: nosuds[at]earthlink.net
The tale of...Anna
My IBS story starts when I was very young (way before the 5th grade). I had very bad bouts of constipation. It usually consisted of me sitting on the toilet, crying, while my mom gave me castor oil and hot tea. I also remember my mom giving me a couple of enemas to boot. After that (around the 5th grade) I ended up in the hospital for abdominal pain. They ran a whole bunch of test and said that they couldn't find anything. So they ended up diagnosing me with gastritis (I don't even know what that is...geez).
I'm now 28 years old and am still having problems. I had lots of problems with diarrhea when I hit my early 20s. I thought that it was just from what I was eating. So I started changing the way I was eating but the diarrhea never stopped. My family noticed it but nobody (not even myself) thought that it was anything serious.
After I moved to Kentucky, that's when things got really bad. Abdominal pain and cramping, chronic diarrhea...I thought I was dying. Still never went to the doctors or the hospital because all I kept remembering is that when I was younger they couldn't find anything wrong.
This year has been pure hell. I'd have diarrhea for a week and then two days of constipation. Finally decided to see my doctor last Saturday after doing research on IBS and lo and behold he agreed with me. Gave me a prescription and told me to watch my milk and cheese intake...I don't even drink that much milk...whatever.
Last night was the roughest so far. I've had constipation for the past five days. My sister told me I looked like I was six months pregnant, my stomach hard as a rock. So she told me that she might have to take me to the hospital for an enema. Later she gives me this nasty concoction she made (she said it was warm tea with ginger)...gag...it was disgusting. Didn't loosen anything up either. So I came home this morning and did what I had to do...took laxatives.
There has got to be a better way to control this. I don't think I can continue to live like this. It's like there's no hope or cure for it so the doctor's will just keep throwing meds at us until something works. I feel like such a guinea pig. If anyone has any tips for treating constipation (besides laxatives) please email me.
E-mail Anna: BbyByrd[at]webtv.net
The tale of...Bonnie
I was first diagnosed with IBS when I was 21 years old. In the year 2002 I got pregnant with my first child...we were expecting a baby boy. Just two weeks before my due date our son died in utero. It was the most awful thing that has ever happened to us. I became very depressed and started to experience cramps and diarrhea.
I thought that I was getting the flu until it lasted about a month non-stop. I couldn't go anywhere. I was too afraid to leave the house! My family kept telling me that it was stress due to loss of our child, but I really didn't believe them being as stubborn as I am. I finally broke down and saw a "butt" doctor. I had a colonoscopy and the results were disappointing....there was nothing wrong with me! It was all in my head! [Editor's note - just because a colonoscopy shows no results does NOT mean that there is nothing wrong with you - and it certainly doesn't mean it's in your head.] Those of you who have IBS with diarrhea know what I mean. You almost wish something WAS wrong with you so can be cured.
I was put on Zoloft 100mg for my depression and it was supposed to help with my stress levels. I am now going to be 23 years old and have been on Zoloft for two years. I think it has helped somewhat with my stomach problems.
To this day I still get bad urges to use the restroom. I have to plan my daily events around the toilet and it's depressing. Sometimes I will wake up at thee o'clock in the morning with flu-like symptoms. What really gets to me is me and my husband tried to have another baby and in February 2004 we had a healthy baby boy...anyway, sometimes while I'm feeding him a bottle I have to put him down so I can explode on the toilet!! I feel so bad when I have to put him down four times in a row during a bottle.
I hate using public restrooms but now I have learned to love them...I was kinda forced upon that. I think having another baby has helped a lot with my stomach problems...I know that may sound strange but getting pregnant kinda helped. My bowel movements still range from diarrhea to loose or soft stools, even with the soft stools I have to rush to the restroom...once I feel the urge there is no stopping it.
I'm so glad that I found this website. I really thought I was alone on this. I read some of the stories and they make me want to cry. I can't believe how much of a problem this is to a lot of people...and to top it off there isn't much we can do about it.
E-mail Bonnie: Bonnie.Fernandez[at]ge.com