1. < Digestive Health
Profile picture for Barb

IBS challenges

Posted by Barb @amberpep, Aug 8, 2017

Hi .... I don't think there's a group for this, so I thought I'd try you all. I have been prone to IBS with constipation since my divorce 12 years ago - we were married for 40 years and I felt as though I'd been thrown away. My gastro-intestinal doctor suggested Metamucil, which seemed to work. Between then and now I've had 3 moves, one about 4 hours from where I'd lived for 30 years, a TKR and also a revision, am on several psychotropic medications for cyclothymia, and just feel awful. Well, I'm 73 and have had my teeth removed in order to get dentures .... there's been quite a harang with this and it's been over a year since I've been eating soft and pureed foods .... cream of wheat, soups (pureed), pureed spaghetti, if I do eat a piece of fruit it has to be pureed, but I try not to. It's been a long haul. Well, now I'm packing to move to a low-income apartment closer to my girls, and the IBS has become the diahrrhea form ..... OMG, it's awful. I'm afraid to go out. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm new down here and only have an Internist, but with moving that will have to change. I need the name of a good gastro-enterologist at the hospital I will be using. In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm forced to use pads right now "just in case" ..... I know this is anxiety and tension, but it's got to stop.
Thanks much,
abby

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

Profile picture for nailgena3
nailgena3 | @nailgena3 | Mar 24 6:46am
In reply to @birk "Hi, my brother (getting close to 30) has for a long time now struggled with irritable..." + (show)
Profile picture for birk @birk

Hi, my brother (getting close to 30) has for a long time now struggled with irritable bowel. He has been with multiple doctors, however he is still not able to manage a normal lifestyle.My main concern is in his food intake. He is not able to eat properly because it immediately leads to stomach pain. He have to go to the toilet multiple times a day, each time being 2 hours long if not more. This also makes it psychologically scary to eat food or even drink water, because he knows it will lead to intense stomach pain. At the same time he knows that he needs food, especially with fiber, to heal. However much of this food can give even more pain.He is constantly at the mercy of his stomach which leads to his sleeping cycle to be altered. If someone have experience like this and have advice on how to eat food and drink when it turns to pain?

Jump to this post

I don't have advice but I have the same problem with crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

REPLY
Profile picture for Lisa Lucier, Moderator
Moderator
Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Apr 3 10:13am
In reply to @birk "Hi, my brother (getting close to 30) has for a long time now struggled with irritable..." + (show)
Profile picture for birk @birk

Hi, my brother (getting close to 30) has for a long time now struggled with irritable bowel. He has been with multiple doctors, however he is still not able to manage a normal lifestyle.My main concern is in his food intake. He is not able to eat properly because it immediately leads to stomach pain. He have to go to the toilet multiple times a day, each time being 2 hours long if not more. This also makes it psychologically scary to eat food or even drink water, because he knows it will lead to intense stomach pain. At the same time he knows that he needs food, especially with fiber, to heal. However much of this food can give even more pain.He is constantly at the mercy of his stomach which leads to his sleeping cycle to be altered. If someone have experience like this and have advice on how to eat food and drink when it turns to pain?

Jump to this post

Tagging others who've posted on Mayo Clinic Connect about IBS for their tips on living normally with it @littlemy @delcasa @swilkins1974 @sammillsaps1 @mpeters @livefully @goosetuffs @blessedwildapplegirl.

Also, just checking in with a couple of you to see how things are going.

@kima22 - what medicine did your doctor prescribe that's been so helpful to you?

@birk - your brother is fortunate to have you advocating for him. Not being able to eat properly because it immediately leads to stomach pain and having 2-hour sessions in the bathroom sound rough. How is he doing this week?

REPLY
Profile picture for goosetuffs
goosetuffs | @goosetuffs | Apr 3 1:02pm
In reply to @birk "Hi, my brother (getting close to 30) has for a long time now struggled with irritable..." + (show)
Profile picture for birk @birk

Hi, my brother (getting close to 30) has for a long time now struggled with irritable bowel. He has been with multiple doctors, however he is still not able to manage a normal lifestyle.My main concern is in his food intake. He is not able to eat properly because it immediately leads to stomach pain. He have to go to the toilet multiple times a day, each time being 2 hours long if not more. This also makes it psychologically scary to eat food or even drink water, because he knows it will lead to intense stomach pain. At the same time he knows that he needs food, especially with fiber, to heal. However much of this food can give even more pain.He is constantly at the mercy of his stomach which leads to his sleeping cycle to be altered. If someone have experience like this and have advice on how to eat food and drink when it turns to pain?

Jump to this post

Thanks for tagging me @lisalucier. @birk, I've been living with IBS-D for the last 15 years. I have a few recommendations for your brother. Firstly, I would recommend that he starts a Low FODMAP diet. He can find more information on this online. This will help him determine his trigger foods. For example, some of my trigger foods are onion, garlic, pistachios, and avocado. I would also recommend that he sees a new Gastroenterologist if he feels that his current doctor isn't trying to help him. Hyoscyamine is something I take for my stomach pain. Other than diet and Hyoscyamine, I really, really recommend that he ask his doctor about Viberzi. I have been on this medication for the last 4 years and it's changed my life. I went from having diarrhea 3+ times a day, to hardly ever. Note: Viberzi can only be taken by people that have a gallbladder. Best of luck to your brother! I hope he gets the help and relief he needs.

REPLY
Profile picture for exeter
exeter | @exeter | Jun 6 11:18am
In reply to @mikayla68 "When I was a child, I was constipated. It was hard to pass a poo, the..." + (show)
Profile picture for mikayla68 @mikayla68

When I was a child, I was constipated. It was hard to pass a poo, the poos were the small hard pebbly kind. As an adult (I'm in my late 60s) my poops tend to form too wide. It's either the first poop of the day, or the first part of the first poop. My drs have always labeled this as constipation - but I go poop every single day so it seems like the wrong diagnosis. I'd poop even if I didn't use Citrucel or Colace, which I do. And you won't be surprised to learn that I've had hemorrhoids and 2 surgeries for fissures.

To make this more complicated, I had the bad luck to get CDiff a few years ago which morphed into IBS Mixed - I've found that drs pretty much leave it up to patients to determine what kind of IBS, but I think I'm mixed, but maybe it's actually D? Anyway, I now eat low FODMAP which is very effective, but means I can't have certain things like prunes or Metamucil. Oh, and most GIs I've seen are glad I'm eating low FODMAP and just don't care if I call my condition IBS-D or IBS-M or even IBS-C. Oh and I had a rare bad reaction to Miralax, so I can't use that.

So I'm just wondering if anybody would recommend I try anything to help with this poo-size issue. I'm thinking about getting ground flax seed, I think that might be my next experiment. If I overdo the stool softeners or counting my fiber intake or Citrucel, then I poo and poo and poo - it almost never becomes watery, but it causes many bad mornings and sometimes can't leave the house until noon. I'm so sick of myself! I'm in my golden years and I just want to enjoy them!

Thanks.

Jump to this post

Flax seed didn't do much for me and Fodmap was difficult for me to follow. I now take a small amount of Miralax with a glass of water in the morning and then one cup of coffee (laxative). So far, so good.

I don't take the recommended dosage of Miralax. Everyone IS different. and some days I can tolerate a certain food and the next day I can't.

Why does it seem as though women are more likely to have these problems than men? I"m sure it must affect them, but I think, for some reason, it's more of a "woman" problem

I stopped going to the gastroenterologist because we are the ones who have to figure out what to eat and what to not eat. There are no great breakthroughs when it comes to gastric problems.

REPLY
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.