Hi. I have just joined. Been living with IBS a long while now. My problem is day to day. I just never know when I'm going to have a bad day, it comes out of the blue. I can't get off the loo with d......... and end up with terrible pains and feeling sick. Now, I'm just used to this. Problem is nobody gets it (the people around me). It is affecting my so called work life (Currently unemployed.... Obviously). It stops me continuing in jobs, I end up lying and making up stories to employers and my family. I just can't do jobs unless I know the loo is near. It's not just jobs, but going on outings with anyone. If I'm having a bad day and I've arranged to go out, I do go, but... When I'm out with people I make up stories so I don't venture too far from the loo. I have found that even my family just don't get ot. When I tell employers, they just look at me like I'm a child who can't hold herself. For me, it's not so much the condition, but people around me.
Does anyone feel trapped like this? I am 41 and feel 4....
Hi. I am in a similar situation right now. Going to join a new job and worried I won’t be able to cope. Do you follow the FODMAP diet. I am on it right now. I have just been diagnosed and already feel that I won’t be able to work as every day I get up with a different feeling. I support myself so I need to have a job. There is no disability in my country. I am also 37 and just started getting promoted in my career. Feeling very disheartened.
Hi. I sympathise with you. No I'm not on any kind of diet. I have tried everything. I tried cutting out yeast, gluten, wheat, dairy. I even paid to have a food intolerance test done. I just give up trying anything. I have tried all the pills as well. I just live day by day. I do know some foods are awful triggers for example; onions. I have a list, its a long one. I know that one day I think its this food, then the next I think maybe it's this???? I get myself in a real tizz about it. It is frustrating. Have you told your work about it, what do they say? How do we live this way, it's like living a quarter of the life we should be living...
There is a app by Monash university that shows the low FODMAP list of foods. I find it pretty helpful in eliminating which foods are not good. It’s not a free app. But it is pretty useful. You should definitely give it a try. The app makes it easier to understand what we can eat and what we can’t.I guess IBS is different for everyone.
No I haven’t told my work about it. I was afraid that they would not hire me. I was thinking once I am there I would mention it. I live in India so I am not sure how much my employers will understand about IBS. You think I should mention it to them. Have you were got any positive response from places where you have worked. Sometimes stress at work also causes IBS. Mine started because of stress at my last job.
.... Oops. Phone is sensitive. I was saying...thanks for the info about the FODMAP. It was interesting read. No, I have not had much positivity around telling work. I suppose if IBS affects your work environment, what else can you do except tell if the need arises. I hope that things work out for you and they are understanding.
Hello Nita5, i too had suffered the same plight as you do. Mine started with a c-difficile infection along with diverticulus(pockets in colon wall). This caused great discomfort with having constant feeling of having to relieve myself. Here in the U.S.A we have a medical leave from work act , which gives us up too 480 hours of work leave per year for medical reasons which includes I.B.S. The I.B.S. for me came after taking antibiotics which had thrown off my good gut bacterium. I went between constipation and diarea. Having being constipated is like a clogged drain pipe. As you eat more the clogg builds up and only the liquidy and soft fecal matter passes making it hard to hold in due too it having rushing passed the clogg.This can cause diverticulus weakening the walls of your colon. What i did was my doctor prescribed me a drink (like a gallon of it) to empty out my colon completely. Then i started a regiment of drinking Keiffer, which is a liquid type lactose free milk yogurt which contains all the ecential good bacterium your gut needs. This can take up to a year to replace but i noticed a difference in a few weeks. I also was taking a teaspoon of liquid imodium with my main meal per day , then lessened that to 1-2 times per week as i seen improvement. The imodium will help you with more solid stools and any inconstanance you may have. Everyone is different so go by trail and error for yourself and don't over do the imodium as it can cause unwanted constipation. A small amount can go along ways to help you, so trial and error will happen. I am now after a few years able to work with only missing a day of work once in every few months and even longer and feel much more normal again. Good luck i hope this helps, as everyone is different but i hope it works for you. be sure to give it time it takes months to return your gut back to normal, no overnight cures
Hi. I have had imodium for several years and it just didn't help. I really have to watch the food I eat. I am not keen to try anything else as regards medication. I cannot believe that they take IBS so seriously there. I wish they did here in the UK. I do think its a lack of understanding...
I too at first was taking Imodium in pill form but it didn't work well for me, but I had caught a flu bug giving me terrible diarea so I bought the liquid form and it worked way better, especially when I took it with a meal. It helped me form solid stools and the kefer rebuilt my gut flora. I am no where near as anxious with the inconstinance anymore. Give it a try and time will tell for you. Feeling that way is to terrible a way to go thru life having to look for a place to go everywhere, and effecting your work life as well. Good luck!! I sure hope this helps!!
Hi. This was a few years ago, I paid £100. I think my doctor recommended it at the time. I had a test set sent through the post where I had to prick my finger and send a blood sample. It then comes back after a bit with a list of foods I should and shouldn't eat. To be fair it wasn't that good. It did list a couple of things I knew I couldn't eat, but not all.
Hey, I too am in the Uk, I swear reading your posts is seriously like reading my own! We sound soooo similar! It's so hard to live day by day never knowing how you're going to be! I've tried all the eliminating foods, finally came to the conclusion if I'm going to suffer i may as well suffer eating the food I like! I do know dairy is a consistent trigger for me but aside from that some foods I can eat fine one day and not the next! I am an anxious mess at work but then the same at home! It really is a hard diagnosis to live with, as no help out there for us, you get told it's IBS and then that's it! Xx
Hi. Yes yes yes, I'm in this turmoil of what will happen next. It's like like living with a monster in me. I also have days where I think Oh hell, who the heck cares... I'm going to eat what I want because I don't know when the next bouts coming. I am also anxious a lot. You know what I HATE?? When people say, "can't you just wait?". My reply to them is nothing with a cross face and running to the loo. You are so right...you go to the GP and then told to live with it. There's no outside support from employers etc... Sometimes mine can go on for 2 weeks. It starts with chronic d........ for 2 days, then on and off for a couple of weeks with pain. I sonetimes wonder why I'm not 5 stone...
Thanks, that's nice of you, but I do not visit the GP anymore.
Haha yes I wonder why sometimes I'm not slimmer than I am! I tend to have flare ups a couple of times a week, then I possibly overdo the Imodium and then have a day off! I don't know what else to do! I've started counselling /CBT to see if I can maybe get to the root of my stress!! Hoping that helps! If not I'm back to docs demanding more tests As they can't just leave us to live like this! What tests have you had for them to confirm IBS?? Xx
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How do you manage to lead a normal life?
Can't wear trousers due to pain and bloating.
No social life
