Ibs on vacation

[ivesy]

Hi. I feel so guilty. I am away in Mexico with my wife and about 3 days ago had a terrible night with my stomach, basically on the toilet every 20 minutes and horrendous stomach pains. We had the dr out on Friday who gave me an injection of antibiotics and a few other things. I’ve started to feel a little bit better but I can’t help but thinking it’s going to get bad again. I feel myself feeling really depressed about the whole situation and am basically staying in the room. I feel like I just want to go home and am tempted to book an earlier flight out of here but I know it’s not fair on my wife. Sorry to go on and on but I’m just feeling so down right now.

[Hidden]

When mine flared up i ate bananas and they seemed to help me a lot... eat one in the morning and maybe another throughout the day or if you get a flare up.

It might help you some.

[b1b1b1]

Be very careful what you eat in Mexico. Only bottled water, peeled fruit, cooked vegetables, etc. If you are sure it is IBS and not travel diarrhea, then try Immodium.

[Linley]

Hi!

Know how you feel but it could be bad bacteria or an bowel infection caused by badly prepared food. And of course if you have confirmed IBS your bowel is more sensitive. If it has not settled by the time you get home see your GP. I stick to European holidays and find I am o'k and my hubby is very understanding as I am sure your wife will be. Hope you feel better soon

[ivesy]

Thankyou. Yes I think going forward I will need to stick to holidays closer to home as I think knowing I’m so far away from home makes it worse. I’ve been sticking to safe foods all week but something must have not been right. I’m just fed up of always feeling unwell when on holiday.

[Eastbourne11]

Have you looked at the low FODMAP WAY Of eating?

[helen1992x]

Hi Ivesy. I have recently come back from Greece and the last 5 days of our holiday I was in bed by 8:30pm and eating no more than a slice of bread and a few chips for tea, so I know how you must be feeling. I felt so guilty about it all but you need to realise it's not your fault. You can't help being unwell and if your wife understands and supports you, she won't mind at all and will help you through this. I think the fact it happens when you're somewhere unfamiliar makes it feel a bit worse than if it happened at home. I cried towards the end of my holiday because I felt so unwell and down with it all. Make sure you make an appointment with your doc soon as you get home and try not to get down about it. Eat little and often, bland foods and drink plenty of water to help settle your tummy. Hope things get better for you! x

[Helenbperks]

What tests have you had for your IBS? You need to find the root cause and there can be many - bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, yeast overgrowth, parasites, Inflammation, celiac disease.

Once you have established the root cause you should be on the right path to root cause resolution.

A low FODMAP diet should only be followed between 2-6 weeks otherwise you are excluding foods that are beneficial to your gut microbiota. After trying a low FODMAP diet you then have to reintroduce and re-challenge those food groups in order to identify which ones you are sensitive to. If after this elimination period your symptoms have not improved, you should consider looking at other underlying causes.

Have you tried a gluten-free and dairy-free diet?

An elimination diet does not have to be forever. It can be beneficial at the time you are experiencing symptoms in order to relieve them until you find the root cause of your symptoms and address them accordingly.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[ivesy in reply to Helenbperks]

I’ve been tested for SIBO, had a colonoscopy and endoscopy, capsule physiology, blood tests, stool test and the only thing they found was a Hiatial hernia which by all accounts is quite common. So I’m back to the ibs diagnosis. However I will be seeing a dietitian when I get home and hoping they can help me try the low fodmap diet. Hopefully that might help.

[Helenbperks in reply to ivesy]

Good luck with your low FODMAP diet, but make sure you follow it only for a maximum of 6 weeks. Then the reintroduction and techallenge phase begins.

You will still need to find the root cause. Parasites and bacteria are not always covered by the NHS so sometimes you need to use a private lab in order to do more in-depth testing.

Are you on any medication? For example, type 2 biabetic sufferers can develop digestive symptoms through their medication metphormin. Just another avenue to rule out - the side effects of medication.

Good luck!