I stumbled upon this site while searching for work ideas. I’ve been a stay at home mom for many, many years and basically need an entry level job. However, I didn’t realize how bad my IBS had gotten. I’ve always just lived with it. I’ve had a colonoscopy two years ago because of symptoms and IBS was just the doctors’ answer via process of elimination. I was relieved that I didn’t have diverticular disease. I had my gallbladder removed last year and it seems to have made my IBS worse, in some ways. The onset of my IBS-D moments are a lot more swift after a trigger. When I started looking for work, I started trying to put my bowel on a schedule, so to speak. I realized how out of control it had gotten. How in the world does anyone work with this?! I’ve started fasting for hours and hours, daily, and still can’t seem to get a handle on it. I don’t feel like I can talk to anyone about it, really. It’s not something I want to have an in-depth conversation with my husband about. One of my daughters has Crohn's Disease and she does understand. I need to be able to work! I see many people here are prescribed medications. My doctor didn’t even attempt a conversation about meds. I live in the US. I’ve been trying to go the natural route. Does anyone have ideas for working? Working from home? I need to take classes or something,I think. I’m searching for a direction. Am I relegated to taking oodles of pepto bismal tablets daily? I wanted to be a preschool teacher and I just don’t see how that will work with me running to the bathroom. I feel hopeless...and really peeved.
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Roselynn89
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Hello roselynn: think you’ll crack this dreadful problem! And you’ll get great advice here. It wasn’t at all “easy”, but I managed to work for decades with constant IBSC+D-like signs & symptoms by concentrating on first line treatments & lifestyle techniques self awareness + a lot of determination, all the while feeling vvvv alone cause my GI tract illness was progressive and this was way back before internet forums like this one. i feel sure you’ll get great advice here which will really really help you figure this out.
Grdaually my boss let me work from home more & more until finally, after 20 years, i took redundancy on health grouds and set up a home-based consultancy. Otherwise, i think i’d have found part time voluntary work in the charity sector, with hours that worked for me (ie late morning till mid afternoon, maybe 3 days a week)
I’m TOTALLY relating to how much it means to have your daughter understanding....my husband has v early onset crohns, which helps him be v supportive to me re my gastro stuff....especially during the past 4 years while my lower GI issues have become extremely severe, and gastroenterology is saying my IBSC+D-like stuff is actually Crohns-like! In fact, the treatment plan i’m now on is based on NHS Crohns-care protocols
Because it’s clear you have already tried all the right “first line” treatments & self help, i just want to ask whether anyone has suggested you try Celevac (methylcellulose)? My colorectal surgeon recommended it several years ago...and my gastroenterologist has prescribed it ongoing...it’s a key part of my daily combined therapy prescription treatment plan long term!
I have experienced no side effects whatsoever on celevac. To me, and to other patients, it’s indeispensible...a sort of miracle treatment! Apparently patients with chronic gastro issues tend to get it (IBS patients, ileostomy patients, diabetics, IBD patients). Yet hardly anyone here seems to inow about it...even though the NHS recommends it for BOTH chronic diarrhea and also for constipation (slow transit patients just take celevac with more water than diarrhea patients). It’s available over the counter, as well as on prescrip. So, in case you haven’t heard of Celevac, or tried it already, here is a NHS approved website’s info on Celevac...maybe ask your GP about Celevac?
Celevac has been temporarily out of stock during the past few months, but my pharmacy gave me several tubs last week, so even if Celevac isn’t yet available OTC at sources like Amazon, it is available on prescription. The USA equivalent is Citrucel (i take both forms of methylcallulose as caplets/tablets....while Celevac was unavailable, i got Citrucel instead and they both are equally effective in my case):
Sending you (.& your daughter) a big gentle hug...aplogies for the lonnnnng reply, but this subject is v close to my heart for obvious reasons...i just hope “something” in all that helps
XOXOXO Coco
PS i’ll just mention that i had already come to rely on a Low Residue (aka low fibre) + low fat + low dairy + low gluten diet before i tried Celevac...and now i continue to get maximum benefits from Celevac even though my current special exclusiin diet is very limited. Others can experience extra wind with celevac, but i NEVER have...and perhaps this is because way before i started on daily Celevac i had already figured out the type of diet that could help me most
Welchol and/or Colestipol worked for me...absolutely completely stopped my chronic diarrhea. Please talk to your doctor about either one of these, as they will change your life as they have mine! I, too, live in the US...Colestipol is much less expensive than the Welchol. These 2 drugs are bile acid sequestrants. I had my gallbladder out, too, and my chronic diarrhea got much worse! I worked in classified areas that didn't have restrooms in them and there were many, many times that I didn't make it to the restrooms outside and had to go home and change my clothes...it was miserable! Good luck....keep us posted!
Thanks v much sweetsusie: am so goad these hep you! i’ll definitely pass your tips on to anyone who asks me about this....but at 64 years old i am sorry to say that i can’t try anything other than the prescription meds that are helping me so much right now, because during the past 3 years i have crossed the line from Intestinal Insufficiency into Intestinal Failure..and am now unable to tolerate food by mouth so my NHS university hospital has me surviving on prescription Enteral Nutrition + my daily prescription meds (i am a complex patient with very early onset comorbidities: lupus + bone marrow disease + hEDS + all the secondary illnesses that come with these including my chronic Crohns-like mouth to a*s GI tract stuff...i really wouldn’t be coping as well as i am without Celevac! I feel VVVVVV LUCKY)
I'm very glad that your meds work for you, Barnclown (love your screen name!)....and am so sorry you have so many health issues. I am 70 years old and have just been diagnosed with emphysema (lovely, huh??). That's what I get for smoking for over 35 years, though. Anyway, hang in there...thinking about you!
Thinking of you too sweetsusie (love your name too)...i hope your medics do their best to help you make emphysema behave! There’s Lots of Life left for us to Live! XOXO
Oh GOSH: am so sorry! Privatisation is creeping in here...very worrying...i have close family in the USA, so hear a lot about your health system...take care....
I'm in what Medicare calls their "donut hole." So, until I spend $5,000.00 US dollars on prescriptions, I have NO deductible. Then, after i spend $5K, Medicare once again, will pick up and do co-pays. Weird. Our Congress did this to the Medicare patients, including the disabled! These morons, in their ivory towers in Washington, DC think that everybody in the US is rich like them and were taking advantage of high-priced prescription drugs being paid for by Medicare, so they put these stupid rules in place. I've heard that EVENTUALLY this will go away, but I'm not holding my breath (which I have none of anyway..hehe..) Take care!
Thank you! I will look into methylcellulose, I haven’t tried this yet. I am looking at part time work and trying to figure out the “safest” time of the day for me. I, too, am looking at charity work part time.
I have been grain free off and on, but now am also going to start trying the dairy free route. I will also look for methylcellulose to see if this will make an even bigger difference. I did have a doctor suggest a citrocil type thing, but never used it regularly.
Thank you for your suggestions and encouragement. 🌸
Welchol and/or Colestipol worked for me...absolutely completely stopped my chronic diarrhea. Please talk to your doctor about either one of these, as they will change your life as they have mine! I, too, live in the US...Colestipol is much less expensive than the Welchol. These 2 drugs are bile acid sequestrants. I had my gallbladder out, too, and my chronic diarrhea got much worse! I worked in classified areas that didn't have restrooms in them and there were many, many times that I didn't make it to the restrooms outside and had to go home and change my clothes...it was miserable! Good luck....keep us posted!
I will definitely looks into these things. Having those type of accidents is what I fear. Having the gall bladder out has definitely kicked up my tummy issues. My poor daughter has experienced some horrible issues and accidents too. Her Crohn’s is pretty acute. We are both looking for work that won’t torture us. I will look up your suggestions. Hopefully my doctor will prove helpful....
First you have to decide what you want to do, so draw up a list of your skills, talents, gifts, and interests.
Then once you have a list, look how they connect, look for niches.
I take it you like to help, learn and educate, so is there anything that over laps there.
Are you technical minded, can you create online course for something your good at, got knowledge of. Can you do home tutoring?
Don't be afraid to think outside the box, think radical, put ideas on paper, no matter how wild your thinking, write it down. Then leave your lists for a few days, let your brain work on things, on your thoughts and writing, then return to them, and take it from there, a fresh outlook.
Anyway hope this helps, finally don't define who you are by you IBS, you are much much more than it. Take heart, things will change for the better in time.
Thank you, Alun001. I will try to meditate on these things. This is definitely a new season of life for me, a season of “finding myself”. I’ve started to go back to some hobbies, like painting, which I haven’t done for several years. Going through my own metamorphosis =^)
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