Ibs help

[Ibsanxiety]

Hey so I suffer from anxiety and o have a massive phobia of sickness so whenever I have diareah o have anxiety attacks. Does anyone know how to tell if it's IBS or a sickness bug (so my mind can rest on the flare up days) and what tips do you guys have when dealing with severe diareah any help would be great

[Trevatron1986]

Hi, it's almost as if I had written this post myself as I feel exactly the same way, I also have a phobia of being sick so I'm constantly on edge. I've had IBS for the last 8 years and it seems to get worse when I'm stressed or anxious, I've been having flare ups for the past three weeks and my mind has been obsessing over what the cause of my latest one is, each time praying that it's not a sickness bug or similar. I'm off to see my GP tomorrow to try and find ways of coping better as it's becomming a vicious circle.

[Ibsanxiety in reply to Trevatron1986]

I always feel alone in my fears so it's some comfort that there's people out there who get it and understand how it feels as to everyone else it's a get over it situation.

I either currently have severe flare up or a bug as I was the dreaded sick last night however family believe that was to do with a severe panic attack as I feel much better today.

I hope you get some answers and help at the Drs!

[weegmack]

Bless you, I know how awful this is. I think a lot of us with anxiety and IBS have a real phobia and fear of sickness bugs. I worry about it all the time - I hate it when I overhear conversations about sickness bugs going about because I literally lose it!

In my experience, a proper sickness bug (like Norovirus, for instance), will differ from an IBS flare up, in that you’ll most likely vomit also...or feel awfully nauseous. You may take a low grade fever too.

As for managing diarrhoea with IBS, I completely cut wheat out of my diet about 12 years ago and it helped me a good bit. I’m not saying it is a cure-all for everyone, but it’s worth giving it a try. So it means TOTALLY cutting out all wheat products....wheat flour, wheat starch, wheat ANYTHING.

I also have Generalised Anxiety Disorder- do you get help for your anxiety? Xx

[Ibsanxiety in reply to weegmack]

I'm the same if I hear about a bug going round it's freak out moment or even if I hear people saying they've recent been sick it's the worse there's a part of me that wants to give in to the anxiety and run and hide but fortunately I also have a stubborn part that says get over.it.

I'll look Into the wheat free I did gluten free for a year and there wasn't much of a difference but I'll try anything!

As for my anxiety I do have setraline however I think I've become a bit immune to them now

[Laxmik in reply to Ibsanxiety]

Try getting a food allergy test done. My main issue is with eggs and milk. Once I took them out of my diet I get normal motion on most days.

[Salige]

Hey, thanks for sharing, recent survey by Enterosgel UK have shown that IBS sufferers consider stress to be the main cause of their IBS diarrhoea. Its a shame having stress as a trigger to go and have drugs. So try to treat diarrhoea without drugs by taking a sachet or a tbs of enterosgel one to three times a day, works fast and without side effects.

[torcol]

Sounds like it’s anxiety induced diarrhea. I too have IBS and believe strongly that it developed from years of anxiety. It takes a toll for sure.

I do nothing about my diarrhea because if I take an anti-diarrhea medication it stops me up for days. Good days and bad days I just take them as they come. I hope you can get it under control and have a better quality of life.

[Fudgerelle]

Poor you, I would say join the club, but that makes light of a truly horrible condition.....having had this for ages it seems. I think the difference between ibs and a stomach bug, the later makes you feel ghastly.....sick as a dog, shivers, unwilling to eat anything, in fact just wanting to curl up under the duvet. This lasts about three to five days....ibs means lots of trips to the loo, no sickness just sick to death of getting a loo shaped bum!!

[jillyb47]

Hi. Im The same too vicious circle of anxiety and IBS d it's life crippling. My doc told me to have actimel every day and try bran or weetabix for breakfast. I'd been avoiding fiber as didn't want to be running to the loo but the fiber can soak up the excess liquid and it certainly has helped. Also YouTube is great for mediation videos to calm your anxiety down. Good luck Jill x

[pajohns]

I have the same phobia. I try to rationalise if I was going to be ill I'd get more symptoms. You feel ill with a bug where as ibs it's just the guts thing. I work in a school and there's constantly stuff going around which is tough but I try to think logically about it and tell myself that I can't completely stop myself getting stuff I just need to have plans in place if I do get something. Try some mindfulness stuff and talk it out.

[Merth83]

Me too! Me too! I deal with my IBS every day, along with sinusitis, reflux and my anxiety. They all feed off each other. I'm constantly worried about getting sick with other things like the flu, even though I've never had the flu in my life. Every little random symptom switches on my anxiety brain and makes me start worrying about what I could have. One thing I've been doing a while now which I really need to stop is checking my temperature. I've always felt like my face was hotter than the rest of me. And at times I worry that I might have a fever so I will randomly take my temp to prove to myself that I'm fine. I know 98.6 is considered normal but because my temp is usually between 96.5 and 97.7, anytime it creeps over 98 I start worrying. It's so stupid, I literally haven't had a real fever in YEARS. Some days I wish I could just stay in my house all the time and work from home and avoid exposure to people. When I am out and about I'm not a germaphobe or anything. But like others have said, if people start talking about THEIR symptoms or recent bouts of illness, I immediately start feeling uncomfortable. So frustrating. We're all in this together at least!

[Kilgh]

Right there with you! I have found some targeted hypnotherapy helped a bit with the anxiety. And trusting that whatever happens you can and will deal with it. Despite what the surge of fear is telling you.

[Mkimber1]

Right there with all of you! I've been phobic with this forever as well. I do lots of hand washing, try to avoid super close contact with people during bug season and also have klonopin to take sporadically if my panic gets really bad...it also helps calm my IBS spasms.

[Hidden]

I am currently feeling the same.. I have suffered with a sickness phobia and anxiety and ibs for the last 6/7 years it’s taking over my life.. any tips on what helps?