Anxiety and IBS

[Soprano61]

Hello everyone, I’ve been suffering for 7 months now wich my doctor claims is IBS. But I’m not sure. I was normal before all this, I ate everything and I went everywhere without getting anxious. I’m on the road everyday and get anxious on long distances. I tried several medication but it didn’t help at all. I tried eating healthy but it doesn’t affect the outcome. Now I’m scheduled for a colonoscopy in a month. Any of you have tips I can try out? Thank you

[Maureen1958]

I guess we were all normal before IBS! Are you more IBS(C) or IBS (D)?

[Soprano61 in reply to Maureen1958]

I don’t know. What are the differences?

[Maureen1958 in reply to Soprano61]

IBS(C) is constipation dominant and IBS(D) is diarrhoea dominant! I guess from the fact that you take imodium you are diarrhoea dominant!

[Soprano61 in reply to Maureen1958]

Yes I suppose I’m IBS(D)

[Maureen1958 in reply to Soprano61]

It depends how bad your diarrhoea is but you could have a condition called BAM (Bile Acid Malabsorption), perhaps you would like to look at the link below.

gutscharity.org.uk/advice-a...

[Rod2020]

Hi, I,ve had ibs for years now but was only diagnosed a few years ago, I have to take a few immodiums before I go anywhere , I suppose it’s better than being embarrassed about panicking about where the nearest toilet is, I’m also on amitriptyline for the anxiety.

[Soprano61 in reply to Rod2020]

I also take imodiums wich have a good effect on me but I don’t want to take meds for the rest of my life to live like I used to do…

[Carlettejaque]

Sounds like you have suddenly become intolerant to something. The 3 biggest intolerances are dairy/lactose, yeast and wheat. I'm guessing you have lost the ability to produce lactase in the bowel. It can happen at any age and happen quit suddenly. I was 27 when it happened to me.i dreaded travelling or going out, not to mention the stomach cramps. I suffered for 7 years until I discovered what it was. I cut out all dairy, lactose, whey powders and within a couple of weeks I was back to normal.

[Soprano61 in reply to Carlettejaque]

Thanks for the reply. The doctors directly said it was Ibs so I’m not sure.. I haven’t been tested for intolerance

[Iesgobdafydd]

Anxiety is not the only possible cause of IBS, and IBS can itself cause anxiety. If the cause of your IBS is dietary, just eating healthily was unlikely to fix it because it usually means you've developed some sort of intolerance to particular types of food. A low FODMAP diet is what is usually recommended as a first attempt at treatment, because it results in improvements in a large proportion of cases, but if you prefer another approach is to keep a food diary and see if you can work out which types of food are causing symptoms. It's also possible for IBS symptoms to be caused by imbalance in the gut microbiome (SIBO), and something called BAM can cause similar symptoms. My IBS was caused by TMJD. If you search this website you will find previous questions and answers about all these possible causes of IBS, and more, and many different suggestions of things you can try to help restore normal gut balance if that's a problem.