I'm male, 40 years old. For years I have had an issue with urgency and loose bowl pretty much every day. I probably have firm stools once per month? As soon as I eat I have pain and urgency followed by Diarrhoea. Often I can just think about food and suddenly my stomach gurgles and I have to run sometimes leading to accidents at work, and at home. It's also worse during periods of stress and anxiety. I never really have flare-ups as such, it's just like it constantly. I've had it for so long long now (10 years plus) that's it's just the norm. I take a bit of Buscopan but it doesn't really do much.
Then last weekend it came to a head. A keen biker I was invited to watch the MOTO GP with friends at Silverstone for 4 days camping. I agonised over it for weeks as daily life I tend to not like being too far from a safe, nice toilet, and also the idea of food from the many food vendors worried me as that would make things worse. I was reliably informed that although the camp site was a essentially a huge festival there were 100s of flushable toilets, in brick buildings so it wouldn't be a problem. Well, what a nightmare. I enjoyed a few beers (steady not silly) and as soon as I ate I had cramp and extreme urgency. The nearest toilet was a good 5 min walk away. I've become very good at holding it in for a while when I have urgency which then just creates more pain, and obviously sat there in pain trying not to crap yourself in the middle of a field full of 100s of revellers doesn't make you the life and soul of the party. It was like that pretty much the rest of the day.
The following day (Sat) was the worst. I woke up at six and had to run to the loos (well over 5 mins walk) and the day just continued like that. I popped a couple of Imodium IBS tablets to no reprise. We walked about 12 miles per day (the place is like a city) and had to stop at nearly every loo. My friends are really understanding, but it's horrible. Later that day sat in the stands (trapped in the middle of an isle surrounded by hundreds of people) my stomach was in agony and constantly had urgency which I had to hold tight. The anxiety was off the scale and really not a fun time. I just wanted to go home. In the end I had to leave the stand, use the loo (which were posh portaloos and rammed with people, not great) and sit quietly with a bottle of water. Reading on the web that I could take the buscopan and Imodium IBS together I had quite a few, and then a Buscopan each time I went to the loo. Joy of Joys after an hour it calmed down and I was able to relax for the first time since thursday. It lasted into the evening and all night. I used the loo once in the morning but no pain and it was firm. Race day was great and for the first time all week I had a fantastic time. No problems on the 5 hour drive home either. It took until the following day at home for things to go back to normal. Then yesterday I had awful diarrhoea with lots of pain and urgency about 5 times during the day and I'm bloody fed up. I can't exactly take 6 buscopan and 3 Imodium IBS per day!
The doctor has never really been any help, i was tested for Celiac disease which came back negative. The sum of the doctors advice was "just don't eat things that cause you problems". This was back in 2006. I've visited a different doctor since who gave me Colaflac, a long term anti-spasmodic, which didn't really do anything. I'm not really sure what to do to solve this. Anything I eat causes my problems. I have just started a food and symptom diary but it basically says ate food, had diarrhoea. I have been suffering with mental health since lockdown and being furloughed on my own. I lost my mum last October and my sister in law sadly has terminal cancer. 2 days ago we also lost a close family member so it is hard to keep my head above water. Non of this helps the IBS but the IBS pre-dates the stress.
I'm so fed up of this dictating my life. I hate going out to eat, or to the pub as I always have to run to the loo. So really, any advice, especially if you've had similar experiences will be so gratefully received!!
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Diversion
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So sorry to hear about your struggles. It sounds really awful, especially with you going through a tough time personally.
The first thing I’d do is go back to your GP - it sounds like your last one really did next to nothing, and there are more things they can do for you, including prescribing some antidepressants that are meant to help with the nerve-brain interaction and relieve symptoms (something I haven’t tried but you might want to) and refer you to your local gastro dept as an outpatient. Be insistent and make it very clear how much of an impact this is having on your life - don’t take no for an answer!
Once you’re under a consultant they can do further tests to understand what’s going on in your gut and rule out any other issues (like inflammatory bowel disease or bile malabsorption). You should also get to work with a dietitian who should be able to recommend some more specific things you could do to improve your diet. If all else fails (and I know the cost of living is a big issue) I don’t know if there’s any option for you to try and see a gastro specialist privately? It’s something I personally will be doing but only because I’m lucky enough to have private healthcare through work. Thankfully my IBS isn’t constant like yours, but the monthly flare ups are debilitating and medication (including buscopan, loperamide and peppermint oil capsules) make no difference. As a young woman still the thought of this being the reality of the rest of my life is depressing!
Other than my advice above, there are some things you can be doing from now (which you may or may not be doing). I’d get hold of a probiotic and take it daily - I take 2 Biokult capsules daily. I’ve been reading up on prebiotics recently (which are essentially the food for the good bacteria in your gut) and am looking for a supplement for this - while food is usually sufficient to provide prebiotics, some people do need additional supplementation and as a healthy eater I don’t know what more I could add. But that might be something you want to look into too.
There are some other really good posts on this forum with other specific things you could try - I can’t find them at the moment but if I do I will come back to this thread and add them.
Thank you sunshine, that's really helpful. Interestingly I had a slightly better rest of the day yesterday and also this morning, with no issues after eating lunch or dinner last night. I'm sure talking about it on here and making the decision to sort it out has helped in some way.
I completed the NHS websites mood self-assessment a couple of weeks ago and scored 16 out of 21 for depression score and 14 of 21 for anxiety. I was quite shocked. I had just thought mood swings, stress and feeling low was just a minor thing with everything that's going on but it seems it's quite apart form the norm. That also helps in it's own way.
I will certainly look at the Biokult, I don't take anything long term. My diet is amazing but it's certainly not poor. I drink a fair amount of coffee which I'd like to reduce, but that's the industry I work in so it's not easy.
Also just to mention, you may have local mental health services that you can self refer to, or the GP can refer you to, that will offer therapy or counselling for your mental health. Like you’ve said, your mental health plays such a big part in how your gut works and it sounds as though it could really help.
Sorry to hear you've been having such a hard time. Have you tried Alflorex probiotic that has been scientifically studied for IBS? There is also the Nerva gut directed hypnotherapy app to help with stress. Failing that you could ask your GP to refer you to a FODMAP trained dietitian to take you through the FODMAP elimination and reintroduction diet. However your case does sound severe so as Maureen1958 says ask for tests for BAM. Since this is affecting your life so much your GP needs to help you to control your symptoms. Since it's a while since you were last tested they may want to do some re-testing.
Thank you, I will look at both the probiotics you and sunshine suggest. The app sounds interesting. I feel like a good amount is due to stress etc. I can just think about food, or eating (especially if i'm hungry and I'm late to have lunch) I then have instant cramp and have to rush to the loo. Can also happen when I smell food in that scenario and often during cooking. Sounds silly really but it's true!
Pro biotics for just over a week now and things do seem to be getting a bit calmer. generally less loose (not great but not awful) and no urgency at all which is brill. Hopefully after a month or so I'll start to see some real benefit.
Um,hope this isn't a silly question if you've had ibs for so long....but have you strictly adhered to a fodmap diet for say 6 months,or longer?I note in your story "had a few beers" "just steady" ...to me that would be asking for trouble,and beer can definitely be laxative.
Monash university,which has one of the best dietary regimens for ibs,recommends 1 can,if you're going to have any at all.
Well, as I said above, (with the exception of this fodmap thing which I have only just learned about) there hasn't ever been any food patterns that cause symptoms. It all started when managed a bakery cafe. I'd end up having pan au choc in the morning, pasty for lunch, pastry whilst cashing up and then take pasties home. I was tested for coeliac but came back negative. I stayed away from wheat (including beer) for about 2 years with no change in symptoms then accidently had some wheat and I was fine so I slowly introduced it and nothing changed.
The biggest trigger seems to be stress so trying to keep that under control. I've started taking a probiotic after advice here which does seem to taking things the right way.
Inksplat gives good advice.Your diet at the cafe was very unbalanced it would seem...
Stress of a negative kind is very unhelpful ,including that from feeling unwell or physically uncomfortable with ibs.
The Monash information is a really good place to start and gives very sound advice .They have a good website.There seems to be no quick fix and as inksplat has said we all have individual variations.
You don't have to be celiac to be intolerant of wheat and how often do we eat pure wheat?Look at all the stuff that goes in or on a wheat product.
For a while at least, you have to consider everything that goes into you mouth,this is initially a bit overwhelming.
Many/most people on this site are having a very difficult time of it.
Hi Diversion- I can totally understand- and most of us here can relate to you being totally fed up with life being dictated by your bowels. I’ve tried the monash low fodmap diet- it’s recommended you do it with a nutritionist as the reintroduction phase is a bit of a nightmare to try and figure out your triggers.. I’ve got a vague idea but I’m not convinced low fod is the sole answer. The best thing the nutritionist told me was to take some digestive enzymes- (she said get a blend from a good health food shop). I had to fiddle with the dose as I found it actually firmed things up a bit too much! I also started with Jeanette hyde’s book The Gut Makeover- she is a nutritionist along the same lines as Tim specter ( Zoe) and Michael Mosley- it’s eat plants and more plants, and keep off bad carbs and your gut microbiome will thrive and hopefully gut health will improve. I’m now doing the Zoe nutrition thing ( which I’m paying for) and whilst I thought my diet was good before, I’m making changes to include a greater variety.. at the moment the combination of enzymes, avoiding anything too high in fodmaps and following the ‘eat more plants’ mantra is at least making me feel better. But I should add another thing I’ve done which has greatly reduced stress for me - I’ve stopped having the radio on all day long- I’m a Radio 4 fan, but I’m so sickened by the present state of affairs in this country it stresses me out, and usually I’m listening and reading social media at the same time. Now I have silence, and I have to say my head is much clearer- I still look at social media, but not with politics banging in my ears at the same time. I’m focussing my efforts on things I enjoy instead. Anyway- the long and short of it is, get as much help as you can from docs but don’t expect to find it in a pill- try and figure out what are big triggers for you, try and reduce stress the best way you know how. And as you can see- we’re all so individual what works for one doesn’t work for others, so we are left to experiment and try and figure it out for ourselves. Come to this forum and rant! It’s the best therapy and very good to get it off your chest!
Morning all, Just an update to to let you know of my progress. Thanks to those who suggested Alflorex, 30 days on in pretty much symptom free! In fact, we're away on a city break this weekend, eating and drinking etc. And absolutely no issues in any way which totally changes the experience. I haven't had urgency for well over 2 weeks (which is a personal record)
My stools are solid and go twice sometimes once per day rather than say 7...My partner tells me what I'm now experiencing is NORMAL!!
So thank you so much for all your suggestions. I'm so grateful!
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