mother of all flare ups

[Cimmy]

help!!!! My IBS is out of control, I don’t know what to do. About 2 weeks ago I went to the hospital with really bad stomach pains and sickness, had a check and some bloods don, Saw the doctor whom said it was gastritis, I was given 2 different antibiotics and pain killers to take. Well I’ve finished the course and WOW my tummy is not happy. Been back to doctors who said it is a flare up of my IBS, how do they know without doing some tests or a proper exam, it maybe true that my IBS has had a massive flare due to a bereavement and antibiotics. My question is please please please how do I calm it down, it’s making me feel so bad and Ill I just want to feel good or even better would help. Any suggestions would be warmly received. Thank you for reading

[XDjames]

'My IBS is out of control, I don’t know what to do' Absolutely identify with that. I hang on to the word 'flare' which implies it will get better and in my experience it does (I plot my quality of life index and it's like a bumpy landscape scattered with deep canyons). So hang on, it can be ghastly but it won't always be like this.

[Cimmy in reply to XDjames]

Hi xDjames and thank you for your reply, the landscape I am walking at the moment is horrendous, I’m on the verge of going to a&e because I feel so bad. I just want to feel good, can’t remember the last time I got through a day and thought that was a good day. I just want to be normal

[XDjames in reply to Cimmy]

Tomorrow can be a better day (IBS is not a one way trip) and summer is coming! My last 'good day' when I was not limited in what I wanted to get through was ~ 2 weeks ago, with a few days getting there, so I think I'm not so bad. Previous multi-month flares with bouts of days I could barely get out of bed it's been bad enough that NHS 111 sent an ambulance instead of putting me through to a doctor (I could not have dealt with A&E). There's actually nothing they could do physically and I felt a bit embarrassed but they did suggest a few things. While 'talking therapy' sounds like a cop-out, dealing with it mentally is one thing you can control. Theibsnetwork is a good resource (phone line some evenings) and CBT techniques, effectively rationalising the situation, are useful. I make sure folk around me know my limitations and any plans I dare to make and any fixed appointments have fallbacks (plans B, C etc.) and a lot of stuff is spur of the moment when feeling more with it. Within those limitations and accepting 'wipeout days' I can still make a useful contribution with 'wins' of different scales and do spur of the moment things. These are mentally very helpful.

[Mornamoo32 in reply to Cimmy]

Hi Climmy

Forgive me if I am teaching granny to suck eggs , but do you follow the low fod map diet when you are having a flare up? A little bit yummy website and the monash app is really helpful. I had a bad flare up this time last year for 16 weeks and it’s horrendous. I feel you. I get one a year and then most days just have a mild tolerable burn.

What things do you do to try and help it? Ibs podcasts on Spotify have also helped me understand how to manage it better mentally also x

[Dollymae06 in reply to Cimmy]

Hi Climmy I could have wrote this myself I am exactly the same but with high anxiety too. My IBS is every day so feel like I'm always in a flare I feel so ill with it. I also have bowel incontinence and get frightened to leave the house some days. I also get tingling sensations all through my body which scares me. I'm going to Gp and I want some tests done I've never been tested either. I really know how you feel and you are not alone I understand how this impacts your life. Please keep us posted and I hope you feel better soon.xx ❤️

[Brownlamu86 in reply to Dollymae06]

Have you heard of bile acid malabsorption? That’s a common cause of bowel incontinence.

[Dollymae06 in reply to Brownlamu86]

I have heard of it but never researched it I will have a look thank you. X

[-lilybet]

have no advice just hang on in there I’m in a flare up of IBS and diverticulitis with kidney issues so totally understand how you want to feel better or normal me too! It’s mentally exhausting good luck and hope you feel better soon 🙏

[Winke]

I don't know if this will help you but i have magnets that i out on my stomach and i now it sounds crazy but the work for me and move the pain. Hope things improve for you 👍

[Carlettejaque]

Have you been checked for dairy intolerance, yeast and wheat intolerances? Antibiotics won't have helped because they upset the gut flora. To calm a flare up you must follow the fidmap diet. Don't eat fruit for a week. Limit your fibre intake and eat small portions of fish, eggs, potatoes. When I get a flare up I don't eat much at all for a few days. I get terrible acid stomach with heartburn. But I can't take Omeprazol or other PPI's or things like fomatadine H2 blockers as they give me terrible stomach pains. It might be because they inhibit digestion. I really sympathise with you. IBS is a disability. It can really get you down.

[Edgar77]

When I'm put on antibiotics I always take pro biotic with them. It seems to lessen the impact of the antibiotics for me. Antibiotics kill both the good and bad bacteria so you need to replace the good ones.i know when you feel so awful you want to do something about it, but sometimes the best thing to do and hardest is nothing. Just rest, stick to bland foods if you can eat, if you can't have plenty of fluids maybe with a little squash for energy.i have lucozade. I know it's fizzy but that's the zinc in it which is lost through diarrhoea. Good luck and believe it or not it will improve it needs time.

[kennethstephens1957]

I hope you are on a low fodmap diet. I stay away from foods that I suspect are causing me problems, like blueberries, strawberries, naan, all kinds of gluten. This 87 year old man eats low fodmap fruits with peanut butter, & this diet is proving beneficial for my IBS situation.

[angelwings52]

All I can recommend is what I do when my IBS flares up really badly - I was in hospital for a month with Sepsis and after the really strong IV antibiotics my IBS was horrendous. I started eating my version of the BRAT diet, I had live natural yogurt, toast, bananas, plain boiled root vegetables and potatoes in small portions. It's not the most exciting diet but it always works for me. You could also try hypnotherapy, there are some good apps online or see a hypnotherapist to help with the stress, I can't recommend this enough as I haven't had any stress related flare ups since I had hypnotherapy. Hope you feel better soon.

[Speedwayfan]

I know exactly how you feel as I went to the pharmacy first thing which has recently been rolled out as I had been battling a suspected UTI for a month. Was prescribed 3 days nitrofurantoin. On the 5th tablet I experienced horrendous stomach cramps and within minutes had explosive diarrhoea which was horrendous. I never took the last antibiotic and wished I could turn the clock back and tried to get a drs appointment rather than useless the pharmacy first. Lesson learned the hard way. That was two weeks ago and it's only in the last 48 hours I have been able to face a hot cooked meal. I am a member of the IBS network who do a fantastic job. I rang their helpline on the evening I had the horrendous experience and the nurse explained my gut flora would have been stripped of the good bacteria as well as the bad. I honestly thought I had cdiff and ended up with two drs callbacks. I will never take Nitrofurantoin again. My symptoms were no appetite no energy horrible sickly feeling that came on in waves. All I could face was cereal and toast. I took dioralyte and can highly recommend Gatorade which both put salts and electrolytes back in your body. Keep hydrated and eat little and often. I really hope you feel better soon as I fully understand how you feel.

[LFHell]

I find probiotics very soothing, including fermented foods and coleslaw. Water kefir/coconut kefir, sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar provide relief for me. Biomel, Vivomixx and LGG brands are good. Depending on whether you have IBS-C or D? LGG seems to have given me C when i was D-predominant before but has helped my dairy allergy but not fodmap intolerances. Vivomixx affected my microbiome for the better, even after antibiotics, i had good diversity on that test!

[Februarygirl]

I really feel for you, I know that it gets you down and it seems that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Try taking Alflorex Dual Action. It’s certainly made a difference to me, not perfect but a lot better. Good luck.

[Poppyseed8]

have you tried or ask your doctor for 10 mg tablets of Amitriptyline I think sometimes you can take a tablet and just the thought that it’s going to work helps me I also have mebeverine that I will take when my stomach is doing somersaults I can have weeks of glare ups but as soon as I don’t have hospital, doctors, dentist, appointments mine calms down but even someone visiting me at my home can set me off so don’t feel you are on your own with this because your not

[binks]

Hang on in there. I’ve had a good few weeks and then two weeks ago a severe flare up which has not improved. The minute I wake up the churning starts and as soon as I stand up I have to get to the toilet. My stomach feels even worse after I’ve been! It’s debilitating and I hate it. I hate the “new” symptoms which put doubts in my head about whether it’s something else - every time it feels worse and different from any time before. Xx