Ibs - feel as though I can’t carry on

[lostandfound55]

Sorry for the long post.

I’ve been struggling for the last few months. GP advises ibs and nothing they can do but I don’t know how to carry on feeling like this.

Everyday I wake up to a gurgling stomach and have to rush to use the bathroom. Then all morning I feel the need to go again sometimes I do go other times I don’t. This means that I never leave the house in the morning as I don’t know whether or not I’ll need to go and to be honest I feel so bad all the time I really only go out twice a week and that is only to go and buy food. I never go anywhere else now.

As the day goes along I then get trapped wind and stomach pain etc which continues until I go to bed then it all starts again the next day for the last 3 months this is continuous with no give up.

Today is bad as I am having diarreah all morning.

Things I have tried:

Gp- prescribed mebeverine - advised classic ibs and I don’t need any other help from them.

Private gastroenterologist - waste of time really as can’t afford the private colonoscopy. They got the details wrong in the letter afterwards such as wrong symptoms written etc.

Dietitian - lowfodmap diet and elimination diet.

I’m still the same after all of this - I don’t know what to do and can’t carry on like this. I want my life back.

I can’t believe this I’m exactly the same. About 14 years ago I was having changing bowel movements that turned to constant diarrhoea, so was sent for a sigmoidoscopy (doesn’t go as far as a Colonoscopy) and was diagnosed with IBS. Long story short I seemed to cope for years till about eight months ago when I had to rush the loo after I ate, feeling more anxious. It was only last week that I actually seen my GP and got help because it had got worse and was scared he’d send me for a colonoscopy, buy the doctor gave me Mebeverine, which are starting to help. Try to control your stress and anxiety and taking peppermint oil is good. I know in the world we now live in trying to relax is like a chocolate kettle, but it does help. I fully sympathise because this is a debilitating illness that doesn’t seem to be taken seriously enough, good luck I hope you feel better soon.

I've made a bit of progress here. I gave up watching the news for a week and switched to plain chicken and white rice and the diarrhoea has gone away. Yay! Also my blood tests came back showing excessive iron and low thyroid (both of which are probably dietary glitches). Something to work on anyway.

@ReeseWitherknife I am 40 and it was early 20’s I started with ibs but never anything like this. Thank you for the Facebook groups I’ll join those and look at the books you mention. I really don’t feel the gp understands just how much effect this is having on me and my life.

@Anonymouse11 thank you. I wonder myself if it is stress/anxiety related however the symptoms are just constant no matter if I am having a good or bad day emotion wise. I have been taking mebeverine which helps with stomach pain a lot of the time but not always.

@jsp5642 glad you are finding improvements.

Yes mine comes on for no reason too sometimes, it’s so debilitating it’s horrible, I hope you get it sorted soon, take care. ❤️

Can I just add that your doctor should send you for a sigmoidoscopy or a colonoscopy with the symptoms you have, if you really want a colonoscopy you’ll have to be economical with the truth and say you’re bleeding, he’ll have you in for a colonoscopy I’m a few short weeks. Good luck hun xx

Thanks, my gp has now referred me for a colonoscopy however they have said they don’t think I need one and that I won’t be seen this year. I did have a little bleeding previously and told the gp but it made no difference.

@jsp5642

I've made a bit of progress here. I gave up watching the news for a week and switched to plain chicken and white rice and the diarrhoea has gone away. Yay! Also my blood tests came back showing excessive iron and low thyroid (both of which are probably dietary glitches). Something to work on anyway.

Just a thought there is a condition called hemocromatotis which makes you store excessive iron and can have IBS like symptoms, that's how my dh was diagnosed, it's a genetic thing and can be quite serious

Well blood tests have come back normal which is good.

The last couple of days I’ve had a lot more pain and have realised I had eaten a lot more fibre those days. I’m going to try low fibre now and see what happens. I have read both the books recommended in the thread and they both advise the low fibre diet so I’m hoping this helps.

lostandfound55 that's good that your blood tests were normal.

I've also cut out fibre - switching from brown rice to white rice, and it's made an immense difference. I hope it helps for you too.

SummerSnapdragon - that's really good to know about that, thanks. I'll have a repeat test in 8 weeks which should confirm either way.

I tried potatoes with the skins on today and that was an unequivocal fail, so that's another vote of the low fibre diet.

I have been eating potatoes with skin on a lot recently, I have peeled them tonight so hoping it goes well.

I guess we just have to keep testing things.

Good idea. I love potatoes with the skins on too, which is unfortunate as they are no working at all just now.

The thing I'm finding works really well is eating only salami, white rice and plain roast chicken breast. It's a bit limited but at least I can leave the house. LOL!

I hope you are doing okay there. I am having a day off.

I've been trying to lower my stress levels and I sent the weekend freecycling loads of stuff from the attic. It was very improving. My son and I also spent sometime on my bike which I have set up as an exercise bike in the greenhouse. That was really nice too. I still have a constant adrenaline rush, which I'm sure is not helping. I will keep working on it.

Good luck there.

Glad you had a good weekend 😊

I have found rice gives me wind if I eat it too often so I have been avoiding that. It’s good you have found what is working even though it is limited.

lostandfound55 I wondered if you might be still there? I'm still plodding on here, but it's quite hard work. I am going to phone my GP again as I tried reintroducing a bit of fibre, and now have diarrhoea at night which is one of those red flag symptoms. Also no darned fun.

@jsp56 I am sorry you are still feeling ill I was hoping you would be on the mend. I have actually had some answers. Last week I felt really ill with pains like labour from that I have had an ultrasound and I have gallstones. I have looked up gallstones and a symptom is unexplained diarreah. I’m waiting for a callback from the gp today to see what happens now.

Gallstones then OP? I'm glad you have an answer. I mentioned them in one of the first replies to you.

@mintyfreshh yes I looked back through this post yesterday and saw you had said that. At that time I had not had the agonising labour type pains so gp did not consider this was the cause.

That's great that they found something fixable lostandfound55. Fantastic news. :-)

I'm having a bit of a rubbish day (understatement). I had some sweetcorn yesterday, feeling very brave at doing so, and have had watery diarrhoea about every half hour for 19 hours now. I'm properly fed up. I think possibly the problem with the chicken and rice diet is that batch cooking chicken maybe is a prone to bugs. I'm not sure. I seem to get on okay if I cook the chicken until is so tough as to be practically inedible, but anything less and I get in difficulties.

Sorry for the TMI. The GP has referred my to a private gastroenterologist and now I'm worrying about that too, which is super-helpful of me. Sigh.

I know two people who've had their gallbladder taken out and in both cases it was extremely successful. I hope you can get yours sorted out soon. Xx

I’m sorry your feeling that way, I felt upset tonight having diareah once after eating my dinner let alone as often as you have.

I was so relieved to be given a diagnosis as this has been going on since June/July now. I spoke to my gp today who told me that as ibs is so common I must have both conditions overlapping but I’m not convinced on this at all.

Do you have a date to see your gastroenterologist? I hope they can help you. With eating sweet corn I think that is high fodmap if it is ibs that you have. Not sure about the reheating the chicken as I am always too scared to do that and cook fresh as I think I will give myself food poisoning

Are you eating more now then the chicken and rice, I hope so as it’s been a while now.

@mintyfreshh can I ask did the diarreah stop for you after the gallbladder removal?

I would push for a referral but if you don't get one I would try Low FODMAP.

I have a fairly low fibre diet but what I absolutely have to avoid are legumes, lentils, pulses. Other people have different must avoids.

The book I used was the complete low FODMAP diet by Sue Shepherd I think. I didn't follow all the rules in it because it was just too restrictive and food is one of my great loves but knowing my triggers means I can make my decisions with knowledge of the consequences.

lostandfound55 yes I think you may be right about chicken. I always worry about keeping it in the fridge uncooked though as well, so unless I go to the butcher every time I eat, I either have to batch cook and freeze or store it in the fridge raw. It's a bit of a dilemma. I'm going to be going vegan at this rate.

Oddly I always do fine if I cook a whole roast chicken, and put the bits in the freezer. It's if I cook chicken breasts wrapped in tin foil (2 hours at 200 degrees C) that that causes trouble. I have no idea why.

I didn't know that sweetcorn was high fodmap. I'm hoping it was the chicken that was dodgy as I really like sweetcorn. I'll be taking my time about trying it again though.

My appointment is the 6th November so not too long. Just got to get myself in working order to get there.

I'm still just eating chicken, salami, white rice, and Evian water. It's so boring. That's why I cracked and had some sweetcorn. It was absolutely lovely. :-)

Thank you very much for the sympathy and for not minding the TMI. I really appreciate the listening ear.

I'm very glad you got your diagnosis. That must be a massive relief.

I don’t mind listening at all. When your having bowel issues it’s not like other illnesses where you discus them with people so it can be lonely.

My gp advised me to do an ultra low-fat diet so I am now having to get my head round changing from low fodmap to low fat. I hope you can start having some more foods soon.

I know what you mean about getting to the appointment. My hospital is only 10 minutes away from my house but I was so stressed about needing to have a toilet in the way or at the appointment but luckily I was ok. I’m glad you don’t have too long to wait and keep me updated.

Thanks so much for listening lostandfound55. I really do appreciate it.

That's intersting that you've to try low fat. It makes perfect sense for a gallbladder problem though, I suppose.

I was on a very low fat diet for a long time and the only thing I found was difficult was that I had to eat a very large voume of food in order to maintain my weight.

I was sort of hanging on to 9 stone 3lbs by the skin of my teeth for a long time (I'm 5' 10"). As soon as I was able to introduce a tiny bit of fat, I went steadily upwards until I stopped at 10 stone 6lbs.