Ibs and foreign travel

[missingyears]

Just curious about how many people who are suffering with severe ibs symptoms have travelled to countries outside of the western world.

I became unwell after travelling to a country in North Africa in my early 30s. I was there for a month. It was the trip of a lifetime. It was the best holiday I've ever had and will ever have.

My symptoms were not acute....to start with anyway! Over the course of the following 10 years my symptoms got slowly and gradually worse and worse. What started as occasional constipation became utter exhaustion, severe swollen stomach, symptoms of of partial bowel obstruction, vitamin deficiency, weakness....and it became so disabling I became unable to work, exercise or socialise. I became extremely depressed and the doctor said that my physical symptoms were caused by depression. I tried to argue that my depression was caused by the physical symptoms in my body...... but they said NO you are depressed and the physical symptoms are symptoms of your depression.

My life was fucked.

I discovered that my physical symptoms were not caused by depression! I had actually picked up a parasite while travelling in North Africa in my early thirties.

... It's a long long story about how I worked out the source of my apparent ibs. And an even longer story of how I finally got to see a doctor.

I ended up having to buy medication from a dubious source and set up my own treatment plan. It was expensive and terrifying. But I no longer have ibs.

The illness that I'm sure I had (and my gp was shocked that the test came back negative for, because she was sure I had it too), is diagnosed about 70 times a year in the uk. Our population is 70 million. Either it's a very rare illness.... or the testing is seriously inadequate. I think it's sad that loads of people may have an explanation and treatment but their lives are being ruined with this ibs nonsense

I have IBS but my symptoms started before I ever did any foreign travel. Apart from France as a child.

But I know people who've had similar experiences to yours. How did you figure it out in the end? What was the name of the illness?

I don't want to go in to too much detail about the actual illness, I'm not sure why.....maybe because It is something virtually unheard of in the uk, and I don't want to get people really worried that they might have the same thing when it isn't what they have. My illness was caused by a parasite that is common in large parts of the world.

I guess the point of my post is to say think carefully back to when your ibs symptoms started. If it coincided with foreign travel, particularly off the beaten track, then it could be worth speaking to a doctor as it could be related.

I honestly never connected my travels with my symptoms.....because the symptoms developed so slowly. If only I had known!

@HunterBidensBurnerPhone I figured it out when my gp asked me to collect some stool samples to look for blood in my stool. I was so desperate to find out what was wrong with me. I took photos of my stool and then zoomed in to have a closer look. I was so desperate to get better. I had been so unwell and literally disabled by my symptoms.. I was so shocked when all the gp stool tests came back negative. I knew there was something physically wrong with me. I kept taking photos and zooming in! I started to see some odd things. It was so difficult because everyone thought I was completely insane. Along with my Google research I worked it out.

Getting treatment was another battle!
This undiagnosed condition took nearly 15 years of my life.