I have recently being diagnosed with IBS-C after two whole years of suffering and not really knowing whats wrong with me. I'm a mother of two little boys, who had moved to Canada 10 years ago when I married my childhood friend.
This is going to sound very weird but this is how I first figured out that I had a problem with certain foods. I had barbecued pork once at a family get together and literally threw everything up within 30 minutes. It had only been a few months since our marriage and everyone thought it was morning sickness in the afternoon.lol!! As years went by it kept happening more and more often and then I would start having a reaction to other foods such as salads, cous cous, mayonnaise, fatty meats like pork. My reaction to those foods would be stomach pain, throwing up and watery bowel movement. I often associated all this symptoms with eating something bad. I finally told my family doctor and asked to do a allergy test for the foods I was having a reaction to,but to my surprise I wasn't allergic to anything. During this time I had developed heartburn and severe headaches and was given medication for that.
After having my second son I started having sudden stabbing pains in my lower right abdomen and had constipation. The cramp like pain would eventually go away but it would take a good one minute.
Visited the ER several times and was sent for ultra sound, CT scan, MRI and nothing was found. Finally my GI suggested doing a endoscopy and colonoscopy. Everything turned out to be normal. Following the colonoscopy my IBS symptoms got worse. I had a lot of bloating, couldn't sit for long in a chair because of stabbing gas pain. At this point I was on a fat free, gluten free and lactose free diet. My food choices were very limited. I was house bound, didn't like going in the car because of fear of cramp pain.
I met my GI again and was put on constella( linaclotide) a medication for people who suffer mostly from constipation rather than diarrhea. I will post my experience with this medication in a latter post. No matter what I did I was having symptoms every day.
One day while having a conversation with my sister I realized many of the symptoms I was having was also related to anxiety related to fear of what I was eating and the reaction I was going to have .. I told myself I don't have IBS and went back to a normal diet. I still have pain but I keep telling myself I don't have IBS and nothing is going to happen and the pain goes away. Its a work in progress but it feels much better than how I felt two months ago.
This blog is a diary of my journey to become IBS free and pain free. I have been told to see a counsellor for cognitive behavioural therapy and hopefully will learn some helpful strategies to deal with this problem. Meanwhile I welcome anyone with IBS to post any helpful tips that they used to overcome or manage symptoms. Stay strong :)
Visited the ER several times and was sent for ultra sound, CT scan, MRI and nothing was found. Finally my GI suggested doing a endoscopy and colonoscopy. Everything turned out to be normal. Following the colonoscopy my IBS symptoms got worse. I had a lot of bloating, couldn't sit for long in a chair because of stabbing gas pain. At this point I was on a fat free, gluten free and lactose free diet. My food choices were very limited. I was house bound, didn't like going in the car because of fear of cramp pain.
I met my GI again and was put on constella( linaclotide) a medication for people who suffer mostly from constipation rather than diarrhea. I will post my experience with this medication in a latter post. No matter what I did I was having symptoms every day.
One day while having a conversation with my sister I realized many of the symptoms I was having was also related to anxiety related to fear of what I was eating and the reaction I was going to have .. I told myself I don't have IBS and went back to a normal diet. I still have pain but I keep telling myself I don't have IBS and nothing is going to happen and the pain goes away. Its a work in progress but it feels much better than how I felt two months ago.
This blog is a diary of my journey to become IBS free and pain free. I have been told to see a counsellor for cognitive behavioural therapy and hopefully will learn some helpful strategies to deal with this problem. Meanwhile I welcome anyone with IBS to post any helpful tips that they used to overcome or manage symptoms. Stay strong :)
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