All my life I've thought of IBS as "the poop disease" but now that I have it, it is so much more than that.
It affects mood. I can go from loving life to despair in the space of one poorly chosen snack.
It affects energy levels, bringing about tiredness and even exhaustion. This has knock-on reductive effects for concentration and mental clarity. Need a nap after a meal? IBS.
It can make sleep problems worse.
It is linked to Mental Health symptoms like Anxiety, Depression and Panic Attacks. It doesn't cause them but if you're genetically susceptible to these conditions, it can influence them and be influenced by them.
It can be debilitating, triggered by something as simple as half a cup of apple juice or a pinch of garlic.
All of this can affect plans and journeys. Eating becomes a minefield of hoping you can avoid the long list of items that affect you or choosing to accept damaging items in the hope the damage won't be too severe. You need to plan and keep in mind access to toilets because an attack can come on very suddenly. and imagine how embarrassing it can be eating at someone's home, having an attack triggered, and having to explain the painful cramps, hydrogen-induced farting and reeking diarrhoea.
And just recently I learned that it is more prevalent in people that have suffered emotional abuse and neglect. Brain and gut responding to all that trauma by developing hypersensitivity. Gee thanks, Mom & Dad.
It's a LOT.
My GP prescribed an anti-spasmodic but it doesn't deal with the other symptoms so I'm investigating other options for treatment/management:
St Johns' Wort - to combat mood drops
Molkosan - a probiotic to help digestion
Silicilic Acid [Silicol Gel] - to coat the stomach and handle any rogue 'bad' ingredients.
This, in concert with a managed program of regular Sleep, regular Eating (including daily fasts of 12-14 hours), 30-60 mins of Exercise per day (low impact - high impact can make IBS symptoms worse) and meditation/conscious breathing should be enough to restore and maintain some semblance of normality.
In this study, having previously received an functional somatic syndrome diagnosis such as CFS was associated with female sex and poor health-related quality of life. No association was found for health anxiety, kinesiophobia and physical activity.
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Phase III clinical trials begin sometime this year. If it’s a success, they want to offer a combination antiviral vaccine 💉 for a reactivated #HerpesSimplex1 virus — to make it dormant again — the culprit they suspect is behind all of the symptomatic dysfunction in #fibromyalgia.
Looking to probe the #hivemind 🐝 of Mastodon in my search for a #fooddiary 🥯 🔖 app on #android . I have various gastrointestinal issues including #ibs and I want to know the ingredients I have consumed and at what time during the day. This means that most of the many calorie / macro-nutrient trackers out there are not appropriate. Ideally, it will be a local-first and #privacy conscious solution. Boosts very much appreciated. What I have already looked at...
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I'm having to go through some basic diet changes due to #IBS
so I bought my first half gal of soy milk today.
It's not bad at all, It has a really nice taste and seems a little creamier in texture.
It looks like I won't have to starve to death after all 😂
I’m starting to wonder if there was something wrong with the chicken I bought on Wednesday. These #ibs attacks usually don’t last this long or make me this weak and nauseous. 🤢
I have been dealing with an #IBS flare all evening. It's painful, and feels like PMS cramps must feel. I am tired, sore, and unhappy with the world right now.
#chemo has done a number on my stomach. at one point, i felt like i could breathe fire like a dragon. the reflux was so horrendous that it affected my whole gut & intestines, so i was going almost every 15, 30 minutes to the bathroom, even if i just drank water.
so my MD gave me a generic magical thing called Omeprazole DR. today i finally took it and... i feel weird: it's the first time in forever i have not been in any stomach related pain.
A lot of the #creakyChats community on Twitter seems to have dissipated since Twitter went kaplooey, but the #Discord channel is still there. It doesn't seem very active these days, but it's there, and we would love to see you if you have #arthritis or a #chronic illness. Come join us, we're nice people.
Ugh. IBS flaring today. And no, it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. I didn't do anything for the holiday yesterday. I was alone and ate my usual food. ☹️
A cheap and widely available prescription drug can improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in patients seen in GP surgeries #Amitriptyline, which is commonly used at low doses for a range of health concerns, has been found to improve irritable bowel syndrome #IBS symptoms too, according to the results of the ATLANTIS trial. #Medical#Pharmaceutical#sflorg https://www.sflorg.com/2023/10/med10172302.html
I have successfully completed the first day of a two week period of severe dietary restriction. I'm going to eat nothing but white bread, white rice, plain chicken, and olive oil. Already, even vegetables are starting to look tasty.
Everything else is still untested. I'm going to try nuts this week.
Now I understand why it was so hard for me to find any patterns in what foods caused problems. Something like 80% of the typical American diet is off limits to me.
How likely is it that both a blood test and some biopsies would produce false negatives while not following a gluten-free diet? Having seen rapid improvement from the low-FODMAP diet for IBS (which also happens to eliminate gluten), not fully eliminating fructans from onions and garlic, and then seeing an immediate reaction to wheat pasta upon reintroduction (within hours), I'm beginning to wonder if maybe celiac disease was missed.
Daughter remains in the care of a hospital due to her worsening #mentalhealth issues. This hospital is in another part of the country and aren't great at communicating.
I'm quite unwell. Stress & tension coupled with #exhaustion from yesterday have led to visual #migraine and some #ibs symptoms.
Every time I dozed off I was interrupted by staff or family.
We're hoping she'll be transferred back to her local hospital tomorrow.