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I am a generally healthy and active 23 year old who has drawn the conclusion that I am suffering from IBS-C and I don’t know where to begin in terms of managing this/ healing myself. I believe my symptoms are related to stress and anxiety. (Especially as my dentist has recently noticed I am an intense teeth clencher ). I have never dealt with irregular bowel movements before. I first had a bout of terrible constipation and bloating in May of this year. I was terribly stressed and anxious over a final exam in my hardest course that would inevitably determine wether I’d make or break my Straight A streak. I had never felt more terrible. The bloating, the gas, the lack of appetite, the nausea. Though I still managed to pass at least one bowel movement a day I still didn’t feel great. Once the test was over, my grades came in and I walked across that stage excepting my diploma, all was well again. I dealt with mild bloating the months after but nothing Intense that weren’t self resolving very quickly. However, when august rolled around and I found myself under immense stress and anxiety once again my bowels locked up. I am preparing to move abroad to the UK to begin law school and the visa process was severely stressing me out. I had the same symptoms I did last may. Within a little over a week my ailments dissipated. And here I am again….almost exactly a month later. A week and a half out from making my big move to the UK and im dealing with this constipation, bloating, gas, nausea, and lack of appetite again. I don’t know what to do or where to begin to manage this. I don’t want to feel sick anymore. I have a bowel movement once a day but its never a complete elimination and I can feel as stressful events come up my body stops working. My mom has urged me to join these types of forums and groups just as she’s done to help heal her own gut health and thyroid. I also have a really great boyfriend, who I’m about be living with in the UK, who also deals with IBS, more specifically IBS-D, that he was diagnosed with back in our early teen years. I want to know where to begin in terms of diet and supplements and healing. I know I first and foremost need to manage my stress and anxiety and if anyone has any good tips on how to do this I would greatly appreciate it. I’m 23, I feel far too young to be dealing with the level of stress and anxiety I am enduring. I am crying out into the void of an uncertain world, I’m about to make a huge move across the globe, and I feel under immense pressure to “make it” in my adult life. I WANT TO FEEL GOOD AND HEALTHY AND NORMAL!!! This was a long post and probably more of a ramble than anything useful but I just need to break into a space where maybe I can seek out and find help. What I’m Currently doing to manage this all now: 1. Taking 2 types of magnesium supplements together 2. Peppermint tea 3. Beginning a process of elimination diet.

The Low FODMAP Diet: Elimination is the Beginning NOT the End The team at Monash University in Australia, led by Professor Peter Gibson MD, developed the low FODMAP diet. In its strictest sense it is not so much a diet as it is a diagnostic tool for helping to determine whether foods in your diet are involved in contributing to your gastrointestinal symptoms. Some IBS sufferers have unfortunately been using the low FODMAP diet as a forever elimination diet whereas it was designed to be a three phase process. Taking on the three phase diet process by yourself is not recommended. An experienced FODMAP Dietitian is your best ally for using this diet as a diagnostic tool for symptoms. >> Read More