IBS- Constipated/Diarrhea At the Same Time

[Fortune92]

Hello I’m new to this group and I apologize ahead of time if I talk too much or seem a little crazy I’m just really nervous about what’s going on with my stomach and bowel movements! 

I haven’t been officially diagnosed yet by a Gastroenterologist I do have an appointment in October as it’s the earliest he can see me. My internist believes I have IBS. Over the past year or 2 or more recently I get these episodes where in the mornings I get really bad constipation and then it quickly turns into explosive diarrhea. I wake up with bad stomach pain, cramping, stomach gurgles, sometimes burning, bloating. It feels like it can only go away if I poop. At first it’s impossible for me to go and I’m just struggling to poop. So then I drink warm water and I’m able to go but the stool is hard and difficult to pass. Then within an hour or 2 it’s like I can’t stop going and it turns into watery mushy burning diarrhea and I just keep going,  and it’s uncomfortable and of gross and smelly after I do go the stomach pain goes away and I do take Imodium and it stops it. It depends on how bad it is sometime it’ll stop less than an hour or an hour and 30 minutes. After taking it I then don’t go poop for about 3-4 days and then I go normally maybe a bit constipated but definitely I feel a lot better. After I get diarrhea I stick to the BRAT diet and then start getting into eating a more normal diet. I do tend to get these flairs either before my period, during my period, or even after a few days it’s ended. I also get this if I’m extremley stressed, upset, sad, anxious, depressed which I’ve been feeling lately. My life has been very difficult I’ve had many issues regarding my family, career, friends, and with past boyfriends. I’m a 30 years old female my weight is 78 pounds and I’m 5’3 and also very underweight. I’ve been underweight my whole life but now all of this is not helping gain weight at all. I don’t know if it’s common for someone so skinny and still young to get all this. I don’t drink, smoke, or do drugs. Never have, I do try my best to eat a good balance of fiber and non fiber. There is no blood in stool it’s not black or terry. My internist did do a stool test to rule out any bacteria or parasite that I could have and my poop appeared to be normal. She wants me to see a GI to rule out malabsorption as well. She did do bloodwork and everything was normal my C4 is a little low and my Vitamin D is 28. It’s also hard to tell if it’s also connected to my period I’ve always had GI issues with my period but it seems I also get these flares outside of my period lately and I can’t tell if it’s stress and anxiety or IBS or another condition. I do have a big appetite I’m always hungry but can’t gain weight. I can’t tell what food I’m intolerant too because one week I can eat cheese, butter, tomato sauce, onions, Chinese food, pizza etc and nothing happens to me and then another week or month goes by and then I can’t digest those foods or they make my stomach upset. It’s just. Even really hard for me because if I do have IBS I know from what other people say that it’s really difficult to manage because it’s a functioning disease. It’s not like Crohn’s disease, or I’m sorry to say cancer where we know what the problem is and can go on a very specific treatment or medication. I do notice it acts up the most in the summer time. The company I work for is at its busiest during the summer months and I wonder if I’m so stressed out that’s what causing it. Today I’m having an episode where I woke up with bad stomach pain popped were it’s very hard and solid too pass to explosive diarrhea it’s like I go Zero to Sixty in no time my period ended about 4 days ago I did take Imodium ahead of time during my cycle to prevent diarrhea but stuck just a bland diet last night since my cycle was over I thought could go back to normal I ate a cheeseburger grass fed, tator tots, and before bed half caffeine tea no dairy. Probably not the best idea but it’s just hard I’ve been so hungry. I’m allergic to shellfish/seafood and nuts and bananas so I’m pretty limited with diets too. I know pure actual milk usually upsets me or ice cream but usually outside of my period I can have cheese, products with milk, tomatoes, caffeine, Yougurt. I just feel very alone and I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to wake up every morning and have this fear that I’m going to get diarrhea today or have trouble pooping or feel nauseous as I also have acid refluxes . It’s taking over my life and I want it stop. I’m terrified of leaving my house because I’m scared I’m not going to feel well and there will be no bathroom to use or I hate getting sick in public too. My family has been stressing me out too whenever I do try and talk about what I’m going through they says it’s gross they don’t want to hear it and just have also been really stressing me out too. My mom will scream at me and just say go get a colonoscopy if you have trouble with your poop, clearly you’re not normal  or have colon cancer which of course gets me all nervous and doesn’t help me. My stool also isn’t narrow it’s a normal shape just having trouble going or going too much. I also do have an appointment with my new OBGYN to also see if this is gynecological related too. Any words of advice or if anyone else here knows what I’m going through would be greatly appreciated thank you so much for letting me vent! 

[Bharath Kumar Sampath]

am really sorry , you have been feeling this way. It is really unfortunate that we have to go through these things.These are the things that make me wonder whether god really exist.I did had similar problems like you, I went into depression because of betrayals from my close friends. Even before coming back from depression, I came to know I got IBS. 

There is no test for IBS, the only way you know you got it, is by ruling out every other illness. Doctor's don't know what IBS is or how to treat it.

 

Am really sorry If you have hope in doctors to help you in treatment, but am sorry you should let go of your desire to take help from doctors, because they don't know how to treat.

Everyone body is different, so the foods that work for me may not work for you. It will take time for you to understand the patterns. The more time goes by , the better you will be equipped to dealing with the symptoms.

 

Am too scared to go out, make friends or even travel(which i really wanted to do).But am afraid of doing all these because of unpredictable nature of symptoms.

 

weight loss is a confidence killer, I lost all my muscle and am afraid to my home country, as am not sure how my parents will take it looking at me like this.

I really hope if there is god, the technology must improve and i really hope the science will come up with some cure.

I would recommend you to watch andrew huberman podcast on gut health, there is one interview and one solo podcast.

am sorry that i cannot give you a perfect cure, coz it does not exist yet.

don't give up hope. Surround yourself with family and people.

If you cannot rely on family or friends, let me know, am available to help you , i really know how it feels when no one is there to support you.

things that worked for me - mushrooms, bland foods like pasta, eggs, butter, milk dry fruits and nuts

things to do

try to handle stress and anxiety, there are things that one can do to reduce stress, for me going outside , taking a walk, sitting under tree, being close to nature refreshes me

try to accept your mortality, making peace with your mortal nature and accepting that everyone have to die one day, will bring us to the reality and help us in dealing with the struggles.

try not to eat junk food or eat outside, am sorry not eating outside is very hard thing to do, but we as people with IBS must make foods at home and try ti eat food without scrolling phone or watching anything, try to understand whether the food your eating , how is that feeling inside your stomach, (our stomach have lot of neurons and feedback loops which make you understand or get a sense of feeling whether the food your eating is being pursued as happy or bad by your gut.

meditation really helps and try to have some exercise routine, (it is important not to do exercise too much), as we are skinny, and our digestion is messedup our body does not get enough of everything and that prevents us from doing exercise normally(try taking walks as mush as possible) , try to work standing and avoid sitting for long hours.

I use to be like you, I use to get hungry all the time.

there are days I use to eat all day and poop all day.

Now I eat two times a day and I avoid eating food 5 hours before bed (it will be initially difficult to sleep with empty stomach, if milk goes well with you I would recommend milk before bed time if your hungry, but make sure you avoid eating before bed time, and interminant fasting is something that worked for me, it may not work for you.I don't want you to stay hungry , for me to be here, it took a year of trial and error, and try to find out what works best for you.

My guess is whatever you have mentioned your experiencing in the early morning, I feel it is due to eating before bed time. Let me know making this change helps with morning.

It seems like your mom is not helping you and not able to understand what your going through, that is okay even my parents, they doesn't seem to understand these things and assuming we may be making up things. It is understandable that they feel that way, given IBS is a life long thing and they cannot stick with us for that long, unfortunately we have to deal with this on our own.

most often what i understand after watching lot of youtube videos, is it's less about what you eat and more about your state of mind and mental health.

 

I know it is not easy to manage the mental health, am not sucessfull yet in changing my low times to high. But i want you to be aware of this

 

If your able to manage your stress, i can guarantee you can manage 70 percent of your symptoms.

 

make sure you don't stress for your work or anything your life, try to stay calm in any situation(I know it is easier said than done, but let me know if you need any help)

I took colonoscopy , but did not find anything, looks very normal. If you want you can take it too, but do not expect much to come out of it.

i too don't drink, smoke

 

your not crazy, god is crazy for doing this to us.

 

Life is hard, and on top of that , people are very intelligent and they only try to take advantage of us, if we are not intelligent enough , we will be tore down. It is unfair, but that is hard truth. 

 

people are going to let us down, and we have to find a way to shine ourselves.That does not mean we have to be alone, it is really important to understand people and accept flaws, including accepting our own flaws.

Edited July 23 by Bharath Kumar Sampath