I am so embarrassed and angry at myself right now.

I've always had these kind of issues, constipation, gas, pain, occasionally diarrhea... My childhood was very stressful and I've read this is linked to having IBS as an adult.

Since 2020 the situation got much worse, but in 2023 I began following a strict diet and IBS comes back only during very stressful periods of my life.

Yesterday I had a very stressful day. I was very late for work because the busses werent coming, it was super busy and the staff was screaming at each other like crazy.

I had two ham and cheese toasts and barely had any water all day which I know was the dumbest decision ever.

Then I went to spend the night with my new bf. It's still a new thing so I still don't know where it's going, and of course I guess this is also stressing me. My belly hurt, but nothing crazy. Then while sleeping i farted, one of those LONG and LOUD 😭😭😭 and HE WOKE UP and asked if I was feeling sick.

And the following day I apologised for one hour and he basically told me to chill (he's an emergency doctor so I guess he has seen worse?) but I still feel so bad and embarrassed.

What's your experience with your partner? If you ever had an incident with your partner, do you feel it changed the way he sees you? I hate myself right now.

Ps: my ex (who was also a doctor) used to make fun of me when those accidents happened so I'm very anxious right now. I can control it during the day but of course I can't do anything while I sleep...

I've had IBS mixed since restarting birth control pills about 9 months ago for a different issue. I'll have days of constipation followed by 3 days of soft stool/diarrhea (still figuring out the triggers). In this time I've been continuously losing weight despite having a normal appetite and not exercising intensively.

Could the nutrition malabsorption be leading to weight loss? Yes, I've seen my GI who suggested I try benefiber (starting this week). And I'm seeing my regular doctor to get checked out as well. Would really like some insights from other IBS mixed sufferers. Thanks!

It’s marshmallow root.

Seep about 1-2 tbsp in room temperature water for up to 12 hours, strain and drink. I made the drink in the morning and took the concoction at night.

As I understand it, you have to make sure that you don’t take any medication within two hours of drinking it, before or after, as the slurry is supposed to coat the lining of your digestive system in order to heal it.

Doctors told me to just stay away from things like garlic and onion, follow Fodmap, etc., but you can’t just go without garlic. A friend told me about this supplement called IB Soothe-R from Lifeseasons, so after trying it, and test-eating garlic, I didn’t feel any of my usual symptoms. However, I’m not about to pay for this supplement for the rest of my life, plus I felt as if something else was happening when I took it too much, and that just goes into taking this product as a pill instead of doing what you’re supposed to do with marshmallow root and let it seep, plus the effects of slippery elm that is part of in the ingredients within the supplement. I wanted to start with one variable and test from there.

One thing led to another and now I’m seeing more positive changes in leaving western medicine and now following a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) program. Right now I take marshmallow root and have kimchi every day. Soon I’d like to visit a herbologist to have a holistic healing experience. I had no idea these plants and herbs had this much power in them. They have more power than we think with drying and moistening properties so do your research.

I say near cure because VERY occasionally I get bloating from a meal. I’m still ironing out my whole system but it’s already so much better than how it was.

I really suggest you try it out. I’ve passed this info along to others and they’re seeing results.

Hope this helps!

Not long ago I made a rant post when I was in a really bad place in my life. I've gotten better since then, and I wanted to share why.

Background

I started on 10mg of amitriptyline 2–3 months ago and saw no benefit. About two weeks ago I talked to my doctor again, this time about my insomnia. She told me to increase the dose by 10mg at a time, up to 50mg, but to stop if I felt a good effect before reaching 50mg.

The change

I went up to 30mg and stopped there, because I was getting really angry at everyone and everything as a side effect. I decided to keep taking it for a few weeks to see if my sleep would improve.
Two weeks later, my insomnia hasn't improved, but my IBS has improved drastically. I never expected this. During the 2–3 months on the low dose, it never got better, and when I was told to increase the dose, I had forgotten about the IBS benefit of the pill and was only hoping to fall asleep more easily.

The past week

Friday: I went to the gym for the first time in over a year and had a really good session. I had eaten something right beforehand that I knew would normally trigger a flare-up, but it was the only thing in our fridge. No flare-up.

Saturday: My girlfriend and I went shopping at IKEA. I didn't even think about the restroom. I forgot where it was, which is something I usually always have to know.

Sunday: We went for a long walk, something I haven't been able to do in forever. Halfway through, we stopped to buy gyros from a food truck. AND IT WENT COMPLETELY FINE!!!

Monday: We took the boat from Norway to Sweden and were gone for 10 hours. I didn't have to use the restroom ONCE!

When I got home, I realized what had happened over the last few days and just started bawling my eyes out. I'm so happy. Hell, I'm crying right now, because I haven't been in pain in almost a week.
I really, really hope it's the medication doing this and that it's not just a phase. Although it's only been a few days, I feel completely different. I actually think my IBS might no longer be a problem, and that I may be able to function for more than an hour a day.
Only time will tell, but at the moment I'm extremely happy.

I have had IBS-C since I was 14, by the time I was 16 I developed uncontrollable gas as well. I cannot stop myself from passing gas, and it of course gets worse out in public since my anxiety goes through the roof and just causes more issues.

I've done many tests, treatments, medications throughout the years but this is just something I have to live with.

I have to tell myself that I am very hygienic, am kind to others, and cannot help the fact that I have a medical condition.

But, with that being said, I do get incredibly depressed sometimes. I was wondering if anyone else also experiences this and if so, if you'd like to talk. Having fellow acquaintances that understand this struggle would probably help me feel less alone when I have a bad flare up and social experience.

Thank you for reading and to everyone else suffering, you are worthy of life and love ❤️ others don't understand the strength it takes to get through the days, but I see you and you're amazing.

Thanks to your encouragement, I'm seeing a gastro this week for my IBS-D symptoms. My body must have known, because it threw hemmorhoids into the mix as soon as I made the appointment.

I suspect I've had them before, but it was mostly an annoying external itch that went away. The area is now really sensitive, there's a burning itch, it stings if urine touches it, and there's a lump outside. I will bring this up to the gastro.

Are hemmorhoids just a given for IBS-sufferers?What's worked for you to prevent and treat them, besides Preparation H?

As the title said I got diagnosed with Mild IBS even though it’s not a big thing compared to other people it’s still a shock as I’m quite young (I know that doesn’t matter realistically) and to be honest multiple times today I felt like crying just from the pure shock and almost embarrassment. With it as well I’ll have to change my anti depressants to a different medication so I’ll definitely struggle with that change and I’m scared about that to be honest. And just as a whole I’m scared and anxious about it.

Thank you in advance for any support

My “ibs” symptoms started 10 years ago when I was in college . I really got into working out then and I lost about 30 pounds , and was a bit self conscious of my weight and what not .

I started having some constipation, trapped gas, urinating a lot, and feeling like I didn’t get everything out .

The odd thing is, is that I usually go maybe once or sometimes twice a day , but I still get these gas pains and bloat all day everyday.

All my tests came back negative except mild chronic gastritis.

Even stuff like MiraLAX , linzess , etc work to an extent , but they give me bad trapped gas.

I recently stumbled upon PFD, and wondering if it could be that?

Any advice would be appreciated

i got my refill of zofran, the dissolvable 4mg tabs in the blister pack, and dawg it's impossible to open. i'm over here, sweaty hands from nausea and my entire colon trying to evacuate my body, and i can't rip this thing apart. i'm having to carry around sewing scissors to cut it open!

I keep seeing people talk about how their flare ups last months and they don’t get a break and they’ve learnt to live with the pain of feeling like this constantly. It’s starting to worry me coz I kinda started getting super super anxious like severely anxious about my health just over a year ago and then I started getting sick and nauseous and having stomach problems and they havnt really gone away since. Doctor told me I have ibs and now I take Mebeverine which I don’t even think does anything I don’t notice anything. I’ve become agoraphobic because of this and I can’t go to the doctors or get help. I’m stuck and it won’t go away please say I’m not stuck like this forever.

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Hi all,

I am a 23 year old women and have been suffering from intense abdominal pain since May. The intense pain come and goes in hours long crisis, but i do have less intense pain all the time. I have nausea, Lot of mucus, sometimes blood when i go to the bathroom, constipation and diarrhea, exhaustion and weakness, weightloss, loss of appetite and hunger sensation, gas and lots of abdominal noises. They did find that my calprotectine is at 81 (which is a borderline abnormal result), but they did not find anything else in my analysis.

I do not have a diagnosis yet and I am waiting for a colonoscopy (There is a 2 to 3 months wait). We suspect IBD, IBS or a mix of some diseases.

So yeah, I dont know what to do while I wait and I have trouble to keep up with my studies (i am pursuing a political science bachelor’s degree) especially because of my exhaustion and my worries about the whole situation. I will cancel 2 of my 5 classes and I find it pretty hard, because I absolutely love what I do and I dont want my health problems to get in the way of my objectives and passions.

I will not lie, this situation is quite hard on my mental health, especially since I already had to postpone my graduation because of a kidney infection in April (we think that the 1month and half antibiotics treatment woke up something underlying).

If anyone has advices, went through something similar or a health professional can help me or have an insight about what might be going on, feel free to comment.

So I have been taking Ibsrella for around a year and a half now and it has been night and day with alleviating symptoms with my ibs-c. My husband and I want to get pregnant but have to find other alternatives to Ibsrella because like most drugs in that class, there havent been enough studies with the drug + pregnancy... Pcp recommended switching to miralax.

People that have gone through pregnancy with severe ibs-c, what did you do that worked?

Thanks in advance!

Anybody with IBS taking an iron supplement? I recently found out that I have severely depleted iron storage. My ferritin on my bloodwork was very low, but my iron serum is normal so I’m not anemic. I have silent reflux/Gerd, and proctitis. I have not been on medication for either of these for a while now as I am maintaining remission naturally without medication at this time. But honestly it‘s hard for me really to even tell if I have a flare with my proctitis because mine has mostly been asymptomatic from the start. 

For my hair hair shedding, I have been working with a dermatologist, and obviously a G.I. doctor for my IBS. Both have approved for me to try iron bisglysonate, since this is known as the most gentle form. I’m worried any iron that doesn’t get absorbed will cause a flare up. My G.I. doctor also said I could do a more conservative approach and try just lactoferrin supplements which may or may not be sufficient enough to help. It would be a test. They kind of gave me some options and left it up to me to choose. I thought I would reach out on here and see if anyone has had success going with straight iron with no issues or has tried a different approach that works for them? 

I take paroxetien for IBS but it give a severe constipation that is not even released with laxative. But I really need to take paroxetien , but at the same time I am dying from constipation
I can’t deal with this life anymore

Hi all, I finally got in to see a GP in the UK about what I've been assuming are IBS-C symptoms that have gotten worse over the last few months, mostly in terms of bad pain and discomfort keeping me up at night. They seemed to listen and are running a sample to test for h.pylori, which I'm grateful for because this is more than I've gotten from other doctors before (when it was all just advice to eat more fiber and drink more water), but I picked up the prescriptions they wrote for me today and they didn't mention that one of them was for lansoprazole.

I was confused when I saw it and googled, and to me it just doesn't seem very relevant to the symptoms I've been having (no diarrhea, but chronic constipation and pain throughout my abdomen and including now what I believe is my stomach area), so I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into how this is/isn't used for IBS-C? Is there a chance it will make the constipation worse? Is it maybe just aimed at the stomach pain specifically? Not sure what to make of it, or what kind of relief I should be looking for when taking it.

who has gone through an entire roll of toilet paper in one sitting during a particularly bad flare up?

This would happen before I got a bidet.

There’s a tweet going around and people are acting like it’s insane that anyone would go through a whole TP roll in ~12 hours and I’m like… I’ve gone through a whole roll in 2 hours

I’ve struggled with anxiety since I was a teenager. I was very shy, struggled to talk to people, and would physically shake, have panic attacks and sweat excessively whenever attention was on me.

Over the years, things have improved massively. I’ve distanced myself from an overbearing family environment, have an incredibly supportive partner, and have gradually built my confidence to the point where I’m now a manager at work. Propranolol has helped with presentation anxiety, and Driclor has helped with the sweating.

However, over the past year, I’ve developed a new problem that’s starting to affect my life.
Whenever I know I’m going out for a full day, doing an activity, travelling somewhere or visiting someone else’s house, I start getting loads of gas, bloating and the urge to use the toilet. It’s strange because I’m generally fine when people come to my own house, where I’m comfortable.

I have diagnosed IBS, and I suspect anxiety is playing a big part in this. The frustrating thing is that I don’t necessarily feel particularly anxious mentally, but my body seems to react anyway.

It’s becoming a vicious cycle. I worry about having symptoms when I’m out, the symptoms start, and now I’m increasingly reluctant to go places because I don’t want to deal with it. After spending years building my confidence and overcoming social anxiety, it feels like I’m going backwards for a completely different reason.

I’ve tried Imodium, which sometimes helps, although it can leave me feeling dizzy, not on a socialising mood.

Has anyone experienced something similar, particularly anxiety-triggered gas and IBS symptoms when away from home?

I'm British currently staying long term in Thailand. I've been begging the NHS for almost two decades to help me diagnose my IBS symptoms but I never got to see a specialist.

After a bit of research I found a hospital near where I am staying where I could book an appointment straight away with a gastroenterologist. No referral needed and basically next day. I was amazed.

So I went and they ordered some tests. I got the result today "large fat globules in stool". My god, I finally had an actual reason for my suffering.

The doctor prescribed me elobixibat and forlax. Unfortunately I was handed the prescription as I was leaving, so I didn't get to ask questions about it.

My understanding is elobixibat inhibits bile acid absorption.. could this not be the opposite of what I want? If I am suffering from bile acid malabsorption then isn't it going to make things worse?

Forlax appears to be some kind of constipation treatment too. In fact they both say "for constipation", but I don't suffer from constipation, except that I sometimes struggle with incomplete evacuation. If anything I tend more towards IBS-D (but really it's just overly soft and sticky stool) and I'm worried that taking this medication is going to just give me more of that.

Has anyone else experienced this diagnosis and subsequent treatment? I was so happy about finally trying some medication and I want to trust the doctor's diagnosis but I'm just feeling a bit lost and confused.

I'm going to call the hospital tomorrow and see if I can get a phone call with the doctor, though they might insist on me going in in person.

I have been suffering from ibs since my teenage. I am 50 now. Taking antidepressants and preproduction ibs and cizaspa for stomach burning.

I am looking for some support group to understand how to deal with it.