Living With IBS

Hi everyone, today I thought I'd talk about something a little different, this might not be of interest to some of you, but don't worry I'll be back with a regular beauty/lifestyle post again next week.
10 – 20% of people in the UK suffer with IBS, which is quite alarming!  But I won't bore you with loads of statistics or in depth 'TMI' details (that's what Google's for) and everyone's symptoms are different.  This is just my experience with this condition, how it affects me and how I've been dealing with it so far!  So if you'd like to find out more, please read on. . .

About a year ago I was officially diagnosed with having IBS (irritable Bowel Syndrome).  I'd been having problems with my stomach for a long time already and everything I ate made me feel sick, my dietician was (and still is) at a loss and nothing I tried seemed to help.  I'd go through bouts of being not too bad for a day or two (if I was lucky), then a week of having a huge flare-up and feeling like crap!  Waking up in the night with chronic stomach pain, constantly being in discomfort and half the time pointlessly spending time 'in the bathroom' and getting nowhere!  Every day is a constant struggle and a worry, I never know if what I decide to try and have for lunch etc is going to make me feel ill or not!  I've had to wave goodbye to many of the foods I used to enjoy and know that I may have to say goodbye to even more.  Worst of all, I've had to get used to constantly feeling sick, bloated, uncomfortable and 75% of the time, have terrible stomach pains too.  All this as well as having to deal with my usual Fibro condition and trying to live some kind of a life!! :-/

My doctor put me on a course of (a certain) tablet for a month to see if that would settle my troubles, but it only made them worse!  I knew I couldn't go on like this, I know stress has a big effect on my health but I had to find out if there was something else going on as well that was causing the problems to start with.

I've always had a very on/off relationship with cows milk since I was a baby and for many years (mostly throughout school), I was off of it completely.  But after that, I was back on it with no problems for years, until recently!  I had wondered for a while if that was being a problem again, so about 8 weeks ago I stopped having the cows milk and I've been having goats milk instead.  So far it does seemed to have helped, somewhat!  I tried cows milk again for a day after the first week and wow that was a mistake, so I think it's safe to say that was definitely causing a problem.  Although sadly not the only problem. . .

I've also been trying a glutton-free diet for the past 6 weeks to, it's been tricky (and expensive) trying to find alternative foods, but after a couple of weeks I seemed to find a good selection of products and have been having a fairly good diet.  I was actually quite happily surprised at how many nice things are available, the Tesco Free-From chocolate chip muffins are to die for!  But so far leaving off wheat and glutton doesn't seem to have made any difference and apart from feeling quite so sick all the time, I've had just as much trouble as always.

The past week (from when I'm typing this in mid June) has honestly been the worst, I've been practically in tears with the discomfort; it hurts to sit still, move around, stand up and no matter what painkillers I take, nothings helping.  I think the worst thing about it all, is the unpredictability, never knowing how I'm going to feel from one hour to the next let-alone each day.  It's a worry planning anything because I don't know how I'm going to feel or how much pain I'm going to be in and knowing painkillers don't help ease the pain really doesn't give much comfort!

I'm currently seeing a specialist at the hospital who's sending me for various tests, I'm getting more and more used to getting poked and prodded and having my blood drained on a regular basis!  But one test that I had done a couple of months ago has thrown up some possible issues and may end up being an answer to my ever-worsening ibs problems.  I have another scan this weekend and then another in a few weeks time, but even though I may not get to hear the results for a while, I will keep you updated.

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If you have any questions about my health issues or if you are suffering with ibs too and you would like to know more and think I can help or just want someone to commiserate with, please feel free to comment below or you can private message me on twitter or google+ or email at crystalsparklydreams@hotmail.co.uk.  I know this type of post is not everyone's cup of tea, but even if it just helps one person feel that they're not suffering alone, it was worth doing! :-)Until Next Time Stay Happy ♥

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