[alluringsilver]

Hey all,

I'm a woman living in the Midwest of the United States.

In August of 2011, I started having unexplained diarrhea. I went to my primary doctor twice in one week. He gave me a prescription for Bentyl, 15 pills. I can tell you that I rationed those pills like they were made of gold. But although they stopped the diarrhea, they made me drowsy.

I work in a field where access to a bathroom has to be more of a planned event, to the point where it's considered almost a luxury to get a bathroom break.

The diarrhea continued. I felt awful. Sick every day. Nauseated without the urge to vomit. I'd wake up in the morning and race for the bathroom, hating the bloating, the discomfort of abdominal cramps. Obviously, I wanted it to stop. I finally had enough and asked my primary doctor for a gastroenterology consult (I couldn't just call up and make an appointment on my own.).

So I met with the gastroenterologist, got more Bentyl, and suffered through my work times where I had to stay awake, alert, and afraid I might not make it to the bathroom in time. Another symptom developed, constipation. I alternated between constipation and diarrhea. It interfered with my work, my personal life (I mean, how do you feel desirable when you're crapping your brains out?) and activities I had once enjoyed. I let the gastro. doctor know the Bentyl was making me sleepy and he gave me another prescription for Dicyclomine. I stayed awake, but it didn't control the symptoms like the Bentyl had.

There were blood tests and stool tests, a colonoscopy, and a cat scan, all over a four month period. It was lovely (note the sarcasm). In fact, one thing I found to be really stupid about the whole process was that for a cat scan of your small intestine, you have to drink a barium solution. Three jugs of a slimy liquid. And they didn't tell me until after it was done that the body doesn't absorb the barium drink. It's excreted almost immediately as diarrhea. The hospital was 30 minutes away from my home, and I had to stop many times on the way home.

So finally I have a diagnosis of IBS-PI. But thanks to these forums, I also have a solution. I have been strictly following a Low Fodmap Diet. It's tough sometimes but I will take minor feelings of deprivation anytime instead of feeling miserable all the time. I have been following it for over a month and have felt 100% improved through that whole time.

I had a follow up visit with my doctor a few weeks ago and told him I had found the Low Fodmap Diet on the internet, and it was helping. He sounded irritated. I asked for tests to confirm lactose and fructose intolerance and feel like he gave me the brushoff.

Don't just let doctors toss medicine at your problems. I wish I had known about the tests for lactose and fructose intolerance before I had expensive tests done like the colonoscopy, and the cat scan. I wish I had been more pushy with my doctor.

Maybe the symptoms will come back under stress. Maybe something else in my diet will trigger them. But at this point, it's my choice. If I choose to eat non - low Fodmap options, I do have medications.

But the food seems less important now. Thanks to everyone who posts here, especially Common Response. Without you, I'd still be hurting.