I'm 20 years old and as far as I can remember I've suffered from IBS and constipation for around 9 years. I've always had problems with my stomach but it all started when I was about 11 years old. I had a tear on the bowel, unknown to me and my family and had trouble going to the toilet, I was in so much pain and eventually stopped going all together. Eventually I had to be sent to hospital to be put under to have an operation called a manual evacuation because I was so feceally impacted all they could do is remove all the faeces and give my body time to heal.

So that was pretty much the start of a very long and frustrating road that I'm still trying to come to grips with, but I'm sure you all understand exactly what I'm going through. I am also completley and utterly at my wits end with docotors, they always seems to just fob me off with more laxatives and tell me to drink more and take more fibre! I know that! i just want to scream at them, yes I know you've told me all of this before! I could never understand why they wouldn't send me for more tests and just try and give me a better understanding of what's going on. I think it's mainly because of my age they're not taking me seriously. But finally about two weeks ago I got reffered to a specialist in the hospital and am waiting for my appointment to be sent out. It's such a hard thing to come to terms with and I often get frustrated because I just want to be doing what all my friends are doing and I can't. I'm finding it hard to get into a routine to provide me with some relief from my IBS.

I would reccommend going to try out some more holistic therapies though, I recently went to a hollistic doctor, it was very wacky, but it was such a breath of fresh air because he listened to me and took everything into account, eventually he told me that my body wasn't digesting food properly and it was just sitting there rotting inside me and this was part of the reason I felt so ill all the time because my body was so toxic. He gave me some tablets and they really helped me to feel better and so I am probably going to get another appointment with him at some point.

I'v spent a big part of my life trying to understand IBS and have had to give up a lot, I recently left university because the condition was too much and I went through the worst few months of my life trying to deal with the condition and I got very depressed and so behind I had to leave and come home, where i am now working a few jobs and am going to study part time to become a counsellor.

What really get's me down is just trying to live with the condition it seems you get yourself into a rountine and then your body starts to dislike that routine and changes again. I also have an intolerance to gluten and dairy, I found this out through exclusion diets and also again went for a more hollistic approach as my doctors refused again and again to send me for tests. I find it so hard to try and avoid gluten and dairy at times because the alternatives are just so expensive and it's hard to know what to eat.

When I get very ill with my IBS I don't feel like eating at all which is a pain because it doesn't help, I know I need to eat but when I feel really sick it feels like I have to force myself to eat something. And the bloating is probably the most uncomfortable and painful thing about IBS, the abdominal pain caused when I eat something or cannot go to the toilet is horrible. Sometimes I just break down and cry because I get so fed up. I'm sure we all do though because living with IBS isn't at all easy, sometimes I joke that I need to be put down because my body doesnt work properly,sometimes I wish that I could just get hooked up to a drip with all the fibre, vitamins and nutrients that I need and not have to stress about what food I should be eating and what food I can't!

IBS is a terrible thing to have at any age, but I sometimes get so frustrated because it stops me from enjoying myself at times, I can't go out and get drunk with my friends on weekends because usually when I do I get so unwell afterwards, I guess i'm just trying my best to figure out how to lives with IBS and it's hard, bit I'm really glad I've found this website and know I'm not alone.

Thanks for reading
x

By: lauren1224