My 5 year old son experienced a stressful event at school one morning last week. He came home and had diarrhea that afternoon. Complaining with a tummy ache and now two days after the event his diarrhea has turned into nothing but mucas when he goes to the bathroom. My research found that stressful events can bring on symptoms of IBS. I am begging for answers that will help his symptoms go away.

By: Carrie Griggs

Hi All

What a pathetic kind of life is this !! This may sound quite like a loser , but with IBS I'm surely not destined to win.

If i wanna talk with some particular persons , If i want to put my point , if i want to have a lunch with my fellows , if i want to attend a call ... i cant help myself but automatically Belching starts and it feels like I'll vomit in front of everyone.

I have tried so many things .. daily i prepare my mind by repeating positive words and all such stuffs but they don't help.

I want to do so many things in life , i have got so many plans , so much expectations from myself .. but this IBS comes in my way.

I believe the more we experience IBS , the worse it gets. So I have got stuck in a circle full with negativity.

You may call it depression or what but .. this is my life and i want to change it ...please help me guys ...

By: shashank

I'm new to this site, stumbled across it yesterday, and it's great to be able to be able to relate and find advise as I have learned to suffer in silence as my partner thinks I complain for attention. He even convinced me it was all in my head for a while. He just doesn't understand how I can feel ill all the while and nothing helps.

I'm a was 17 year old girl, who was loud, fun, has loads of friends, loved going out, and wanted to be a social worker. I also had a street dancing class, but then came along IBS. At first it was able to cope. I'd rarely have a bad stomach, but then it got a lot worse. I had to quit my collage course because I couldn't get there and if I did get there it was very likely I would be going straight back home to the toilet! I now rarely go out and if I do I take up to 4 diaheor tablets. Imodium doesn't work on me! It really gets me down, I see it as I'm only young and have my life to live, but how am I going to live it when I'm like this!

Everyone says you can lead a normal life with IBS, so please tell me how?

I don't like the thought of not being able to have a career. Why have a career if you feel uncomfortable being away from your toilet! I'VE HAD ENOUGH. I wish I was normal.

By: shauni_tee (shauni x)

I want to say that my problems began in my early 20's. I was experiencing diarrhea practically on a regular basis. I always thought it was due to medications I have and still to this day have been taking to treat a disorder. Consulted my specialist(s)/primary care physicians on this and was told that the diarrhea is not a side effect of the medication. When I was 32 years of age I went for a colonoscopy and was told I have a twisted bowel. I get cramps/spasms on the left side of my stomach and get terrible abdominal pain quite often. The pain keeps me from sleeping at night. I have been using a heating pad on my abs to soothe the pain. I take Librax that has been prescribed in an attempt to treat my "spastic colon" and yet still have bowel attacks........... I went and changed my diet (listening to doctors request as a solution) yet I feel like everything I'm doing is not providing a solution to the problem. I am 36 now and do not have a life because of this condition.

I am 19 years old and I am a freshman in college. I have been struggling with IBS for about a year now. I don't know what triggered it and I just wish it would stop. I can not enjoy my life like a normal college student. I live in New York City now, which has always been my dream but its not like that any more. I am afraid to go out with my friends into the city in case I have an attack and I can't find a bathroom. I am afraid to tell any of my new college friends because I am afraid they won't understand. My attacks are really random and I am still in the process of trying to figure out what foods trigger it. The stress from being away from home also does not help. I just want to be a normal college student and go out and have fun with new friends and have amazing experiences but IBS is holding me back. If anyone understands please let me know.

By: donewiththis

Well, I'm 14 and IBS has ruined my life. I hate IBS I sometimes just want to curl up in a ball and sleep forever. It started two years ago and now I can't do anything. My stomach is always stopped up. I feel alone and I don't know what to do I need help.

By: caleb

I have had IBS since 1983, and went through a litany of treatments, medications and physicians. Starting with Herb Benson, specialist in the Boston's Deaconess pain clinic, and later famous for the "Relaxation Response," tried a variety of meds, none of which helped. I went on to some well recommended Internal Medicine doctors, who with medicine and adding grains (much like sandy cattle feed), again posted no real improvement. All tried their best, but found no real relief for me.

My first success was with acupuncture, which would last for about 4-6 weeks, but required constant management.

It all started when my mother got diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome...

For years she has been struggling with severe diarrhea. I would go along with everything like it didn't effect me what so ever or her. until one day we went to to my grandmothers house for a Christmas supper. Ya know, all the good foods that you can't help but have. When we were driving home my mother had a very bad bout of D. We were around 10 min from home and she wasn't able to get out of the car to get to a bathroom without going on herself.So she did in the car. Ever since that moment about 5 years ago i have anxiety for traveling in cars when going on long trip or even short ones because of what happened to her and the embarrassment she felt. But i didn't have a problem then. I had the opposite of my mother. I was constipated all of the time.

It's been a year looking like a pregnant woman about to deliver I cannot fit any of my clothes and everytime I'm in a restaurant and having a cigarette with a drink people start staring at me and many times they approache me to criticize how me being pregnant and drinking and smoking. I've been passing through really a rough time I'm having my divorce and my work as a tv producer is extremely exsauting and I have a 6 years old boy who has language difficulties. So, I think my IBS is definitly from emotional problems and stress . I went through lots of examinations and tests but all is normal I have no pain no indigestion problems only that bloated belly . I reckon the last phrase my doctor said to me: "head is in your stomach , flip it."

By: rindala