[WonkyColon]

I know that "they" frequently say that IBS is a mind-body illness, and that it's often related to child abuse. If you're okay with sharing it here, does anyone else have these experiences? Here's how I think child abuse contributed to my IBS...I was physically abused but not sexually abused.I think part of my IBS stems from my mom's major hang-ups about bowel movements and some of the abuse I endured during potty-training. My mom beat the living daylights out of me when I was 3-- I ended up in the hospital because I "fell down the stairs"-- because I pooped in my pants. I never forgot that. I really ingrained the idea that pooping was really, really, really bad.Mom also forbade any of her kids to defecate in public places; if we were on a vacation for a week, we weren't allowed to poop in the hotel bathroom. So I learned how to "hold it" for days, even weeks, at a time. I wonder if my bowels eventually stopped working right because I suppressed the urge to poop all the time.Even as an adult, I can't go at all in a public bathroom because I've still got my mom's idea that it's really horrible and embarrassing and that only trashy people poop in public bathrooms. I haven't talked to my doctor about the role that some of these issues might play, since they're so personal.

I hope it's okay for me to share it here. Can anyone share their experiences (or at least say something so I don't feel completely awkward and over-exposed?) Were you abused during childhood, and do you think it might have contributed to your problems? Did anyone else get the poop-shaming factor?

 

[Kathleen M.]

I wasn't abused, but when they do clinical studies of abuse survivors they find a higher rate of IBS and other disorders.

 

[Jo_UK]

I was not abused and I have IBS-C.For me it started when I was around 25 years old (but it was IBS-D and was happening only around one time each month, at first, with dairy food, then later with other type of food). The last 2 years it has changed to IBS-C, for me , it looks like it is part related to work/food. I noticed that in the week I do not go to the toilet often (something to do with stress at work and I do not really want to go to the toilet at work but at weekend it is in general a lot better (because I can relax at home).I think also the fact that I work sitting down all day at work doesn't help because I have been going to a plastering course this year, it is very physical all day long and during that time I go everyday without to much straining.Also the same thing happens on holidays, if I visit another country I would visit (so walking like 3 hours or more a day) and I usually have no problems.I would be curious to know the % of people with IBS-C who have sit down jobs....