[TanaG]

This is so frustrating! Since this IBS started, everybody around me, friends and family, act as if I was nuts! This morning my cousin was here (she spent the night over) and I heard her belly making weird sounds...and I am asking her if she's hungry and she tells me no, she needs to have a BM. I was really amazed, cause I never had this "BM needed" sounds of my bowels before I had IBS and I told her and she goes yeah but you're crazy!

and everybody is acting as if I was and all this IBS is just something I made up and in fact I am well and I just act spoiled or something like that.This forum is the only place where I feel I am taken seriously. How do you people deal with this attitude? Or ....does it happen to you too? Do you have nicer families? LOL

 

[thelibertine]

Hey Tana, sometimes people who don't have IBS can be so insensitive because it is hard to understand unless you've been through it. Also people with IBS have a habit of noticing things that others don't because we are so worried about what our body is doing. Maybe have a chat with your family and see if they can be a little more sensitive, my family are mostly okay nowadays but I remeber the first year when I developed IBS they made all sorts of comments about it being all in my brain and that I didn't need to keep rushing to the loo and should ignore it etc. it takes a while for people to understand and get used to your new behaviour. Don't feel too down, make sure they understand exactly how you feel maybe ask them how they'd feel if they kept having to rushing to the loo etc.Although! I still got a lot of narky comments about how much loo roll I consume. I do chew through quite a lot, usually at least 2 per week(good week) and my mother seems to find this annoying as she has to buy more exclaiming she goes through the same ammount in six months as I go through in a month.

 

[BQ]

Have you seen this brochure written by someone who has IBS for those that do *not* have IBS? It might be good to print off and give to your friends & family members.Just click here:http://www.ibsgroup.org/brochures/Aboutibs.pdf

 

[MrBumwe]

Yeah i had a couple of members in my family who were very harsh toward me when my symptons were first present, i mean really harsh and i figured if it wasn;t my ibs it would have been something else they are just not nice people, so i dont really see much of them, i keep my time for people who i like and who are supportive,,

 

[TanaG]

Thanks for the replies....I have just a mild IBS ...actually I don't know if I should call it that, but I don't have loose stools all the time, only sometimes and never all day long. But I had all kind of BM imaginable to man since this started, from D to loose to really hard and thick to hard and thin to broken in bits and so on I cannot even remeber it just changes every day. Fact is I have been diagnosted for 6 months or so, the situation has gotten better, no actual D anymore ....just once a month or so, I also gave up anything I could think of that could be a cause of this. My main problem were cramps and gas

.... I don't know, I feel like I am spoiled complaining...but anybody who ever had cramps and farted at least a few hours each evening knows this is not something easy to live with. How the hell can you enjoy yourself when you're out with friends and your belly is boiling ...or when you're trying to have an intimate moment with your boyfriend? Thing is they all think that it is not really there I am just making it up...if I had D all the time maybe I could have shown them the poo ... LOL...but how can you show the cramps? They don't believe I am sick so I started to believe I might be crazy too....I feel guilty...am I the cause of all this? This is terrible really!

 

[BQ]

They don't believe I am sick so I started to believe I might be crazy too....I feel guilty...am I the cause of all this? This is terrible really!

JMHO and just my two cents... It really doesn't matter what they think. It only matters what YOU think. I do not think you are the cause of your IBS. As far as I know it doesn't work that way. And really if they are bothering you that much.. say not another word about it... print off that brochure and the next time one of tham has anything to say... hand them the brochure and say not a word. Hold your head up.. you have an illness.. and that is nothing to be ashamed of.Also realize that YOU decide how you feel... they don't. So if you decide to feel badly and guilty all of the time.. that is your choice. But I seriously hope you do not choose that.