[Little Hedgehog]

Hello all.As you can guess, I have IBS. I believe it's a combination of IBS-C and IBS-D. Some days I have perfectly normal stools, some days I have watery, frequent stools, some days I don't go to the toilet for 48 hours.I almost always have gas and I suffer from acid reflux too. Now, I will say that IBS is annoying as hell and I'd be glad to cure it, but I'm "lucky" in that way that my IBS doesn't really prevent me to live a normal life. Except for vacation.... I won't be able to enjoy certain types of vacation any more but that's not a real problem. The only thing that makes my IBS "bearable" is, I believe, very simple: whenever I feel I need to go to the bathroom, I can hold it up like a normal person if needed. Even when I'm in a period of frequent, watery stools, I can hold it up when I have to. I think this is really a good thing.But I got to be honest, I'm an axious person. And my biggest fear at the moment is not the IBS I have at this day, but my fear is that it will evolve into an extremer case where I won't be able to hold up my stools any more. My fear is that one day, I won't be able to sit in the bus on my way to work, take a walk in the streets, enjoy an evening in a pub with friends, etc without the fear that I could suddenly have an attack of diahrrea and that I'd have to find a bathroom within 60 seconds if you see what I mean.So, my question is, is it common for IBS to evolve into an extremer form? Is it usual for IBS of my type to evolve into a form where you could have a sudden onset of diahrrea and where I basically lose my ability to hold it up when needed?I know this question might sound weird and stupid, but that really is my only fear. My doc says IBS usually doesn't evolve so drastically, but she knows I'm an anxious person and she might just be telling that to reassure me. Does anyone know an answer?

 

[Cherrie]

Hi from what you described, I would tend to agree with your dr. that your IBS won't evolve like that. IBS isn't as predictable, but from personal experience (I have mild to moderate IBS), even when sometimes I get a really bad flare up (like I just did about a week ago), I usually get better and get back to the much milder symptoms. When I was under tremendous stress a few years ago, my symptoms did get worse, but when I graduated grad school and gradually get back to a more reasonable and less stressful lifestyle, I've been back to having mild symptoms. So, the key thing is to try not to make the anxiety worse (as the anxiety will add to a already-stressed out system).

 

[overitnow]

I had D for 10 years straight, and, untreated, my system did slowly keep deteriorating. The best suggestion I can give is to keep plugging away at trying to figure out the initial cause, as you may be able to use that to track down something that will really improve your situation. When I was at my worst, at the end of that period, I couldn't control anything, which kept me home until after my lunchtime D, which followed my breakfast D. When I finally found a treatment that got at the cause, I could see the results in frequency and urgency at first, and then in quality of the stools over time. I now realize that I could have made my life a lot easier with OTC meds to give me more control before then; but I would have always had the same fear you talk about. Treating the inflammation that seems to have been at the root of my suffering (and anxiety and despair) has given me constant improvement over 10 great years in a row. I know it is easier to say than to do, and I know that there are numbers of things that can cause this; but it really is worth the effort, especially as this is not impacting your life too greatly at the moment.Mark

 

[Kathleen M.]

IBS does not typically get worse and worse every year (or suddenly overnight) until you are completely home-bound and disabled. A lot of diseases have an inevitable progression like that, but IBS is not one of them.IBS sometimes gets a lot better, sometimes stays the same and a few people do get worse. However the anxiety that it must get worse (or whichever thing you get anxious about) can make it worse than it would be if you won't so worried. If you look for every indication it must be worse today than yesterday that isn't good for you and can make a milder case into one that is more severe if you don't work on controlling the anxiety. Anxiety makes almost every health problem a lot worse than it would be on its own. I mean they never say you'd be just fine if you'd be just a little more anxious.

 

[allyjellybelly]

As I have posted in my thread, I managed to stop mine by removing the foods that need a lot of water for digestion - the grains, starches, sugar and most dairy from my diet, and that helped a lot, but it wasn't until I started to rehydrate my body by drinking a lot more water instead of the sugar and chemical-loaded rubbish that I used to have that it has really started to sort itself out. Had I realised earlier that I had a problem with those foods because of dehydration at cellular level I might not have had to so radically cut out all those foods.The fact that yours tends to fluctuate between D and C suggests that it all depends on 1) the type of food you have eaten over the preceding few days, and 2) the type and amount of fluids you have consumed.The grains, starches, sugar (most carbs) and dairy are very dehydrating. Most drinks are also very dehydrating - tea, and coffee are diuretic, sugar-laden drinks are dehydrating, as is anything containing chemicals, like squashes and soft drinks - coke, etc., and as is alcohol. If what we eat AND drink is dehydrating then it is quite logical that it will eventually create problems in the body.If there is not enough water to get the food through the colon you will become constipated. If there is even less water, it seems that the gut will use what water it can get hold of to get the foods it can't digest through the gut and out the other end as soon as possible - hence the diarrhea - how many of us have seen the undigested contents of todays' dinner floating in the loo!Try cutting down on your carb (particularly processed) and sugar intake (otherwise you may not benefit so well from the water intake), increase your consumption of foods that provide water (fruit, veg, soups, etc), and try upping your water consumption. About 8 glasses a day is the recommendation. I usually take a few little pinches of salt here and there on my tongue or in my food (real unrefined sea or rock salt - not the rubbish bleached and stripped table salt) to keep my mineral levels up. You don't need to drink the water on top of what you normally drink, but at least replace some of those drinks with water. We are 75% water, and that is what the body needs. Other drinks aren't water. The chemicals in some of the substances can change the properties of the water and render it useless to the body.It may take a few days - or a week or two for you to start seeing the benefit, but you may be pleasantly surprised.We think that food is just food. But believe me, not all food is the same, and not all of it has the same effect on our bodies. The Western diet is absolutely stuffed with 'food-like substances' that our ancestors wouldn't recognise - and if they ate it they would get sick too!