[PuppyKicker]

I've been dating this girl for about 9 months. Over this course of time, she has been having stomach problems more and more frequently. She complains constantly about her stomach cramping and being upset, and apparently commonly has diarreah. Lately she has also felt quite bloated (pretty much every day). She seems like she's beginning to become depressed because she can't seem to feel right. She went to a gastro-interologist a few months ago and was diagnosed with IBS and was given hyociamine sulfate (not sure if this is the correct spelling) tabs that she was supposed to take after every meal or when her stomach acts up. She still didn't feel quite right and her doctor upped her dose to 1 pill that she's supposed to take every night. It slightly alleviated her problems for a few months, but the symptoms seem to be back now. Her bloating seems much worse lately, and I'm not sure about her bowel movements (she doesn't really inform me too much, which is OK by me!!). A few other tidbits of information:-She is pretty stubborn about her diet (ie, she eats what she wants - she says since seemingly everything makes her stomach hurt, she may as well eat food that tastes good)-Stress definitely causes her symptoms to flare up.-She's very jaded about her whole situation because she's had bad luck with other doctors and really doesn't think they care about her condition(even though her dad is a surgeon) -She's scared to go back to the Gastrointerologist because she doesn't want a colonoscopy.Her situation is rather frustrating to me as a boyfriend because I want to take care of her and make her feel well, but there's little I can do to help. Does anyone have similar symptoms? What have you done?If she does have IBS, what are some other treatments that I can try to research? Could she possibly have something more severe, like Chron's disease? Basically I'm looking for any and all advice that I could pass on to her. I just the girl that I'm crazy about to not have to put up with her stomach problems. Thanks for any information!

 

[luvslegal]

love on her and support her . . it's very healing.

 

[luvslegal]

love on her and support her . . it's very healing.

 

[ibsgrl04]

CONFUSED BOYFRIENDWow, what a great boyfriend you are. Any girl would be lucky to have someone as understanding as you. PLEASE visit www....com Go to the message boards

 

[ibsgrl04]

CONFUSED BOYFRIENDWow, what a great boyfriend you are. Any girl would be lucky to have someone as understanding as you. PLEASE visit www....com Go to the message boards

 

[JackieGian]

Maybe she needs a change in medication. Levsin (the brand name for Hyoscyamine sulfate) did nothing to alleviate my son's problems. I had to call the doctor and insist that he try something else.Bentyl worked for a while, but made him drowsy.Donnatal works very well and there's a fairly new drug called Pamine that works well too.

 

[JackieGian]

Maybe she needs a change in medication. Levsin (the brand name for Hyoscyamine sulfate) did nothing to alleviate my son's problems. I had to call the doctor and insist that he try something else.Bentyl worked for a while, but made him drowsy.Donnatal works very well and there's a fairly new drug called Pamine that works well too.

 

[calid]

Your girlfriend will not get better unless she is ready to get better. Food triggers can be a HUGE factor in this problem, when she hits bottom, she'll willingly look at food as part of her problem. As for the colonoscopy, it's a breeze. Only the prep is a pain. She should have that and an endoscopy to rule out Celiac disease. Not testing is foolish, she could have a "fixable" problem and get out of this mess.

 

[calid]

Your girlfriend will not get better unless she is ready to get better. Food triggers can be a HUGE factor in this problem, when she hits bottom, she'll willingly look at food as part of her problem. As for the colonoscopy, it's a breeze. Only the prep is a pain. She should have that and an endoscopy to rule out Celiac disease. Not testing is foolish, she could have a "fixable" problem and get out of this mess.

 

[roger]

Although you already seem like a pretty understanding guy, this brochure might help you understand how a person with IBS feels and help guide the support you can give: IBS brochure for those who don't have it As those above have mentioned, there are other antispasmodics that may work better than Hyoscyamine but I don't think any of them really do what we want them to.The colonoscopy should be done for a definitive IBS diagnosis. There are other maladies that can mimic the symptoms of IBS but be much worse. Alternatively, a colonoscopy may reveal a condition that is easily treatable and will go away (but don't bank on this one).Good luck. A relationship with someone who has IBS can be a real challenge (for both parties). She will need all the support you can give her.

 

[roger]

Although you already seem like a pretty understanding guy, this brochure might help you understand how a person with IBS feels and help guide the support you can give: IBS brochure for those who don't have it As those above have mentioned, there are other antispasmodics that may work better than Hyoscyamine but I don't think any of them really do what we want them to.The colonoscopy should be done for a definitive IBS diagnosis. There are other maladies that can mimic the symptoms of IBS but be much worse. Alternatively, a colonoscopy may reveal a condition that is easily treatable and will go away (but don't bank on this one).Good luck. A relationship with someone who has IBS can be a real challenge (for both parties). She will need all the support you can give her.

 

[kschultz]

Hi confused boyfriendI would encourage her to sign up to the messageboards and share her concerns with having a colonoscopy.Believe me, the anticipation is worse than the actual procedure, I slept right through it (had an endoscopy/colonoscopy top to toe examination) and I think she could choose how aware she wanted to be during the examination.The preparation is a bit tedious, so if you can convince her to do it be prepared for a sleepless night if you want tos support her through it. Basically you drink a lot of prepartions to give you a good clean out so they can get a clear picture of what's going on.But basically my mother scared me into going suggesting I could have bowel cancer, which is one of the things they are eliminating through the colonoscopy.The relief finding out it wasn't was huge (and if it had been bowel cancer I think I would be glad I had done something to know for sure so it could be treated) and I wished I had just got on and done it months earlier.If she puts a post up I'm sure everyone here will reassure her about how much easier it was than they expected, and what a relief it is to know for sure what you have so you can start doing something about it.I used to have the same attitude, that "I feel bad anyway so I might as well eat food I enjoy" ... and ended up making myself ill after gorging on chocolates on a romantic weekend away - needless to say it killed the romance and all I saw of the national park we went to see was the inside of our cabin toilet.So once she realises that her actions have an effect on more than just herself she will start doing something about it.And she already has a fabulous start with such a supportive partner ! Your attitude is fantastic, and I admire your willingness to help her with her condition.Maybe print out the response to your post ... it might help her realise she isn't alone - especially with the struggle to find a good specialist. But when you finally get a day free of an IBS attack, you wonder how you could have ever ignored your symptoms.Good luck - and keep up the support

 

[kschultz]

Hi confused boyfriendI would encourage her to sign up to the messageboards and share her concerns with having a colonoscopy.Believe me, the anticipation is worse than the actual procedure, I slept right through it (had an endoscopy/colonoscopy top to toe examination) and I think she could choose how aware she wanted to be during the examination.The preparation is a bit tedious, so if you can convince her to do it be prepared for a sleepless night if you want tos support her through it. Basically you drink a lot of prepartions to give you a good clean out so they can get a clear picture of what's going on.But basically my mother scared me into going suggesting I could have bowel cancer, which is one of the things they are eliminating through the colonoscopy.The relief finding out it wasn't was huge (and if it had been bowel cancer I think I would be glad I had done something to know for sure so it could be treated) and I wished I had just got on and done it months earlier.If she puts a post up I'm sure everyone here will reassure her about how much easier it was than they expected, and what a relief it is to know for sure what you have so you can start doing something about it.I used to have the same attitude, that "I feel bad anyway so I might as well eat food I enjoy" ... and ended up making myself ill after gorging on chocolates on a romantic weekend away - needless to say it killed the romance and all I saw of the national park we went to see was the inside of our cabin toilet.So once she realises that her actions have an effect on more than just herself she will start doing something about it.And she already has a fabulous start with such a supportive partner ! Your attitude is fantastic, and I admire your willingness to help her with her condition.Maybe print out the response to your post ... it might help her realise she isn't alone - especially with the struggle to find a good specialist. But when you finally get a day free of an IBS attack, you wonder how you could have ever ignored your symptoms.Good luck - and keep up the support

 

[PuppyKicker]

Thanks for all the information everyone has given me. The problem I'm having is that she isn't really interested in my help. She's quite stubborn when it comes to this. I tried to send her and email with some of the tidbits from this post and she's somewhat ignoring it. Should I try to talk to her parents or something?

 

[PuppyKicker]

Thanks for all the information everyone has given me. The problem I'm having is that she isn't really interested in my help. She's quite stubborn when it comes to this. I tried to send her and email with some of the tidbits from this post and she's somewhat ignoring it. Should I try to talk to her parents or something?

 

[JackieGian]

How old are you and your girlfriend?

 

[JackieGian]

How old are you and your girlfriend?

 

[PuppyKicker]

We're both 19. We'll be 20 very shortly.

 

[PuppyKicker]

We're both 19. We'll be 20 very shortly.

 

[JackieGian]

Maybe you should back off a bit. I sense you may be coming on a bit "too" helpful. She may feel like you're trying to run her life.She needs time to come to terms with her newly diagnosed condition. She sounds like she's in a bit of denial. When my son was first diagnosed, I went crazy trying everything to "make it better". I think I just made him more stressed. Just be supportive while she tries to sort things out.