[Guest]

hi, i am new here. I was just surfing the net and saw this page and started to read some of your entries. I now know there are many others who suffer like I do. My IBS stems from years of being a bulemic. I have recovered from bulemia and have been bulemia-free for about 6 months but still have the IBS that came along with it.I eat well and try to eat small meals. I have seen gastroenterologists and been put on medication, tried metamucil, nothing works. Yoga seems to help sometimes but on some days i wake up feeling good and i am bloated by mid afternoon.It has come to the fact that if i know i am going out one nite, i won't eat dinner because i know that eating will send me home early with pain and discomfort.Any helpful advice. I plan on trying the ginger root but until then, anything else?Thanks

 

[Guest]

Hi DVM2BI am new to this BB and am very interested in what you say about IBS and bulimia.I have suffered from IBS D for 20 years now and also suffered from bulimia about 6 years ago after a relationship break-up. I have completely recovered from bulimia now but the Eating Disorder specialist who treated me at the time(he prescribed Prozac) thought that my underlying problem was depression and bulimia was a sympton of this.My IBS D was particularly bad recently causing me to have anxiety and panic attacks. My doctor prescribed fluoxetine (generic Prozac)and within a day my stomach pain had gone and I was having normal bowel movements.This would suggest that my problem is serotonin related. However I have not yet figured out whether I have an underlying depression and IBS is also a sympton or if depression is a sympton of my IBS.I asked my doctor if there was any connection between IBS and bulimia (food going quickly in one end and quickly out the other)but he was not able to comment. Has anyone else noticed any connection?Valerie

 

[Tracey Heynes]

Dear DVM2B,I can't believe this - reading your story is like reading my own!For YEARS I had these symptoms of bloating(just like you) and constipation gradually became more and more of a problem.Even when I had residential treatment and had no ED symptoms for several months,The bloating and C.continued.Nobody understood my distress,nobody ever mentioned IBS and most professionals took the view that I was focusing on a side-issue!!!I'm afraid anti-depressants didn't affect my physical symptoms at all.Even Prozac never helped-it just made me very,very tired.The only thing that ever made a dramatic difference was diet - but when you have an ED that's a dangerous path to take and in my case it eventually led to a worsening of my Bulimia.I've now made progress with the C.thanks to a combination of drugs and supplements but I still have terrible problems with bloating just like you.It seems to me that IBS is such a broad problem that different things work for different people.It's a case of experimenting with different things.Keep looking on these message boards.They can be extremely helpful and supportive.And thanks for putting your message on-I don't feel such a medical freak anymore!Good luck. Ibsed

 

[the_purple_one]

I have many factors that influence the fact my IBS, and the root cause could be genetic (my mum has suffered with IBS since her teens), the fact that I had gastroenteritis when I was a child or the fact that I have battled with bulemia for three years. (though I have almost recovered I still have occasional purges). I also suffered with depression (from around the age of 11 to 19, again another inherited condition), of unknown cause (endogenous). When seeing a specialist about my bulemia I was totally unaware of the fact that I had depression, I hated my self, & my body, I had no self worth I felt inferior to everyone. It is only now looking back that the link between bulemia and depression is clear. I have no doubt that my depression was the cause of my bulimia. All I can say is that one can cause the other, and it varies person to person. Depression can remain years after the bulimia is more ore less controlled). Sadly for me it was not until I recovered from my depresion that I knew that was the problem, so I never sought treatment.and an unfortunate by product of these events is that depression and bulimia can rear there heads quite easily, and that I now suffer IBS, I am usually constipated and get very bad cramps, I get very bloated nearly all the time. And then when I do need the toilet it comes on o quickly that even the smallest queue causes problems in public toilets.all I ca suggest is the use of peppermint oil capsules, although they do take along while to work, and as a result don't actually feel like they have done anything, as soon as you forget a couple you realise how much they actually help. They wont make your bowels normal but they may make them a little more bare-able. I think the stigmas attatched to IBS, Depression and eating disorders make it difficult to seek help, and almost everyone underestimates the effect anyone of them has on quality of life----------------------------------------------------------------------

If life gives you lemons you can make lemonade.But if life gives you IBS what exactly can you do?

 

[Taylor9080]

Hey I am new to this site, but found that I needed somewhere to turn.I was searching through posts to see if anything came similar to my problems.I was bulimic from 8th grade to junior year and I am now a senior. I have recovered from bulimia but it has left IBS with me. I have always had problems with my digestive system but it is much worse now. I cant go to the bathroom unless I have coffee. Sometimes coffee works and sometimes I am left days without going.If I dont go or even if I do I am extremely bloated. My stomach sticks out so far sometimes I cant wear hardly any clothes. I am left with sweatpants and hoodies.I am in so much discomfort that I dread going to school or any place for that matter.I went to the doctor and she gave me miralax, but I read that laxatives make it worse because you become dependent on them....but the thing is the laxative doesnt hardly even work.I am so helpless I dont know what to do.