IBS Awareness - Media Attention

It's because it is an embarrassing bathroom thing.April was IBS awareness month.... I didn't see anything on the news shows that always seem to do a thing on whatever health problem awareness month it is.I'm sure IFFGD sent out press releases about it.I'm working on a letter to my senetor the theme is no one wants to talk about it and nobody wants to hear.I'm thinking of not even mentioning the name of the disorder till at least 1/2 way through.K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html [This message has been edited by kmottus (edited 06-29-2001).]

the classic example for me of this is the woman who belonged to the LAG list for awhile and said she knew her reps socially so she could never tell them about her problems.tom

The IFFGD headquarters is located only an hour from me in Milwaukee and I still knew nothing about IBS Awareness Month. I would have thought the local news here would have run a piece, but unless I missed it, the news here said nothing.K, you could write your letter without mentioned the name of IBS until halfway through like you suggested. I've seen articles using that approach before. You can describe the daily symptoms and describe how it can alter one's life. The reader will think you are talking about cancer or another illness that brings horrible symptoms to mind, then they will read on to find out it is IBS and it affects millions daily.

the problem i have with a lot of the ibs awareness i've seen basically portrays it as a minor inconvenience for a lot of people with a passing reference to some people get it really bad. i think this is part of the reason the media and senators ignore it. they see ibs and think of that 'vexing inconvenience'sara, i lived in Milw for forty years.tom

My employer subscribes to a weekly health newsletter, and every week a new issue is put out for us to read in the lunch room. Today I was waiting around for my lunch to cook and happened to glance at it (I don't normally read it) and saw an article about IBS. It was pretty brief and just listed the basic symptoms of abdominal pain, constipation, diarreah, both C and D, gas, etc. Nothing I don't know already but something I wouldn't have known about if I didn't have IBS. It's not much but I was still glad to see it discussed in a newsletter. I agree the problem is that the subject of "yucky bathroom problems" is embarrassing for most people. Too bad more articles aren't featured in more publications.Tom, I've been an hour away my whole life. Only in my current city for less than a year but only lived 20 miles away before that. If I thought I could afford it, I would try seeing doctors at the IFFGD.