[jharris71]

For about 3 or 4 years I have flare ups of pain, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, irritability, and weight loss that lasts 3-6 months and at least once my symptoms never eased up for a year. I dont get relief at all no lessening of symptoms and no stopping of symptoms after bm's. I hurt very sharply to my right upper abdomen and it often extends down to my right pelvic crest. The rest of my abdomen feels heavy, bloated, and crampy with non stop aches. I feel a constant urge to have a BM and eithier I dont go at all or I might have pencil thin small to long bm's, occasional hard constipation like stools and other times of a sudden spike in the already painful stuff going on with me and have embarrassing watery incontinent episodes. I have so much gas at times that I could inflate a hot air balloon. I never, never, ever get relief untill the flare up ends when ever IT decides to end. I take Librax and was taking Bentyl and they dont work I just maybe get knocked out with the librax for an hour and wake up in pretty severe pain or the bentyl gives me a flushed feeling with no relief. I try watching what I eat but toast or soup kicks up the pain the same as a sandwich or anything else. I have had colonoscopies, EGD's, ABD ultrasounds, liver and pancrease function studies and all of that come back normal...... One EGD said I had inflamation in my lower stomache. Sooner or later I get the brsh off from the family doc's or the Gastro specialists like I am a drug seeker or a hypochondriac. I get tired of being told to just take my Nexium and avoid spicy foods from both types of Doc's....... Spicy foods are they nutts? I dont care about meds I just want less pain less often. I sometimes think I see blood when I go to the bathroom and others not. I have to go so often some days that I have anal bleeding from cleaning up. I dont know what to eat, I dont know what to do to get a doc or my family to take me serious, I just feel frustrated and yes sometimes desperate enough to OD or something. I need help to understand what is going on and where to turn or what to say to get the help I need!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gypsigirl]

Hi jharris71, I understand your pain, I have been there and been tested for everything under the sun. When everything comes back ok they say your fine. They now say it is ibs cause they cant come up with anything else. Keep at it, Dont give up cause you know your body better then anyone else does. No matter what they think or say....

 

[kh12]

For about 3 or 4 years I have flare ups of pain, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, irritability, and weight loss that lasts 3-6 months and at least once my symptoms never eased up for a year. I dont get relief at all no lessening of symptoms and no stopping of symptoms after bm's. I hurt very sharply to my right upper abdomen and it often extends down to my right pelvic crest. The rest of my abdomen feels heavy, bloated, and crampy with non stop aches. I feel a constant urge to have a BM and eithier I dont go at all or I might have pencil thin small to long bm's, occasional hard constipation like stools and other times of a sudden spike in the already painful stuff going on with me and have embarrassing watery incontinent episodes. I have so much gas at times that I could inflate a hot air balloon. I never, never, ever get relief untill the flare up ends when ever IT decides to end. I take Librax and was taking Bentyl and they dont work I just maybe get knocked out with the librax for an hour and wake up in pretty severe pain or the bentyl gives me a flushed feeling with no relief. I try watching what I eat but toast or soup kicks up the pain the same as a sandwich or anything else. I have had colonoscopies, EGD's, ABD ultrasounds, liver and pancrease function studies and all of that come back normal...... One EGD said I had inflamation in my lower stomache. Sooner or later I get the brsh off from the family doc's or the Gastro specialists like I am a drug seeker or a hypochondriac. I get tired of being told to just take my Nexium and avoid spicy foods from both types of Doc's....... Spicy foods are they nutts? I dont care about meds I just want less pain less often. I sometimes think I see blood when I go to the bathroom and others not. I have to go so often some days that I have anal bleeding from cleaning up. I dont know what to eat, I dont know what to do to get a doc or my family to take me serious, I just feel frustrated and yes sometimes desperate enough to OD or something. I need help to understand what is going on and where to turn or what to say to get the help I need!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kh12]

jharris71please don't do anything drastic....although i understand how you could get to that stage.i have had ibs for a lot of years (unknown,since childhood).there are a few things which have helped me. try cutting out all bread and pasta. the wheat in the bread and pasta contains gluten which causes swelling and gas in the stomach. cut out all bread and pasta, including brown.replace this with rice and corn...rice cakes, rice or corn cereals, corn flour. you will have quite a lot of reading to do (food labels), and it's usually in smallprint, but you will be amazed at how many foods contain wheat and gluten. (even oxo cubes, but you can get an alternative aldis. they also do safe mustard, colemans has gluten)the trick is, the more wheat and gluten you can cut out of your diet the better you will feel.by reading about other peoples problems you can try other avenues of study. and it does turn into a lifetime of study. cut out one thing at a time and record your results. fizzy drinks also irritate and cause bloating and pain.on a happier note, if you like sandwiches and feel you will be missing out...don't worry there are gluten free breads out there, but even better is just having the nice bit out of the middle!

 

[Kathleen M.]

A lot of times the pain is more because you ate than what you ate.Every human has a gastrocolic reflex that makes the colon more active after meals.If everything you eat causes pain the important thing is to then make sure you eat a balanced nourishing diet (losing out on calories and nutrients only stresses the body making things worse) but you may want to plan 4-6 small meals every 3-4 hours as smaller meals when you are less hungry cause less colon activity than avoiding food for as long as possible. 300-400 calories is a good range to aim for per mini-meal.The nexium is for heartburn and no spicy foods is usually to reduce heartburn pain, but some IBSers find spicy food bothers them as well.With the antispasmodics (either prescription or peppermint tea) waiting until you can't take the pain usually doesn't work. Try taking them 20-30 minutes before a meal, that reduces that post meal increase in activity. You could try peppermint on the same schedule, but it can increase heartburn.The lots of starch all the time diet you seem to be using as your safe diet may be making you more gassy (which can cause more pain) than you would find it you would have a protein and cooked veggies rather than soup (which usually has something starchy in it) with toast. Probiotics can also reduce gas volume and may help you tolerate starches better even if you still have to keep the serving size down.Here is a low flatus diet (rice is the least gassy of the starches)http://www.endowsec.com/pated/edtgs12.htmYou may also want to make sure you were checked for celiac as eating wheat if you have that will cause symptoms and avoiding it will reduce (or in some cases eliminate) them.If you tend to diarrhea after meals some people find a small dose of Imodium 20-30 minutes before a meal reduces the post meal reaction and some people find Calcium carbonate 3X a day (with meals) helps (take one with vitamin D in it).Are you willing to try hypnotherapy or antidepressants. Those often can reduce the pain for a good percentage of people.

 

[Sorbsy]

Have you had a test for occult blood in your stool? If you think you're seeing blood, definitely don't quit searching for an answer as to why. Also, inflammation in the stomach is something you should definitely be getting information about; it could be ulcers, of course, but a friend of mine recently discovered he had inflammation in his stomach just before being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.If you're not pleased with what your doctors are doing for you, push for a change; like gypsigirl said, it's your body, you have every right to find out what's going on.

 

[cookies4marilyn]

Hello jharris - take a peek at my links below - perhaps they will be helpful - there is hope - all the best to you.

 

[jharris71]

Hi jharris71, I understand your pain, I have been there and been tested for everything under the sun. When everything comes back ok they say your fine. They now say it is ibs cause they cant come up with anything else. Keep at it, Dont give up cause you know your body better then anyone else does. No matter what they think or say....