Hi all. I'm new on the forum though I've been dealing with my IBS-D for several years. I believe it started in my 20's (I'm 55 now) when I was always getting D with my period but I just assumed it was a side affect of menstruation. Now I'm not sure. Anyway I had a hysterectomy in about 2000 due to endometriosis and during the five years prior to the surgery I had D very bad. At that time I figured it was the endo. After the surgery it continued though not as frequent. Currently I have episodes of D most every week but not so bad as to be a real quality of life problem. Then every once in a while (I think it's been several months now since the last episode) I will have a VERY bad episode which is long lasting (for me that is several hours with several days of residual loose stool without urgency, with some abdominal pain). After reading many of the posts here I realize my case is not that bad. But I had an episode yesterday that was really inconvenient. Driving home from work in major traffic (a normally 25 minute drive took much longer) I didn't make it. It was a terrible mess and I had to disrobe in the tub when I got home and clean up. Yuck! I'm just wondering how the rest of you deal with this sort of thing. I have started carrying extra panties to work with me and now thinking about making that extra slacks too! But I'd hate to have had to deal with yesterdays mess in a public rest room. I may get some Depends in hopes they will contain things better. Any experiences here that might help me cope? For now it's infrequent enough that I have not wanted to start any heavy meds. I did take amitryptaline for awhile but didn't really feel it did much. Hard to say though as my bad episodes are so far apart. I do take Calcium as a supplement because my doc wants me to for my bones (aging female and all that) and I take Vit D as I had a deficiency and just found that out a six months ago. My last test it was back to normal. I had thought my IBS-D was better in the past year since taking the Calcium. My gastroenterologist basically says if you have IBS-D and you eat you will have D. He doesn't feel it is food or stress related or at least says they haven't scientifically linked it to either. I know it is at least somewhat stress related for me though lots of times when it hits I don't think I am stressed. I haven't really experimented much with the diet stuff...we use lactose free milk which I don't use much of anyway but I do eat yogurt and cheese usually with no problem. I've been "dieting" lately for weight loss as I am about 30 lbs overweight. I generally eat oatmeal and a banana for breakfast, salad for lunch sometimes with a yogurt, pretzels as snacks, and usually chicken and a veggie for dinner. I don't drink alcohol often and then only a glass of wine or a single hard lemonade. I've had weeks of vacation where I've drunk alcohol every day with no problem so it's hard for me to think that affects me that much. I don't consume caffeine and little sugar as I use Splenda for beverages. I think the whole thing is very unpredictable and it seems they really (and I really) don't have a clue what causes it or when it will hit. So I am just crossing my fingers that for me it doesn't get any worse. I really sympathize with all of you who are so much worse. I have no clue how I would live with it. Betty