[Sandy1966]

Hi I'm fairly new to the IBS diagnosis but have suffered for years..This year has been extremely stressful as my daughter got married, my 18 year old daughter moved in with a much older guy and got addicted to cocaine, my husband had a heart attack.....guess that's enough stress for one year. I started to feel abdominal pain about 9 months ago.I am overweight, don't excercise, started working at home sitting all day long and then have no energy to do anything so I sit on the couch after my day of sitting at a desk. I smoke, drink too much coffee, drank coke everyday, sometimes 2 (quit that), was on the Atkins Diet and lost 60 pounds but got sick after that. I am getting withdrawn, bitchy, and depressed.At first I thought I had a blockage....my doctor has done blood tests for my liver, kidneys, ovarian cancer, all came back ok. I am going for a colonoscopy in January. The worst symptom is the bloating (look 6 months pregnant) and the cramping. My doc has put me on dicetel (sp?) and now I'm on something else but am still having the cramping. It's worse when I stand. Can't do my usual socializing, shopping, housework is difficult. I feel like my family doesn't understand. I am an overachiever and do everything for everyone. I have one daughter left at home and she does help me and can see I'm in pain. My husband is not so supportive, stupid comments.....I guess I just feel that I don't believe my doc's diagnosis....I'm not in denial but I keep feeling it must be something other than IBS like something much more serious....So glad there is a support group.....thank you....Sandy

 

[overitnow]

Hi Sandy,I am sorry to hear what you are experiencing. When I was about your age my bad digestion finally caved into this condition completely. In my case it was chronic and constant diarrhea with an eventual further deterioration into acid reflux and constant stomach pain. (There was also the discovery of a couple of presumed blockages in my cardiovascular system, adding a future heart attack to my general expectation of lung cancer.) Additionally, if you added a couple of beers a day with at least a history of heavy weekend drinking, you would have my past habits nailed. Now, this does not mean that something more serious cannot be happening; but there is hope. Obviously, from your list, you know what issues need to be addressed. Equally obviously, once your body starts to malfunction like this, you don't want to put this off and give those more serious problems opportunities to develop. Certainly, from my experience, the sooner you start down that path the sooner you will begin to stop further damage to yourself . Once that process begins, then recovery, not just symptom mediation, becomes possible. And just to be perfectly clear, it may well take some time to reverse the damage you have done. It took me 5 years just to stop smoking and another 5 years to find the combination of supplements which have made my last 11 years the blessing that they have become. Once you are clear with your diagnosis, find a psychologist, a naturopath or other more holistic therapist to accompany your doctor's care. They have all seen people like us before and they can help stiffen the will to get better. I went from almost housebound and trapped in my own despair to an active and happy 60s. This is possible. Mark