[larzipanz]

hello, i'm a 20-year-old female and i think i might have IBS. it started about a month ago when i had a frequent urge to burp, which was foreign to me. soon thereafter, i began to experience stomach bloating, especially right after meals. so i decided to visit a doctor, who said "it could be anything..." and gave me prevacid which i took for awhile, but stopped taking because it didn't really seem to help the burping or bloating. however, the doctor did mention it could be IBS, but at the time i did not have diarrhea or constipation. later, i did begin to experience constipation, and i felt stopped up and a need to relieve myself, but i couldn't go. after about 4 or 5 days, the stomach discomfort had gotten to be too much, so i took a dulcolax at about 11:30 one night, only to wake up at 6am with probably the most painful stomach pain i have ever experienced, and had to sit on the toilet nearly crying for 45 minutes while my bowels were flushed out.i work at cici's pizza, and i cannot even eat the pizza anymore because it causes so much bloating and discomfort. what i have it not "painful", just very uncomfortable, and i have never had health problems in the past, so this is worrying me. finally, after eating a meal at chick-fil-a (8 chicken nuggets and lemonade), i got so bloated that i nearly freaked out, but picked up a product called "digestive advantage: IBS" at the grocery store and have been taking it for about 4 days. i see improvement in the bloating and stool frequency/consistency, but i'm still worried that what i have may not be IBS, (could it be something more serious?)please help me. any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Cupcake05]

The symptoms you have are almost exactly the same as mine! I am 19 years old and I use to have (and still do sometimes) terrible bloating and stomach pain and really bad constipation. After countless visits to the doctor with the same reply that nothing was wrong, I finally found a doctor that told me it could be IBS. He didnt give me any ways to help the pain or bloating other then to increase the amount of fibre in my diet. I did that but it didnt seem to help. I started researching IBS on my own and found a very helpfull site (http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/ibs/) that gave a list of all the things that could make IBS worse. Some of the things were stress, (which made sense because it always seemed to get worse when i was preparing for tests), wheat, rye, barley, caffeene, carbonated drinks, dairy products, gum, and chocolate. Right away I stopped eating all of these things and within a month I began to notice a HUGE difference! Before I tried this I had to buy two different sizes of pants because I was so bloated sometimes. It was so embarrasing!I think your symptoms sound a lot like IBS and it makes sense that it was worse after eating pizza and chicken fingers because both have wheat in them. I would get checked out by a doctor again just to make sure nothing else is wrong, but make sure you mention IBS to them. I found that none of my doctors really talked about that, but it made so much sense!! If they say that you do have IBS I truly suggest trying to change your diet!! it worked sooo well for me!! keep me posted!! Good Luck!

 

[larzipanz]

hey! thanks for your reply.it seems that doctors are not too concerned about IBS, especially because it's not life-threatening, but it can still degrade one's quality of life. i've tried increasing my fiber intake, eating things such as fiber one bars and fiber-rich cereal. thank you for that site, it's really useful! stress definitely plays a big part in my life, i'm a college student preparing for finals at the moment, and i've always been nervous by nature. it seems like somewhat-poor eating habits and stress has finally caught up to me. the pizza dough mix at work has a big ol' label slapped on the packaging, "HI-GLUTEN," so i'm sure that's part of it. my friend said maybe i should be tested for celiac, because she has celiac and said that sometimes celiac disease is misdiagnosed as IBS, but i am not experiencing fatigue, nausea, headaches, and vomiting like she does.carbonated drinks aren't a problem because i hate soda, but i've cut back on dairy and chocolate (sadly, because i love my glass of 2% milk every night

...) i agree, bloating is no fun. i look at myself and can't tell if i'm bloated or normal, because i can't remember what it looks and feels like to be "normal." the discomfort i experience usually subsides after i have a bowel movement, which looks to be one of the main "symptoms" of IBS. were you ever officially diagnosed with IBS? and if so, how is that even diagnosed? the idea of invasive procedures freak me out. :/

 

[Cupcake05]

Yah I feel the same way about the milk! I drink goats milk and it takes a little bit of getting use to, but after a few weeks it just seems normal. I was diagnosed with IBS about a year ago, I went to about a million doctors, all of them did blood tests to test for everything possible and every one had the same answer that nothing was wrong with me. I finally went to a specialist (I cant even remember what he specialized in because I went to so many) and he had the idea that it was IBS and told me to keep lots of fibre in my diet to see if it helped. There really isnt a test for it, but they did a bunch of tests to make sure it wasnt anything else and by process of elimination found out that it was IBS. If you ever do get diagnosed with IBS dont expect alot of advice.. I had to research it all on my own because the doctors just push it under the table as not a big problem. Thats why I joined this site.. it took me a long time but I finally found somewhere that I can find out more about it!If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer them for you!

 

[larzipanz]

thanks so much! i might go back to the doctor soon, she mentioned an ultrasound and blood tests would be a good idea. but i'm not really feeling pain, so it can't be too serious, right? when you're lying down and feel your stomach, does it feel tense? again, it's something i'm not sure is normal or not, because i never got in the habit of feeling my stomach before i got all these weird symptoms. i'm guessing it's just the trapped air in my intestines, but i hope that's all it is...

 

[Cupcake05]

Yah I know what you mean.. its pretty scary at first trying to figure out whats going on! The ultrasound and blood work is a good idea.. its a great way to make sure its nothing more serious and give you a bit of a break from worrying about it.. Even though your not in pain it is a good idea to go anyway. I know sometimes I can go for a few weeks without symptoms and then all of the sudden they come back like a punch to the stomach. You dont want to wait until they come back to go for the tests. When i lie down my stomach does feel tense, almost hard. I dont think it is normal, unless you work out a bunch and you have rock hard abs.. lol i know thats not the way with me.. but I think it is just from all the gas build up.. I find drinking lots of water helps with this..