Some people are happier taking medications and alternate meds so if they are and we know things that helped us, its fair for us to help them... afterall no snese in walking this path alone or we all wouldnt be here... my IBs kicked off in 2001... one friday morning in college, no stress, no illness... nothing just intense pain then urgency. i have a thing about public toilets only used in desperation lol that applied to college to. i went to college that morning at 9am and was sent home by 10.30am...after finally getting home, having someone fetch me, which was a struggle my parents thought i just couldnt be bothered to go, dont know why as college was my choice.i was 18 and we went away that weekend though i didnt want to but i felt weird and i didnt want to be on my own. I ate oranges on the sunday before i came home, i had always eaten stupid amounts of oranges, grapes and apples lol addicted to fruit which became my worse trigger. BEfore we had even got on the motorway a 40minute drive i had need to stop at every petrol station on the way and every service station on the way home... it was horrible adn of course never before suffering from D, i wasnt carrying anything too stop them.We thought i had a tummy bug or eaten somethng dodgy... however two weeks on, we went to the doctor and i had an urgent refferal to a GI specialist as i couldt keep food in and was having daily D upto 20times a day. I remember the pain and discomfort to this day but now i wonder how i coped having that for 18months.i was house bound for a month while my doctor refused treatment while i was being tested, i could barely go to the bottom of the garden without having to run back to the toilet. After that they started treating me by then i was anxious about how quickly i could have bad attacks and i didnt wantt o go to college on the buses as it took 30minutes and my attacks at worse were every 10, there were no public toilets on route. They gave me medication after medication, they only hospilatalised me in 2003 might have been 2004 but whenever it was too late i had given up on the NHS (the health sevrice) i didnt eat more than a round of a bread a day as in hospital they wouldnt let me take my medication the way i had learnt to use it to tae control... they let me out everyday on day release so i went home every day 8am-9pm. so there was never ever point to being there. the night i was ill there, no one would give my med so i spent all night on the toilet and in pain, ignorance was bliss.My speicalist was the most ignorant of them all, he kept screening me for laxatives... im not skinny but my BMI is normal weight... and i dont have any weight issues the chocalte that passes my lips is all optional and if people dont like me for who i am, they know what they can kiss... After the hospital venture i refused to see my specialist didnt see the point in wasting my time. He kept prescribing me orange meds, i took them once and had projile vomiting for 2 days... he kept on dilute itthen it wont affect you. i said if you cant give me non orange meds theres no much much im trying to get better not worse.I reached out for alternate meds, kept a food and drink diary. i had some electrode food interlorance test, didn't have any faith in it doing anything, however maybe by chance the triggers i knew of from my diary were worst on this test and some i wasnt aware of but when i got home and elimintated them were nasty triggers too...i eliminted most things from my diet, food adn me didnt get on. A fair few years on from cotober i have more or less complete control. Went on a feild trip with uni a week in the fielf no toilets alday adn i survived and i was soo happy that i had been "normal" and no one would of ever known what i had been though to get there...I had trouble with people, alot of people thought it was made up to skieve butt hey were the friends i didnt miss... i tell everyone before they get close, so as no one is mislead that my life can get difficult and i cant always be where i said i would of been. My family came around even my brothers after watching me for a few months lol. Though my boyfriend has been the strongest for me, he knows that i cant do things at the drop of a hat and i need a few hours to take meds before big days out. If i say im ill we leave, no questions no fights... its nice to be almost normal again, 4years ago i wouldnt of believed it could of happened, few people would!i have come from 8imodium a day everyday to 0-4 a day. Dont get me wrong if im not careful with what i eat i still have to make friends with mr toilet for the day but those days are rare now. i still hate the 50minute bus ride to uni but i know its in my head, IBS cant win like it used to any more... maybe we cant be cured but we can learn how fight and win even if the glory isnt long its still possible.finished rambling