[buttoneer]

I am just so thrilled to find this site exists. I'm a 35-year-old guy, and I was about 20 when first diagnosed with IBS. Mine usually takes the form of diarrhea--about 3 rounds of it after dinner just about every night. I take Metamucil and try to eat a high-fiber cereal every morning.I also have GERD, which came out of nowhere. Three years ago, an endoscopy revealed an esophogeal stricture. Things were pretty scary for a while, but after taking a megadose of Protonix for a few years, the damage seems to have disappeared. I keep my diet quite limited--very little acid, plus no dairy (lactose intolerant), and I never eat anything after 8:30 at night. I'm still on the 80 mg of Protonix, and the reflux itself is as bad as ever, but it's great knowing my tube isn't damaged. Somehow, I have this sense the GERD and the IBS are related, but haven't been able to put them together yet.On top of all of this, I started finding blood in my stool about a year and half ago, and have bled every day since. My doctor has been doing a 3-part hemmorhoid ligation on me all fall, but the bleeding continues. I get the last rubber band this week, and we'll see what happens.I would love to experience life without all or some of these problems. It'd be great to be able to eat without planning to be home in time to have my requisite 3 trips to the bathroom. Basically, I'm writing to introduce myself, and to ask if anyone might be able to suggest where to start. Because when I recently asked my longterm GI doctor how I might deal better with my IBS, he handed me three different types of fiber supplements and said "You just have to figure it out." I don't mean to be disparaging toward him, because he has been fantastic in dealing with the GERD trouble.Sorry to be so long-winded. Hope to hear from someone soon!Gary