so much pain

[krissy24]

hi im 19, I have IBS and the doc gave me Nexium to take. but it has gotten so bad that I can barly eat anything anymore. my stomach is always hurting and if i eat i either throw it up right away or get terrible diarrhea. i wake up in the middle of the night with such bad pains that sometimes i feel like im going to faint. could this be something more then IBS? is there something else i can do?

[alex2carmen]

Hi Krissy, sorry to read about anguishing pain and stress you are going through. I have the same or similar problem since 1990 it all happened when my 30 year old brother died from helicopter crash. During the 15 days of his head operations and fighing for his life, I could say that he took my life along too. Day and night I was standing at the door of the hospital. I was so stressed out that I myself got sick. I exactly can't point to the blame, what exactly triggered my health condition but I blame two reasons for it, the excessive amount of stress and an adverse reaction to the antibiotics I was taking. I had several antibiotic reactions in the past and one last one carried the job of those in the past. Doctors believe that antibiotics can exterminate micro floral bacterias in intestines that are essential for digesting the food and absorbing the vitanis throughout the body. While good bacterias are killed by antibiotics and other chemicals in your body the bad bacterias multiply and produce excessive amount of toxicity. When this occurres then the food you eat turned to toxic poison and immediately comes out in liquid stools. After several months when good bacterias slowly recover then your frequnt stools slows down too. Of course it does not get back to its original state but maybe 50% of the original condition. While it recovers so slowly it causes other organs to suffer or even malfunction. Because intestines particularly large intestines play the utmost role in supplying vitamins and nutrition to other organs. In a simple example if the source supplier will not supply then everyone depending on the supplier will suffer. So my non-stop diarrhea continued for more than a year. I was losing 1-2 lb. A day. My entire body was weak. My muscles were not holding me. Dehydrated ever minute. Bread and water kept me alive. Ever time you dehydrate you make sure eat loads of bread. Not that you would have such a gluttonous appetite but is necessary for survival. After you eat bread alone you'll feel back on your feet again.
Have also stool labs done to ensure you do not have any bacterias resided in your stomach. An H. Pylori bacteria known to cause ulcer and cancer. I myself had this bacteria probably for long time until last year a biopsy test from colonoscopy showed presence of an H. Pylori bacteria in my stomach. After second course of treatment it was cleared from my system. My stools stablized and solid. Recently I started taking lactobacillus made by culturelle, is a good bacteria type of probiotics that relived some of my back pains and swelling feeling on my right colon. Try taking some it's not harmful at all. You can buy this probiotics from Costo warehouse. Called "Culturelle" a very effective probiotics. Will keep updated. My wishes to you of good recovery!

[IA_IBS]

{{{{{{{Krissy}}}}}}

Ok...the mommy in me just took over. I just kinda want to scoop you up, run away fast and promise to make everything alright. SIIIGHH...doesn't work with my own kids so I guess I will stop! LOL

Anyway..I can soooo identify with everything you described. I would def say stress is a major trigger for you. Problem with stress....there is no magic pill or switch to make those things go away. We just have to be patient and wait them out and do what we can to handle it to the best of our ability. I know you prob feel all alone and that no one can possibly understand....but your not, and we do.

What you were saying about the med probs and losing track of what symptoms go with what...another good reason for the diary. It was with my diary that I realized that when my lower back hurt the worst (I have arthritis in L4 L5 and S1) was also when I was constipated. I also used it to figure out that everytime I ate nuts I was getting this pain that both I and my doctor THOUGHT was an ovarian cyst that we were missing. After the expense of 2 sonograms and 3 specialist 's saying I had "BEAUTIFUL ovaries and the uterus of a 20 year old" we realized Hmmm....I can't digest nuts at all! I could go on and on about all that my diary taught me....its also a good place to vent to yourself a little and get some of that stress off your chest. Even if the person you really want to be saying things to doesn't ever see it, there is something helpful in jsut writting it down!

Anyway....start your KRISSY diary YESTERDAY....keep us posted and remember your not alone. Many prayers being sent your way.

[krissy24]

hey, thanks for the advice. Im going to start keeping a diary like you said. that was a really good idea.
what you said about the stress is definitely a factor. I have so much stress right now. although i am only 19, i got married right out of high school and now my husband is being charged with sexual relations with a minor. iv also had 3 miscarriages in the past 3 years. i had cancer when i was 15 and now they think it has come back. and i just found out i have to have major back surgery and i have a lump in my breast. so with all of that plus the IBS, stress could most definitely be the key factor.
i have been trying to watch what i eat, when i can eat at all. but i get sick from everything. not only is it my stomach that cramps up and gets bloated but also my intestine cramp and i get major heart burn. it seems like its just getting worse. i have been able to eat less and less, sometimes only a jello or soup in the afternoon and that is all i will have all day. but now i am gaining weight!! i either throw up what i eat or i get bad diarrhea. and i know this is more info then you want to hear but i will be in the bathroom for hours at a time, and when i have had all the diarrhea come out, its like mucus and a clear discharge that comes out after that. i dont think thats normal. i know it might be related to either my back injery or my cancer, but my dr didnt really do any tests or check me. when i had an appt. all he did was ask me what was going on, thats when he gave me the nexium.
i have been taking fiber and trying to eat things with fiber. but it honestly hasnt helped. it doesnt stop the diarrhea like it should, i dont know. because i have so many med problems right now its hard to tell which symptoms go with what. and im sure its all connected some how. anyway. thank you for your help. it really is appeciated!!:)

~ Krissy

[IA_IBS]

HI Krissy...

You sound very much like me when my IBS was at its worst. Its still a daily part of my life, but not nearly as severe as it was a few years ago.
The first thing I noticed was your age. Breaks my heart to see someone so young already having to deal with this. What I wonder tho, is if your maybe under some extra stress? Newly out of high school. Away to college maybe? Making that transition from teen to adult is a HUGE undertaking.
I went several months, back in 2005 that I could not see, smell or eat food without having a TERRIBLE attack with my IBS. I lost 95 pounds in 7 months before I was able to get a handle on things. At that time my trigger was MAJOR stress. Once I managed to get somewhat of a grip on my stress and learned to manage it (still HAVE the stress, just learned to deal with it differently) I began a food diary. I now know what foods are safe, which one's a can "get away with" and the one's I must avoid all together. This is a long process but worth the effort.
I am very lucky to have a doctor that actually LISTENS to me and cares. This is soooo important. You say your doc gave you Nexium. Isn't that for acid reflux? Makes me curious as to the exact location of your pain?
Have you done any sort of fiber supplements for the diarrhea? I have tried , but within a week or 2, I am so blocked up I have to use Milk of Mag for relief. Just what I want...give myself diarrhea on purpose! ARRGH!  LOL Miralax helped for awhile but then it stopped working too.
I cannot say enough the importance of stress management, a safe for your system yet healthy diet, physical activity (even tho it's prob the LAST thing you want to do when feeling like you do)  and a doctor that will LISTEN. This is NOT in your head....it's real. No 2 IBS suffer's have the exact same experience with it which makes it hard for friends family and even the medical community to understand what your going thru.
Start a diary. Write down EVERYTHING. Everything you eat and at what time. How did you feel physically afterward. How did you body react. I know it sounds weird but write down every trip to the bathroom and a few details about it. Write about what going in your life OUTSIDE the bathroom and how your feeling mentally as well. After a few days you might be able to see a pattern and figure out some triggers. TAKE IT TO YOUR DOC. My doc was very pleased to see mine and it really helped him have a better understanding then me just coming and saying "my tummy hurts...I live in the bathroom...i miss cheeseburgers...FIX ME" (sorry....would KILL for a cheeseburger! LOL)
You know I said earlier that I was sorry your dealing with this at your age...actually, I wish I had been DX'd at that age....instead they were blaming it on ulcers and (get this...) "your allergic to your own adrenaline" HA! Had someone told me all those years ago that I had IBS I could have done something about it then...
Keep us posted Krissy...