IBS Is Ruining My Life - I'm Stuck In The House!?

Question

I have severe IBS, I have diarrhea almost every day. I always seem to get it during car rides, maybe because of nerves. I don't dare to leave the house, even to go to the grocery store! I don't want to have an accident in public. How can you live a normal life with chronic, uncontrollable diarrhea?

Answer 1

Hi THere

Here are some remedies to heal your condition. You will have to learn about how to cleanse your system of toxins (#3), but if you educate yourself on how to heal oneself you'll live a normal life. I cant explain the freedom of a healthy body and knowing how to heal it.

Causes
IBS can be caused by a variety of factors, including poor diet and nutrition, food allergies, imbalanced levels of hydrochloric acid, impaired immunity, infections, lack of exercise, pharmaceutical drugs, and stress.


Quick Action Plan for IBS

1. Avoid all sugars, refined flour products, and carbohydrates, milk and dairy products, processed foods that contain preservatives and artificial sweeteners, alcohol, hydrogenated and trans-fatty oils, as well as foods that are common allergens.

2. Emphasize organic, fresh vegetables and non-citrus fruits, organic grains, as well as organic, free-range meats and poultry and wild-caught fish.

3. Drink plenty of pure, filtered water throughout the day.
Cleansing and Detoxification therapy such as short fasts, elimination diets, and colonics.

4. Enteric-coated peppermint oil and aloe vera juice.

5. Soothing baths two to five nights a week, as well as alternating hot and cold water packs placed over the abdomen.

6. Use Probiotics and soil-based organisms.

7. Therapeutic juices include wheatgrass juice; cabbage, papaya, and carrot juice.

8. Stress reduction techniques, such as biofeedback, hypnosis, and meditation.

9. If you are a smoker, stop and refrain from taking aspirin or other NSAIDs.

10. Examine the possibility of withheld emotions as the cause of your symptoms and get support through emotional and physical expression, especially movement therapies such as NIA, Qi gong, Yoga or Total Integration Therapy to name a few options.

Best of health to you

Answer 2

I'm SOOOO glad you came on here and asked this. That must have taken a lot of courage. You sound exactly like me a year ago. For me it ended up being 100% from Celiac Disease, which is an intolerance to gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley and oats).

I had IBS for 18 years, getting progressively worse year after year until for the last 3-4 years I was pretty much trapped in my house. Once I went gluten-free it all stopped like somebody flipped a switch. My stomach doesn't even grumble anymore, much less get that uneasy feeling. The only time I get diarrhea anymore is if I'm actually sick with the flu or something like that.

Here's the National Institutes of Health webpage on celiac -

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/

If that starts ringing bells, there are a couple of really good message boards for people with gluten intolerance -

www.glutenfreeforum.com
www.celiacforums.com

It's also possible that it's another common food that is causing your issues. Soy, dairy, corn, eggs, yeast all cause major problems for a lot of people. If it doesn't seem like it's gluten, you may want to keep a food diary to try and identify possible culprits.

Your symptoms sound like classic pre-diagnosis celiac to me. So I'd look into that first.

I hope you start feeling better soon.

Nancy

Answer 3

I feel your pain!!

I saw a gastroenterologist many years ago who diagnosed me with IBS. He recommended Metamucil. I got better and stopped taking it and recently encountered another bout with IBS.

I realize that Metamucil says that it is a laxative but it can also have the opposite effect. I started mixing one rounded teaspoon in a cup of OJ (it helps with the taste but you can put it in water and my doc recommended the sugar free kind and generic Metamucil works just fine and saves money) twice a day, morning and night half an hour before eating. Two days later I am symptom free. NO MORE CRAMPING!!! YEA!!

The other folks are correct though. You MUST find your trigger foods that make it worse. Mine are dairy and steak.

Imodium is really good at stopping the diarrhea.

You should go to the doctor if you keep having problems as I know there are some antispasmodic drugs that are supposed to help in extreme cases.

Good luck!!

Answer 4

My first suggestion is to find yourself a good naturopath or other natural therapist. They'll help pinpoint exactly what's causing the IBS, and then find you some good natural, safe ways of treating it.
I'm having some of the same problem at the moment, and I'm taking Slippery Elm tablets from the health food shop. They're working a treat.
But it's best not to self-medicate unless you know what you're doing. Besides, just treating the symptoms doesn't fix the problem. A good naturopath or similar will help find the CAUSE and deal with that. Once you get rid of the cause, you can't have any symptoms :)
Good luck!

Answer 5

You have my deep compassion.

Please do a lot of investigation as you may have Celiac Sprue /Gluten allergy. It Could be from foods you eat ......gluten is hidden in a lot of things under different names. If it goes untreated it can damage the intestines and also cause anemia. Many doctors misdiagnose. Many sites are online ........www.celiac.com is one.

Once you find out for sure you might get help from a support group. Best Wishes!!

Answer 6

There is a website you can go to to explore naturl remedies, diets, alternative therapies for many illness, conditions, disorders, etc.

http://www.curezone.com

I hope you can find what you need.

Answer 7

My friend has this but she takes a perscription for it....I don't recall what it is so you'll have to see your doc. for it. It should help. Good luck.

Answer 8

go to a doctor- they have medicines to help.
go to a counselor to help cope with your stress.