I think I have IBS. How can I manage stress?

Question

I have had problems for almost a year and have been visiting my doctor....he hasnt really diagnosed it as IBS but it sounds like this is what I have. I have heard that relieving stress helps but how exactly can you cut down on stress. can anyone give me any tips? I am still at school so it is pretty hard....am thinking about dropping out as I think this may help but I don't know if this is a good idea. anyone who has it must know how sh*t it makes you feel.....so yeah.....where was i.....oh yeah....advise on how to cut down on stress anyone?

cheers

Answer 1

Dropping out of school is a bad idea unless you're thinking of going to college or something instead. You will be even more stressed if you're stuck in lousy jobs for the rest of your life because you've no decent qualifications to help you out.

Try to relax when you're not at school, go swimming or try some other form of exercise such as cycling / racket games to take your mind off it. Listen to music and sing along or spend time having a laugh with your friends. Don't drop out though, keep it up, it's not for much longer.

Answer 2

I have IBS and am also at school and I know it's a stressful environment. I'm actually trying to cut down on stress myself.
http://www.fi.edu/brain/relieve.htm#relievequick
This website has helped me a lot. Excerise 2-3 times a week is a really big stress reliever. I just started trying to meditate last week and that's been helping a lot. I also started taking a Stress B-Complex vitamin. I can't really tell if it's relieving stress yet, though. If you're worried about your workload at school, maybe you should find a better way to manage your work and time. Don't let papers creep up on you and things. I don't think dropping out is a very good solution, since you've chosen to go to school for a reason, but if you feel very overwhelmed, maybe you should transfer to a less competitive school.

A healthy diet also helps out a lot. With stress and IBS. Fiber and whole grains are good. Dairy and spicy foods are generally not very good. There are a lot of websites that can explain a lot better (since I'm not too good at this part of taking care of myself in this way)

http://www.ctds.info/ibs_diet.html

Best of luck.

Answer 3

IBS is stress triggered, but also triggered by the foods you eat and what you are doing day to day. Excercise helps best for reducing stress and keeping your body moving. Watching foods you eat, and putting yourself on a strict diet that is IBS friendly is the smartest thing to do. Dropping out of school won't solve anything. You just need to find things to do whtat help reduce your stress level. Excercising at a gym would actually help a lot, I swim in the pool at my University and use the treadmill or elliptical listening to my ipod and tuning out the world. Helps tremendously.

Answer 4

Try Yoga, you can easily buy a DVD & do at home.
Also do deep breathing exercises, do this every few hours Take a deep breath as u count to 4, hold for 4, & exhale to 4.
Get some relaxing new age music, you can get them in HMV, Asda, etc. Lie down, listen, close your eyes & breathe . If you do this every day, you'll soon be more relaxed. Please don't drop out, you'll jeopardise your future, I tell you becuase I dropped out of Uni & regret it ever since.you might need Bitamin B complex, magnesium (on empty stoamch) in morning & a multi-vitmain perhaps. These are good for stress.
For IBS, please look at this site, has lots of good advice about alternatives, vitamins etc/ You might have a food intolerance, it could be wheat, dairy or coffee etc.
Also type in IBS in search & look through results.(not all are relevant)

Answer 5

I'm not to sure what IBS is exactly but i suffer from panic/anxiety and need to cut down on stress in my life. By doing this you could try hypnotherapy Cd's, yoga, reading, swimming. Infact any hobbies you have are good at reducing stress. Find at least an hours me to in your day to do exactly what you wish. Just by doing this can dramatically reduce stress and you will see the benefits almost immediately.
Good luck :o)

Answer 6

Change your diet it helps. I take Citralcil every night and eat more food with fiber. I also have learned to let some of the things that stress me go. I have a choice on how and what I feel and so do you.

Answer 7

dont frop out of school, you need your education sweetie, and as for relieving stress, many people find there own ways to blow off steam that works for them, i would suggest getting some music(if you d/l music, then maybe you can get it from there) but look up "relaxing" or "meditation" or "yoga" music and find a comfy spot and just relax, breathe from the bottom of your lungs, it lets more oxygen into your bloodstream and calms your heart rate, if you breathe from the top of your lungs it makes blood rush through your heart faster and makes you stressed, or your blood pressure go up, a good way to do this is like i said before, find music that relaxes you, lie down, place your hand on your stomach and breathe from the bottom of your lungs, youre hand should rise with the bottom of your stomach if youre doing it right, also while doing this, you can use a muscle relaxation technique, starting fromy our toes up, tense your muscles starting with the feet, tense them up for about 10 seconds, take a deep breath and as you relax your muscles breathe out, then move on to your legs and so on and so forth, you can also get a mental picture of yourself "wrapped" in stress, so while you meditate, imagine yourself peeling off these layers of stress, a lot of it is subconcious, and the more positive imagrey you have in yuour mind, the more apt your subconcious and body will be able to let go of the stress without you knowing it, sorry for the long answer, i just wanted to give you a lot of options, or use them all!! good luck in your venture and god bless

Answer 8

Drink a spoon of Karo syrup (dark) at night and u will not have this trouble.
dont drop out of school, get u some B vitamins for stress.