Hi,
I have been diagnosed as having ibs many times. there are moments that it doesn't seem as bad and then whenit does I worry it is more than that. I am currently feeling like my stomach is spasming right below the sternum. Also, it feels like palpitations. I am very gassy and the pain goes to my upper back between the shoulder blades. I have been tested for a numerous amount of things and my doctors have told me in the past it's ibs, but my mind goes crazy.

Does anyone else feel this way? What helps? Thanks for listening.

Hi, I have had ibs for many years myself but never before menopause did I feel the same way you do -- but I also have really bad days with it and some good days, but always worry about it. I have had my heart checked out too, and there is no problem there with me. I am always gassy and when I am at work sitting, I find that holding my arms up high and stretching and also walking around helps the pain under my sternum. Hang in there, let's hope it gets better!

Enough
You are describing exactly the digestive symptoms I get when I ingest chemical sulfites.....the pain in my back and chest was so bad at first that I thought it was my heart until I realised I was belching a lot!
It sounds like you may have a food intolerance (very common at our age!).
I would advise you to go organic, and cut out ALL additives, colours, preservatives, artificial flavourings etc.
If this makes no difference after a couple of weeks then try cutting out wheat for a couple of weeks, then milk.
If you still have problems PM me and I will send you details on sulfites to try and offer any other advise I can.
(I have a Nutrition Qualification)
Hugs Lindy xx

Enough...(thats what i say often!)

I kept thinking that I had IBS...no formal diagnosis, but I keep on researching, and I think I have linked my adrenal fatigue - which is improving - to my bowel and gut problems, which on further research could be 'Dysbiosis'.

Like Lindy said, try cutting out all non organic foods, sugar, wheat and dairy one by one...I know thats hard, but I have cut out milk and cheese for the last 3 weeks and my stomach has stopped gurgling (yippee!) although my bowels movements haven't improved (loose and no consistency) but I am going to further research what I can do to correct that - it may be that i have picked up food intolerances too or that I have some candida problem.

Any ideas on that one Lindy? (the one who was born in good old P'boro yeh?)....I've been looking in the book 'What really works'- Natural health guide by Susan Clark and found links of Dysbiosis to adrenal fatigue?

Caz

Enough...forgot to mention that since I cut out milk and went to soy milk, I have also noticed I don't have terrible wind (gas) and less burping now....

enough: Ah yes, IBS...what a nasty little disorder this is. It comes and goes, hides for months, then rears its ugly head, and mimics all sorts of other maladies, most often a heart attack. Doctors don't know WHAT to do for it. I've had it all my life; it started when I was a wee tot, probably because I grew up in a stressful, abusive household. My poor stomach is my 'stress center,' I can literally make myself have diarrhea just by having negative thoughts. The pain between your shoulder blades is a classic symptom. I wish I could tell you what to, the previous posters have given some great advice.

This is truly a disease in which each person has to be their own doctor; what works for one person may not work for another. I suggest keeping a food diary; write down every single thing that you eat and then record how you feel 1-6 afterwards. After a few weeks you'll notice a pattern.

I've written this before, but for me, one of the most important things I've ever done to tame my IBS is to eat very, very small portions. It can be difficult; it means never finishing your meal at a reastaurant...and it could mean that you eat up to 10 times a day, but it works. If I make steak, salad and rice for dinner, I'll have a few bites of each then STOP. If I'm hungry later, a few bites more, and so on. Yes, I'm constantly re-heating things and pulling them in and out of the refrigerator, but it's better than being curled up in a fetal position moaning in pain.

Hope you feel better soon!!

yes Robin - stress brings it on for me too....nervous me, Nervous stomach.....no doubt about it....I didn't know that pain between the shoulder blades is a classic symptom though...is that common?

Enough,
My daughter and I both suffer from IBS !
Here is a list of things we use for different symptoms.

prescription anti-spasmodic tablets
Gax-x These are our after dinner mints...lol
Pepto
Zantac
digestive enzymes
Probiotics each day

Hope some of this helps!Stressing over it mkaes it worse,but I still do it everytime.

Good Luck and Best Wishes

Sharon

sorry about typing errors. I have a hard time with my eyes and I also type things backwards.

Caz, A course of probiotics wouldn't do any harm for anyone with digestive problems as they can improve digestive problems. A course of Probiotics should always be taken 3 days after the stopping of antibiotics anyway.

Here is a bit of info on Dysbiosis for anyone interested:
What is Dysbiosis?
Dysbiosis means there is an overgrowth of yeast, harmful bacteria, viruses or parasites in the intestines.

Dysbiosis is merely a more general term relating to an overgrowth of pathogens. Yeast are not the only intestinal residents that may cause these symptoms. In fact, intestinal bacteria or viruses are often the culprits and not yeast. Severe dysbiosis sufferers will have overgrowth of both yeast and pathogenic bacteria in their intestines.

Symptoms of Dysbiosis
Dysbiosis does more than interfere with digestion, it makes you tired. Dysbiosis also alters your immune system and upsets your hormonal balance. Dysbiosis can even make it difficult for you to think clearly. Dysbiosis is known to cause anxiety, depression or mood swings. Dysbiosis can affect almost every aspect of health. If you have dysbiosis, then you are likely to suffer from fatigue, headaches, intestinal upsets, and many of the symptoms normally attributed to Candida.

Hugs Lindy xxx

Wow Lindy,
Sounds like Dysbiosis has many of the same symptoms that we are already suffering from Peri! Are there any supplements that can help especially with the bloating? Almost every peri woman I know has problems with thier bowels including me. You also say that it can cause hormonal imbalance. I think i will do some research on this Dysbiosis and talk to my Dr about it. What are your opinions on colon cleanses? Very interesting post! Thanks
Carolyn

Wow, thank you all for answering. I just got in from work, yes I am still plugging away, even if I don't feel well. Can't give in. Won't give in. Today has been a little better. The spasms and palps aren't as strong. maybe I'm on the way to healing. I did take 2 oz. of aloe juice. Gross, but may have helped.

Good luck to you all. I will keep you posted. thanks for all the sugestions. I will watch my diet. Seems like too much roughage is a problem and maybe the red wine this weekend kicked it off.

Hi Carolyn
The probiotics I mentioned are one of the best things for bloating. We can get them in nice little yogurt drinks here in the UK, not sure if they are available elsewhere.
Also peppermint and chamomile tea can be helpful.
Some foods are also known to cause bloating so you might want to eat fewer of these. Typical culprits include beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, onions and garlic .
Anyone else found other things helpful?
I'm not going to comment on the colon cleanses.. I don't know anything about them!
Hugs Lindy xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Carolyn,

There is an interesting piece about GI, IBS and Dysbiosis on another website, which I don't think I can mention here...this is what they say can help recovery from digestive issues like ours:

Take a good pre-probiotic...one that contains:
1. 'Saccharomyces boulardii - which is a natural non pathogenic
tropical yeast which works to sustainand restore the natural flora in the large and small intestine to support digestion
2. Lactobacillus acidiphilus - a probiotic strain which breaks down nutrients, effectively warding off the bacteria or organisms contributing to a digestive or vaginal imbalance
3. Bifidobacterium - is one of the major genera of bacteria which reside in the body (and the two species they use is B.bifidum and B.lactis) promote colon health and enhance cellular immunity respectively.
4. Inulin - is a natural sugar which increases calcium and magnesium absorption, and acts as a prebiotic, ensuring that probiotics populate the digestive tract properly (The inulin they use is extracted from the Jerusalem artichoke, a sunflower native to N. America).

If you find a pre-probiotic that has the ingredients above this is what to expect from it:

1. promotes better absorption of nutrients, including vitamins and minerals
2. inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria
3. decrease the side effects of antibiotics
4. decrease the duration and frequency of diarrhea
5. promote improvement in lactose intolerance
6. reduce vaginal and urinary tract infections
7. reduce bloating and gas
8. boost the bodies natural immune function

I looked in a couple of stores - can't name them here? - and did not find the exact ingredients, so I will probably try theirs...I'll let you know how it goes

I could e-mail you if you want with where to find the exact info?

I truly believe that this is whats going on with me, and i really don't have anything to lose by taking a good probiotic.
The drinking kind that Lindy mentions are a bit like the 'Activia' by Dannon...yes they do help a bit, but they contain sugar, and sugar is our guts enemy!!!

I have considered a colon cleanse too, but after reading about Dysbiosis/IBS/digestive and bowel issues, the probiotic seems like a better place to start.

Caz

[quote name='LindyD' date='Jan 10 2008, 04:02 PM' post='204091']
Hi Carolyn
The probiotics I mentioned are one of the best things for bloating. We can get them in nice little yogurt drinks here in the UK, not sure if they are available elsewhere.
Also peppermint and chamomile tea can be helpful.
Some foods are also known to cause bloating so you might want to eat fewer of these. Typical culprits include beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, onions and garlic .
Anyone else found other things helpful?
I'm not going to comment on the colon cleanses.. I don't know anything about them!
Hugs Lindy xxxxxxxxxxxxx


Thank you Ladies I am printing all of what you said and going to my health food store!!!
please keep in touch
(((Hugs)))
Carolyn

...just another word about the probiotic...don't buy too cheap and talk to someone in the pharmacy/store before you buy, as I tried a cheaper one that did not have enough or the right strains of good bacteria..

It's definately worth paying more to help finally resolve or lessen the problem!

Have a good evening/weekend!!

Caz

Hi All,

Caz put me onto this thread - thank you, Caz.

I've been reading your symptoms with IBS, but mine have been so different and yet I am fairly sure I've got IBS. I have had many episodes of IBS in the past, but never anything that was bad - except in 1997 when I had awful dull pain under my ribs on the left side.

This time, however, my IBS has been real horrible. It came on with an awful twingeing kind of pain on my lower left side of the abdomen, and travelling as low as my groin area and just above the pubic bone area. After a couple of weeks it turned into more like tenderness and the feeling of inflammation, so that if I press my left side, in between my belly button and my hip bone, I get this tenderness and a bit of pain. At first I thought there was something wrong with my ovaries, like a cyst, but I had an ultrasound and everything was okay. I started to take fiber and found this bulked up my stools, because before they weren't formed properly, however the tenderness is still there.

The only thing I know I'm intolerant to is dairy products, so I stay away from them, but other than that, I'm okay with most foods (as far as I know). One major factor in my life has been stress, and 2007 was the year of stress for me with the death of my mother, then my cat, then I lost my job, then my hubby went into a deep depression and we had some problems, and later my scare regarding my health issues. I have to say that 2007 was a horrible year for me, in fact the worst of my life! And to top it all off, 2007 is when I was finally pronounced perimenopausal after having a bloodtest to see where my hormone levels were at.

My theory is that now that I'm more relaxed and pulling my life back together again, IBS decided to strike and make matters worse, because this starts my stress all over again, worrying that it's bowel cancer or some horrible disease.

So that's where I'm at now - seeing a naturopath and taking herbs to help the IBS, taking probiotics, slippery elm, etc, etc, but things are not helping much and I keep thinking that maybe the worst factor for me is stress. What do you think? And has anyone had symptoms similar to mine?

Love, Rose

Hi Rose

Which herbs does the naturopath give you?.....I'd be interested to know.

I am off to my alternative Dr. this morning to discuss this problem again, I am SO determined to work this out!

I too have constant loose stools, although yesterday I felt constipated and couldn't go at all! (even though I ate nothing but healthy food - no wheat, no dairy, lots of veggies and fruit etc.,).... I think I may have internal hemmies (sorry for the yuk subject, but can't seem to understand why the stools are not coming out as they should - it's been 3 years now, and it started also after a year of high stress).

I'll keep you posted if a miracle happens!

take care,

Caz

Rosepurple,

I have had moments when the pain is right under my left breast and then under the sternum, then there are moments when my lower left side really hurt, not even in the front, but the actual side of my body. Years ago I felt sharpe pains shooting into my groin area. Every doctor, and I have seen many, all say ibs. Even after colonosopies, ibs is the answer. Some moments its fine, others it's really bad. Sometimes I can ake a connection whether it is stress related, other times, who knows. Regardless, it is most annoying. I really enjoy those moments when I feel good. I can go a week or two without much of a problem, then it hits again. I get scared all over again and google my heart out about what else it may be. At some point I need to rely on what all the doctors have told me and try to relax. That is a word I have learned to hate. If one more person tells me I need to relax, Ugh!!! Don't they think I would like to? Anyway, I wish you all good luck.

This too shall pass.

Hi Enough,

At least you had a colonoscopy, and I applaud your courage. I am so terrified that the doctor will say I have to have one. I have a horrible fear of any intrusive type of test. How did you ever cope with having colonoscopies? Are you aware that you're having it done or does the sedative they give you really knock you out?

No one seems to know about IBS and what causes it. The main theory is that it is stress related, but stress needn't be emotional, it could be stress we put on our bowels by eating the wrong thing, or when we are intolerant to things like wheat, dairy, etc.

I also hate it when people say, it's nothing, relax. In one way it's good to know that it's nothing, but when the pains come back you get worried all over again, and like you, I get on google and start looking up all sorts of things that put the fear of God into me But above all this, I really hate it when my hubby says "it's nothing" and dismisses the whole thing like I'm a neurotic hypochodriac!

I don't know whether this condition is being exacerbated by the fact that we are now going through peri - at least I am, anyway. I read an article about IBS and hormones and how the hormones have an effect on IBS, so this is why IBS seems to be worse when women are in peri. I've had IBS on and off for years, but never this bad!

I really do hope "that this too shall pass"

Love, Rose

Hi Caz,

The way I was able to bulk up my stools was by taking fibre. I bought some fibre in the health food store, the one that you can just mix in drinks or food and you can't even taste it, and since then my stools have been bulking up quite nicely. I learned this trick from what happened to my dad years ago, when he suffered from diverticulitis (he used to get diarrhea like 10 times in a day), and his naturopath told him to take fibre, and lo and behold, his diarrhea stopped and he started to have normal, bulky stools.

The herbs I'm taking right now that my naturopath mixes for me are licorice, golden seal, marshmellow (and some others which I don't know about). Apparently, licorice and golden seal are good for IBS. I also take slippery elm capsules, to help with inflammation, etc, and I take probiotics. Even so, I am still not getting good results, because I feel tenderness in my abdomen (on both sides, but more on the left). If I lie down on the bed and press on either side of my abdomen, it is sore. And I can really feel wind as it travels around my bowel and finally prepares to make its way out of my body. I am that sensitive. Yuh!

Did you have this for 3 years on and off, or always on? This must be horrible for you. I don't know anything about the internal hemmies, but I'm sure your doctor will shed some light on that. By the way, what kind of tests (if any) did you have for this condition? I was telling Enough that I'm terrified that my doc will send me for a colonoscopy. Ugh! I couldn't think of anything worse.

I just wish this whole thing would go away! I am so fed up with it all. Can stress really do this to our bodies? If so, then I'm surprised I'm still alive

Let me know what your doc says. I'll be seeing my naturopath again on Tuesday and I'll be telling her about this tenderness that doesn't want to go away.

Hope all goes well with you, love, Rose

Hi Rose,

I first started with alternating loose stools and then constipation by afternoon...then as the stress continued
my stools - for the most part - have been loose only, but now and again I have a 'normal' ish stool but thin and painful to extract, and today I noticed a little blood in the stool, which suggests to me, I do have internal hemmies!?

I do get alternating lower abdominal pain and the gurglies, but after cutting out dairy - milk and cheese - my gurglies have stopped and I have less wind/pain, so I guess that means I have picked up sensitivity to dairy, great!...another lovely symptom of peri!

I know I should go back to the Dr., but, like you, I absolutely DO NOT want a colonoscopy!!!
A friend of mine in the UK works in the operating theatre as a technician, and has given me horror stories of how long the thing is that goes up and people scream in pain!!!!....I think the reason why people on this board say they don't remember it being painful, is because they give you a drug (like a date rape drug) that makes you forget the pain! Just the thought gives me pain!

When I last went to the Dr. they said they couldn't see any hemmies (at least as far as they looked) and a colonoscopy would have to be done to see them internally......and just told me to get some citrucil (bulk forming stuff....which I tried, but didn't help. I guess I should try another type.

I think there must be a way you can get rid of those without the big "C".

Thanks for the info on the herbs...let me know how it goes!

Hi Caz,

The good news is that all my test results have come back normal - no blood in the stools! Hurrah! So today I'm off to my naturopath to get more herbs. This morning I realised that this IBS started when I had a very bad fight with hubby at the beginning of Dec 07. We were going through some problems with the marriage and this fight brought everything to a head - and lo and behold, a few days later I had my first IBS attack. At first I never connected the two events, thinking that I had such a bad year in 2007, that it could've been any of the things that happened to me, but then I remember that the fight with hubby was a particularly bad one and it brought home some awful thoughts from the past and this shocked me quite a bit, so I guess my IBS is definitely stress related.

I will be going to my doc in Feb, who also does hynotherapy - I think this might help me to relax more. And I might have to even try some counselling. I guess there are times when we go through traumatic events in life, which we then block out with our minds, but our bodies don't forget. So I am hoping to bring everything out in order to work throught it all.

How are you going? Do you think that some of these symptoms could be related to certain emotions? Let me know how you are.

Love, Rose

Great news rose!

Get yourself a good probiotic and take daily to populate your digestive tract with the good bacteria, and I'm sure all will be fine.

Keep me posted

Caz

Has anyone noticed that their IBS tends to be worse in times of stress? I'm new to the whole concept, so I'm trying to avoid things that might trigger it.

Yes, stress does worsen it. When something bothers me, it goes right to my stomach. I can feel it tighten up immediately, then it becomes a problem for days. Although sometimes, it just seems to bother me even without it. I have trouble even when I am very excited about something, like a big party I am having, a trip, it's a different stress, but one that gets me anyway. I take l-theanine to try to relax me. It's an amino acid found in a vitamin or health food store and it really seems to calm me down. Good luck to you!!!!

Enough...

I have come to a semi-conclusion after re-reading my 'You are what you eat' book by Gillian McKeith....

I think I have IBS...BUT...I read between the lines in her book and she recommends a few things to ease the wind/gas/bloating and loose stools (which I have) and she says to ease off eating RAW veggies for a while
and adding warming foods to the diet (soups/stews/ginger/cinnamon/onions......etc.) add a probiotic and a digestive enzyme.....

I won't go through all of it, but I'm sure you could get her book at the library to look at, or you can get it from a book store.

I also looked at my tongue...I think I have a spleen deficiency, according to her and all that ties in with the symptoms.

Go look at the book, you will be amazed!

Caz

I have had all of these symptoms and felt that I must have had cancer! I have the chest/back pain, groin pain, gas, heartburn and nausea. Internal twitching and felt like I must have several small animals in there. I finally had a gastric emptying study (one of the last tests they bother with) and I have gastroparesis - worth considering for some people.