I have been saying for years that I thought I may have something similar but never bothered to have it properly diagnosed. I have spent the last 8 or 9 years struggling with periods of being virtually a slave to the loo. At first these episodes were few & far between, and I put them down to, if I was overseas, to the stress of travelling, change of water, diet etc. Never was I more grateful to see the toilet in my hotel room when a bout of tummy truble made itself known on the NYC subway. Thankfully I was just one stop away so did not have long to wait or far to run when I got off.
I have been in denial for so long. I'd fob it off as having a bit too much extra spice in a curry, the food must've been close to its sell by date that sort of thing. Now that I have not been able to afford to go overseas for some years now, that excuse carried no weight any longer.
I am not sure what came first; the stress of doing things that resulted in an episode, or an episode that was recurring that would cause me stress & anxiety if I had to go out, but either way, this has been gradually spiralling out of control to the point that I fear having to go out just in case, fear of visiting friends and relatives in case it starts, fear of a car journey, long or short, that may leave me high & dry, miles away from any convenience. Only the other week, I planned to go to the cinema. I had missed the early showing so resigned myself to going at lunch time. Over the course of the morning I slowly wound myself up by telling myself it would be busier, noisier & less enjoyable. The walk to the cinema is about 20 minutes from my house. Several minutes in, I had an inclination something bowel wise might happen. A few feet further down the road and I get the familiar feeling of a huge amount of fluid flooding through my body. At this point I know I have only 2-5 minutes to get to a loo before all hell breaks loose. (On a side note I must say that this has happened many times whilst I have been in a class at the gym and I have had to bolt out the studio like Linford Christie. I can now reveal that this is what has been happening, not that I am a total wuss who has gone outside to catch his breath :))
So there I am, in the middle of nowhere, knowing my guts are literally going to drop! Could I make it to the pub on the horizon? Doubtful, the idea of holding on until I got to the shopping centre was quickly dismissed. So once again, as has been so often the case of late, I did my olympic sprint back home, just managing to get into the house before the ultimate release occurred. Dog walks are timetabled around my bowel as they happen 3-4 times a day at pretty set times.
Another excuse I used was that it was all linked to my hernia that I eventually got sorted this year(see separate blog post). Well, with that out of the way, and no change in my condition, in fact it has gotten worse, what was a boy to do. Admit defeat, swallow my embarrassment and go get it sorted. The fact that I have changed to a much better practice helped in my decision making. I dreaded having to go see my former gp, who was totally unsympathetic, unhelpful, disinterested in anything you had to say or presented her with.
So I told the doctor or my symptoms and history of the complaint, he examined my abdomen and such, and said that he was 99% sure I had irritable bowel but to rule out anything more serious, blood tests would be done just to be sure, the results of which I will get back this week.
He recommended a website to visit which details all the symptoms, causes, and tips to avoid explosive episodes. It has been useful. I had previously tried avoiding certain foods to no avail. Since my gp visit I have started taking some Buscopan tablets. At the moment I am starting with one a day; the episodes are less frequent already though not totally gone. I may go up to 2 a day and see what happens as well as what the gp will tell me on Friday.
The webiste is patient.co.uk and here is a link to the IBS page, rather have me wittering on about the causes etc, you've probably fell asleep reading this already;
As things move forward, I will update this page with my progress.
24/5/13 Blood results came up negative for anything more sinister so the IBS diagnosis stands. Been advised to self medicate with Imodium.
24/5/13 Blood results came up negative for anything more sinister so the IBS diagnosis stands. Been advised to self medicate with Imodium.
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