Ho: "Hey baby, you lookin' for a date?"
Doniker: "Nope, I need you to rub my colon."

very funny and informative, thank you poonurse.

Well, I am glad you explained it better. Before this, I only knew that it made shitting painful.

Poonurse, you are fantastic! That was a funny and informative read. Timely, too, as my friend who has IBS has just had another flare up. I'll pass along the advice you've listed here.
Thanks!

Ya'll LIKED it? I thought that you all would think it sucked.
Thanks--once again, PoopReport and bowel movements have bolstered my flagging self esteem.

OMG Poonurse! For 6 years I worked as a CNA in a nursing home. Nurses came and went and believe me, I observed plenty of nurses over the years! Let me say that I am very impressed with you. Most of the nurses we had on my shift were LPNs, but even most of our RNs seemed to have forgotten most of their training except for how to do the paper work. I bet you are a lot of fun to work with too!

Thanks, poonurse, I've had what doctors have passed as IBS for the past 5 or 6 years. Being only 29, I can look forward to a lifetime of shitting my brains out about 4 or 5 times a day. I've tried a dozen medications, even one called Lotronex that I had to sign a release form before the doc would prescribe it to me. It seems that in Europe it was causing some serious complications and a few deaths here and there. Anyway, to no avail. So I kind of abuse Immoduim when I have a busy day ahead of me and won't be in the vicinity of a toilet. The only thing I don't understand....won't increasing my fiber intake only make me poo even more?

So I have serious anxiety issues. Just picking up the phone makes me shake and want to vomit. You'd think ME, out of everyone here on Poop Report, would have it. Why did it skip me? (Not that I'm hoping to get IBS, either!) Why is one person with normal stress issues plagued by this condition and a psycho stresser like me is just fine?

TSV says:

"So I have serious anxiety issues. Just picking up the phone makes me shake and want to vomit."

you shaking or wanting to vomit is your stress outlet. With other people it's a case of the hives. With others its IBS. We all have different outlets.

I too get the urge to vomit during anxiety attacks. I haven't had the shit attacks from stress for quite some time though.

I see your point, Doniker. The mind (and body) works in mysterious ways. And not always the same way.

Mucus in your stool??
YIKES!!!!

I had to have half my large intestine surgically removed several years ago ("you mean...?" "Yes. I have a semicolon.") What's left only functions intermittently, producing symptoms very like what is described here. Immodium is definitely the way to go (or not).

I just passed this article again and out of the corner of my eye I thought it said "Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Attack of the GNOMES". ?!? Don't ask. I'm pretty tired.

Thanks poonurse! I have IBS and teach at an elementary school. The worst feeling in the world is the gurgle of the colon and the sweats as a class gets started. My classroom is waaaaay down the hall from the potty and I can never find an aide when I need one. Any tips on how to hold a butt shut for 30 minutes?

PooQueen,

No, for some reason fiber can act to solidify things. The great Normalizer, as it were. Someone explained it to me once, but I just worked all night and I don't remember.

My dog George has the shits all the time, and the vet has us add fiber to his diet. Of course, it doesn't help. Not expensive enough. Animals can only be cured by spending vast sums of money.

Maybe it will work with people.

I get terrible IBS, mainly caused by stress. The thought of going anywhere out of the ordinary can bring it on, to the extent I'd rather stay at home. I find drinking peppermint tea works, especially if you have a mug first thing in the morning.

Hey, Shat On: Yes, mucus in the stool. Normal stool has mucus in it -- mucus lubricates the stool to make the trip down the colon easier when you have a hard, dry log -- that's why shit can glisten or look greasy. With IBS, you can have TOO MUCH mucus... but normal bowels always have some.

Man oh man, did nobody else do the "Colonic Massage"?
No results but, it felt kinda relaxing until I started to feel sick!!

OK, poonurse, I will try to add more cardboard to my diet. Thanks for the tip. It's great having a trusty health professional on this site!

PooQueen--if it tastes bad, eat it! (except don't eat feces and then write to me about it--I am sickened by the # of people who apparently do this and then write to ask if it will hurt them).

Di--I actually did this the other night at work when I was feeling a bit bloated and gassy. Absolutely NOTHING happened. I was SO disappointed. I may have farted a tiny fart, but I expected something amazing. This is why I don't trust nature.

Yeah, the poo eaters drive me nuts, too. Half of them probably don't do it, they just say they do for the shock value. And most of them are like thirteen years old at the most.

Ahem! Anyway, you might try eating a lot of fruit to cure diarrhea. Fruit? The ultimate laxative? Yes, I say fruit. But only certain fruit. I eat a LOT of strawberries and they firm my turds right up. Don't eat a lot of bananas and plums or you get the opposite affect.

TSV,
I remember in college nutrition class learning about the natural pectin in fruits such as apples. We were told that the pectin helps solidify liquid crap. When you stop to think about it, that's what is used to make jelly gel. Pectin. So... An apple a day may keep the trots away.

Bananas, too. Eating bananas can have a laxative effect when you're clogged, and a solidifying effect when you have the runs.

Fruit. The Miracle Drug.

Poonurse, can IBS come and go twice a year or so? I had a roommate who was a poop machine for a few weeks out of each year (maybe one week every four months or so) and I always thought she had IBS.

Exactly what do you mean, oopsie?
Does she just go in and out of the bathroom like there is a revlving door?
Does she plug the crapper with impossible amounts?

SJJ, I mean that maybe three times a year, each time for about a week, shd's crap her ass off. She'd eat, then go running off to the bathroom and sit in there for at least 20 min. Then she'd come out and since she'd pooped away her entire meal, she'd have to eat again. This went on for about a week, then it'd be like someone turned off the switch and she was normal again. So yeah, I guess she was running in and out of the bathroom like there was a revolving door!

There was never any crapper-pluggin' b/c it was never solid (at least, that's what she TOLD me). Actually, I was the crapper-plugger in that apartment.

Who knows what evil lurks in the bowels of men? The Toilet knows!

Thank you poon nurse very informative. I always wondered why it would hurt to poop that may be a possible problem for me. Thank you again!

I have a constipation problem, three days ago I find information about raw Psyllium as a colon cleanser, aka Ispaghol. I had a normal three meals and three tea spoon of Psyllium in a day with lots of water, the other day I had a poo almost two feet long with a healthy diameter, never seen in last 30 years.

poopnurse is right ive got IBS and its SHIT you get stumch achs EVERYDAY of your life well it has for me anyway sometimes i wish that i was dead cause of it i would swap with anyone please!!!!!

ThANK YOU POOPNURSE FOR THE IMFORMATION TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY AND i HAVE i.b.s.! I called my mommy because I'm constipated and she told me to take this stool softner called colace, the last time I took my mothers advice about meds, I almost had a heart attack, she scares me so I'm glad I found your article. I think this i.b.s. stuff comes with age you know, the older you get, anyway I used to pound the alcohol I mean on the average 30 plus 12 ounce beers a day always shit great then I quit drinking it's been fucked since, I would drink but I'm a big guy and a real jerk when I do it, anyway thanks for the advice.

Thanks so much for this article! I'm 18 and have been diagnosed with IBS and it sucks. My mom's got it too so I'm wondering if it's hereditary. I've also got bipolar disorder with anxiety (I'm having fun here, now aren't I?) so that doesn't help with the IBS. My doctor put me on generic Donnatal for the IBS and told me to take it as needed and it helps a lot. Xanax helps sometimes too. This article was quite, quite informative. Thank you, Poonurse!

I often wonder how many people here smoke. I drag down a pack a day, and of course heavy smoking seems to iritate the colon. And to add on that, I used to down a blunt a day of Mary Jane.... stopped the Jane, kept the Nicotine, and get less exercise. I guess I asked for it.

I've had the great fortune of inheriting both of my parents terrible intestines and was diagnosed with IBS - the constipation kind - a few years ago. After making me go through the rounds of all of the fiber aids (Metemucil, etc which did absolutely nothing!) my doc finally prescribed the laxative Miralax and it has been a mira-cle! (It is a powder that you mix with water or juice...basically it's a plastic that bonds with water and stays this way all through the colon.) No more painful movements or sitting on the john for half an hour - things are nicely softened up and, though there are occasional flareups, life is better!

Poo Nurse - What you described is an actual legitimate part of Sweedish Massage. It is refered to as an Abdominal Massage. A Licensed Massage Therapist will know how to do it. Basically, with the smooth hand motions starting at the Cecum (the lower right part of the Large Intestine) they move upwards to the rib cage, across to the left side, and then down to the sigmoid colon (lower left side), and then across to the right under the navel. This is followed by a massage stroke that is more like a gentle short pushing motion, repeated over and over along the same path that I just described.

With the correct amount of presure, this can do 2 things - 1) help the large intestine get started in its mechanical motion of churning (to get the poop moving), and 2) actually nudge some of the ppo forward. This is a stimulant and often produces a poop shortly after the massage. In someone with IBS, it can help with consipation, but you must be careful of putting too much pressure on if the person is tender or bloated.

dont forget to rub your kidneys too. its good for you.

IBS is not fun.

I can remember when I was a little kid, when we went on a trip I'd often feel crappy. It wasn't too debilitating, but sometimes the urge to crap would come on at the most inconvenient times. Other times, it'd cause constipation. Clearly, it was all just stress induced and I knew that was the case just from my own observations. Why else would a guy start to feel sick as soon as he headed out for what ought to be a fun outing?

So I figured out early on how to cure the problem. You just have to consciously relax. If you're sitting on the crapper, just breathe in slowly through the nose and out slowly through the mouth. Nice and easy. Pretend you're going to sleep. It’s sort of a Zen thing. Mind over brown matter. The whole IBS thing is a vicious circle. You’re stressed, so you feel crummy. Feeling crummy, and particularly having gas pain, diarrhea, or constipation which are all quite embarrassing, causes you to be stressed more. It feeds off itself.

You have to break the cycle. The key is to recognize the very early symptoms so that you’ll know that it’s time to relax. If you can feel the onset early enough, simple relaxation will stop the problem before you have any bad symptoms. As you work on this, you’ll get better and better at early recognition, and at relaxing. At the same time, you’ll gain more confidence in your ability to control it. You’ll get better and better at it until you can take a proper dump in the middle of a herd of charging bison.

Lots of anxiety related symptoms can be controlled this way. It’s key to first understand that you’re not alone. Not by a long shot! And then it’s important to work on the art of allowing yourself to relax. That’s a skill that can be learned with practice. And, I say again, it’s also key to train yourself to recognize the very early symptoms of an impending “attack”. That way you can head it off early and easily. After a while, it’ll become automatic and you won’t even think about it. Of course, that’s the way it’s supposed to be in the first place.

This is all very related to the whole issue of folks being ashamed or unable to crap in public restrooms and the like. Same principal here. Relax, breathe deeply and slowly. It doesn’t matter that you’re trying to shit in a public stall with no door and there’s a drug deal going down between the two bikers at the urinals. Just relax – let it flow – go with the tide. Also, it’s better to relax and let that crap just come out on its own than to try to force it out. Forcing it is usually counterproductive. It's relaxing everything down there that'll let it slide right out on its own. Remember, Elvis wasn’t the only casualty to a forced crap!

Zen and the art of public dumping. Ohhhhhhhm. Ohhhhhhhm. Ohhhhhhhhhm. Plop.

Happy crapping all!

IBS sucks.ive had it for 3 yrs,i cry alot from it cos it is hard to handle it.ive tried changing my diet.i get stomach aches everyday, and it is very rarely that i feel 100% well.nothing much seems to help me.if u wanna chat bout IBS cos u suffer it , post bk a reply.
from rox

Abdominal massage definitely helps.

A couple of things I found that make it work even better:

Get some lotion. You dont need much. Smear a bit on your fingers.

Kneel down, knees on floor, back straight, elbows on floor. Let your belly relax and hang down.

Massage your abdomen as Poonurse advised. I advise a firm gentle massage, rather than a digging motion. Think of your belly as your friend in life (hey, it digests food for us, poops for us--if that isnt a friend, no one is).

You want to produce a firm, soothing massage of your colon, using that bit of lotion on your fingers to make things feel more pleasant.

As you do this, breathe deeply and gently from your belly. This is a good relaxer. If you do this at bed time and first thing in the morning, and you're drinking enough water and fiber, this should help you poop much better than before.

Still, IBS is a bitch. I have a shy bowel and it refuses to perform when I am away from home. Almost nothing helps, except industrial strength laxatives. My stepmom knew a guy who could not go on trips longer than 7 days because he couldnt lay a shit unless in his own toilet.

A researcher named Gershon wrote a book entitled The Second Brain. He and other scientists have found that the gut has an independant network of neuroreceptors--literally a mind of its own.

Dunno if anyone has ever done a study on this, but I had horrid infant colic as a baby. Could it be possible that people who have colic as infants are more likely to have stress-related colon symptoms as adults? Might be worth investigating.

I was diagnosed with IBS about 3 weeks ago, so I'm pretty new to all this. There was the thought that I was lactose intolerant. But it turned out that it was something more. WAY more. It's really hard to explain why I'm always on the crapper to my friends without embarassing myself or sounding like a total idiot. I have found that IBS is the condition that no one understands. That's part of why it's so frustrating. If anyone else has been recently diagnosed like me, tell me.

OMG...loved this column! I have been reading endlessly about my newly diagnosed condion..This was the best column I have come across.
Anyway...I do have a question for you all...
What is the difference between IBS and Colitis? After the many fun tests one DR says IBS the other says Colitis? The only difference I am reading is Colitis involves bloody stools,everything else is the same as IBS? Also is it normal to treat Colitis with an anti-biotic?(no parasite infection was found) Everyone is saying they have pain on the right or lower side of abdomen. My pain is on the left side, slightly below my rib cage, can sometimes seem like it's my side. I have experienced a massive cramping, not like a usual stomach cramp, but more like I can't move! like a charlie horse cramp. Is this still a IBS symptom??? Also how do female hormones effect this??? My female issues and IBS(?) issues suddenly began at the same time.
I guess I am not convinced I have IBS..Too many conflicting answers from the DR's
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks
Kim

well i dunno what have i mixed some alchol and then thre up 3 times and then my stomach has been feeling quezzy or gasy for 4 days now help!! what should i do!?!

ok, i have ibs i think... but im not diagnosed with it. but seriously, if you dont take vitamins you should. i always feel like shit in the stomach when i forget my vitamin but i take womens one a day and it works like all day and helps me feel normal.

My ex (Shaun) posted on here. We were going out when he told me about how he was diagnosed. He tried to explain to me what the whole thing was about. I just didn't get it. He got pissed at me for not getting it, so he dumped me (no pun intended). I now can see that IBS is a pretty big problem, especially if your partner has it and you don't get what the fuck they're talking about!

Thank you for this website!!! I've been feeling really sorry for myself after struggling to find ANYTHING whatsoever that has any effect, stumbled across this and it's really cheered me up! Makes a change from "functional gastrointestinal blah blah blah try giving up food you timewasting psycho mer mer mer etc etc" Off to try that massage now...

I suffer from the constipation ibs which ain't good. Noone like shit breath blasted into their faces. To help it i really watch my diet. I eat lots of vegetables and fruit, don't eat any bread unless it's wheat free, and drink tons of water. I have to piss a lot, and i still have to shit alot, but it's better out than in. Stress is a big prob for me as well, so i'm getting in to meditation. Also, i make sure i exercise regularly. even going for a walk helps to get the blood flowing and get me pooping. It's funny, so many people must have IBS, but it's so embarrassing noone ever talks about it.

If you suffer from loose-stool IBS and you have to use a public restroom, it's important to know how to wipe properly and not get fecal matter all over the underside of your genital region and hands, especially given the Soviet-Union-era quality of the toilet paper a lot of public restrooms use.

People who defecate normally start from in back of the sphincter muscle and wipe forward with the toilet paper. For a LS IBS patient, this will spread fecal matter over too wide an area and get it on your hands. What you need to do is to start just forward of your sphincter, wipe forward just as little a bit as you can manage, and then pinch the toilet paper closed as you remove it from that area. This will get a lot of the "excess" that would otherwise make a horrendous mess. And use as big a rolled-up bunch of TP as you can. Not easy, I know, as those enclosed dispensers in which they put those super-sized rolls makes this a chore and a half. Repeat this process in the same area until there is a lot less fecal matter on the TP than when you did your first wipe. And *then* start wiping directly behind the sphincter in the usual way. Afterward, wipe off the underside of the genital region just forward of the sphincter as best you can. If you have really bad LS IBS, this might not be a perfect answer, but it will be a lot better than what you get with the usual method.

I almost forgot an important part of the wiping method: after each wipe, you also need to wipe that lower genital region just in front of the sphincter to get any fecal matter that may have been pushed forward, and repeat until the paper comes up mostly clean. You'll have your work cut out for you doing all this wiping while getting the TP out of those awful plastic dispensing cases, so know you will have to be very patient. AND FOR PITY'S SAKE, WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER THOROUGHLY AFTER DEFECATING WHETHER YOU HAVE LS IBS OR NOT!!

thanks for this wonderful site. I feel it will help me loads as I suffer from constipation type IBS, and its the first site to give me a laugh and get rid of the awful stress I normally suffer, so thank you all you folks for sharing.

Wow. I did not realize shit was such a problem. How about untimely shit attacks, like in the middle of the night? I HATE that!

IBS is most definately a pain in the ass.

True IBS, not stress induced D that lasts a cpl weeks, or a semester, etc, can be caused by other problems

take me, i have acid reflux AND crohns.
i had diarhea/heartburn, so i drank 1 bottle of pepto a day. as we all know - pepto-poop = goo. After getting tired of spending a day cleaning my hairy ass after every movement, i talked to a doc.

4 yrs later, and finally landing a competant dr, i get informed of GERD. take aciphex, still having problems

1 colonoscopy, 1 barium xray, an endoscopy - im told i have sexy Crohns, in my colon entrance, which gets inflamed, and when it does - my colon tries to purge all contents to get some peace and quiet.

resulting in what goes in must come out.

asecol helps - but youll lose a little hair on your body during the start, it doesnt just reappear, but it does seem to grow back.

you get married to medications though, and can not stray from your schedule. Amitryptaline helps mellow your colon from IBS, but again - you become married. It slows your shit down, but it also slows down your thyroid, so you get syntrhoid to counteract that.

pooptastic

This post is a reminder of what a wonderful asset to PR PooNurse was. Also, it is a welcome change from the usual crowd of morons who flock to PooNurse threads. Almost everybody on this thread has had something fairly reasonable to say (although I had a hard time translating what Vic, just above, was trying to convey).

As an IBS sufferer myself, I can relate to much of this. There's no question it IS stress-related, so it usually kicks in at the most inconvenient times. You sometimes feel like your bowels are ruling your life. And I certainly almost singlehandedly keep the Imodium company in business.

I wasn't aware that IBS was such a common ailment and from reading this angst-filled thread, I'm empathetic to your plight.

I'm curious if surgical procedures to correct this problem are doctor-recommended as a solution?

"Odor in the court! The judge is eating beans--his wife is in the bathtub counting submarines." Author Unknown

Bunghole, as PooNurse points out, the very essence of a "functional" disorder is that it is not addressable by surgical (or, indeed, any other allopathic) intervention.

Translated, that means we just have to tough it out.

Ha brilliant, the next time i'm passing stomach acid i'll think back to this and laugh aswell as weep.

Thanks :o)

Hi.
I have had lower left pelvic pain for a coouple years. I even had a laproscopy to check it out. I have endometriosis. But, the doc said she gt it out. Anyways, it never helped my problem. I am sure I have IBS, and mucus poop. And when I get scared my bowels turn to liquid. Anyways, my pain is pretty bad, 24/7. Taking vicodin for it, no you cant have it! lol. and I also had a colonoscopy and it showed a little inflamation.
What do you think?

Back in May this year I started having weird sicky with dull aches coming from around my stomach my stools also became longer and thinner, becoming worried about it made me hungry all the time and my stomach did nothing but groan the day after a stressfull event and i was going more than i used to This co-incided with the end of my degree and for some reason i was convinced I had cancer. I went for a stool test and it came back normal. However after reading about the dull ache on the internet I was still convinced I had cancer was very very worried all the time an i developed a real anxiety issue, obsessing about how my stomach was feeling each day, even dreaming about it with peps in dreams saying 'its cancer' in July I started to feel a little better after relaxing tons the ache began to fade, this conincided with loads of wind!!! After about 2 days of wind I went to the loo and only mucus with wind came out ( much as it has b4) but at the end on the tissue I saw a bright red swirl. I completely paniced, thinking that all these dreams where a sign my anixety came back and I hardly slept that weekend wanting to go see the doc on the monday on wednesday i had a blood test which also checked for allergies. Again everything came back normal?? Great i thought but still what the hell was the red then!!!!! Someone mentioned hemeroids, but I didnt itch and it didnt burn, also I hadnt felt like Id really strained at all?? I was also put in for a routine colonoscopy to be ultra safe it wasnt colitus (doc said really it wasnt cancer no family history im in my early 20's and loads of other stuff jst didnt add up) which is cool but if your anxious doesnt really help, i mean how does she know? she couldnt explain the bleeding. The following month I started a new job and aside from odd cramps in certain places of my stomach when i missed a meal I began to feel better In september a had a very very stressfull week, which brought on some anxiety again, by the end of the week I felt better and tried to relax again when I did that nmight terrible terrible wind! went to the loo and eek this time slightly more blood on the toilet roll :( This followed with weeks of glugling stomach through the night and incrdible hunger the colonoscopy was 2 weeks later I was looking forward to putting the cancer theory completely to bed. During the colonoscopy the machine broke, so the doc only got a look at my lower bowel I have to go back for one around the rest he said the chances of cancer tbh was about 0% and that it sounded like ibs, but he sent me for a blood test to check for colitus. 1 week later i hadnt eaten all day (still terrible wind) a went to the loo and the stool looked like it was covered in a redish mucus i tapped it with some tissue and it looked orangy next day again the same thing. I rang the hospital to get my test results the blood test once again came back as completely normal bowel. I told the nurse what i had just seen on my stool and she mentioned it sounds like just normal mucus tbh. looking through my file she said the doc hadnt found anything in the lower examination of the bowel everything looked normal (which he told me at the time) 'oh except for a mild hemoroid' !!!!! why oh why hadnt he told me this at the time!!! it completely explains the bleeding when i had wind , weirdly it doesnt itch or burn. Im going back in about 9 weeks to get the full colonoscopy done again to be 100% sure its not colitus or anything other than ibs. I hope that this has helped some peps understand what they might have, Ibs and hemoroids dont follow a set pattern with Ibs thought you might go to the loo more than you would normally you dont have to have dirorear or constipation or cramps that you cant move with and with hemoroids you dont even have to know theyre there if inside the bowel. I would always always recommend getting any blood being looked at by a doc asap but..... Just because you see blood and you have a dull ache in your stomach it doesnt mean you have cancer! because the more you think its something like cancer the longer that dull ache will stay. also never type blood in stool into search engines all youll see is pages and pages on 'its cancer' go see a pro things arnt that black and white

Be glad ya have IBS. It could be worse. You could have IFS. (I'm Fulla Shit) I got it (per my wife) and I'll tell you, it makes her life suck. I rather enjoy it though. heh heh

_______
juicyturds
thanks i have IBS so this will help

PooQueen. Have you tried Modulon? I have IBS with constant Diarrhea. I shit everywhere!! I hear yeah. It really takes control of your life. Long trips seem like hell, instead of fun. I started taking Modulon and Lomotil when I was in college. I had to do something because I was training to be a paramedic(try lifting a 200 pound classmate while trying to hold a shit thats 99.9 % water! Anyways, I found that it really helped. I stopped taking the Lomotil, because it is a narcotic. But I really think the Modulon works.It relaxes the ol crapper muscle to avoid spasms.

I guess what I have is IBS...for a number of years, around stressful times the problem starts. Haven't seen my symptoms mentioned much here...first in evening (it seems to start in the evening) the horrible, horrible rotten egg smelling burps start. You can't get away from them. They are toxic. Then at some point the gas starts. Loud...huge...foul farts. If possible I try to be alone for these...if I didn't have to be around for them it would be great. Painful cramps that aren't relieved no matter how much gas I let out. Then by morning several trips to the bathroom with diarhea.

During a previous job, this would hit Sunday night, and continue all week, finally letting up by Friday morning. In fact, I think that's when it started.

In recent years it hasn't hit as much...but a stressful situation can bring it back.

I used to take upwards of 20+ imodium tablets a day during high school just to ward off the shits. And even when I did go, it was still loose and watery. I finally saw a GI doctor, had a colonoscopy, stool samples, etc and was diagnosed with IBS. I now take paregoric & motofen daily which helps immensely but I still rarely have a formed movement. Every morning I wake up and immediately have explosive diarrhea -- it really puts a damper on the day. Not a fun condition at all and I suppose the worst side effect of all is the feeling of not wanting to socialize much with others because of fear there will not be a bathroom nearby. It's extremely debilitating even with medication and I wish more drug companies would try researching more treatments. The anti-spasmodics I have used in the past have just made urinating painful and did nothing for the diarrhea so I've had to resort to the opiates. Lotronex is not an option because I am a male which I think is bullshit.

I have suffered from IBS since 2002, where I was diagnosed during my first semester of my doctoral program. After going through a series of uncomfortable and violating tests, the doctors ruled out everything else to determine that I had IBS-C. One comment made by a later doctor (I upgraded from the university clinic once my husband finished law school and got good medical insurance) has continued to puzzle me. This prominent local doctor stated that often victims of IBS had a childhood pattern of holding on to their poop for too long. He said that this pattern affected the rhythms of their digestive tract later in life. I have not found any medical source that confirms this statement. Has anyone else been given this seemingly ludicrous rationale?

After sitting on the bowl for the last 2 hours straight, I googled Slurpee + poop and just discovered this totally pooptastic site! I've had IBS/ Spastic Colon for 13 years. Without fail, having a Mountain Dew Slurpee produces one of my "attacks". And I love Slurpees. I am a Slurpee addict. Sometimes they don't have any effect. Sometimes I feel the unmistakeable rumblings before I even get home from the store (and it's literally right up the road from my house). But even spending two hours in the bathroom with pain so bad I get the dry heaves & cold sweats and think I'm going to die with my pants around my ankles pooping out everything in my system including the candy bar I had in 5th grade, doesn't stop me from getting Slurpees. At the very beginning of my IBS adventure, I swore I had a parasite. I named it Bob. I had a picture in my mind that Bob had fur and pointy teeth and long talon-like claws which he liked to scrape along my insides. Which I reasoned, was why I saw blood every so often. Unlike me, Bob does NOT like Slurpees. After I was diagnosed, doc told me I had a spastic colon and it spasmed so bad that I broke capillaries. Anyhoo, you gotta keep a sense of humor. The more folks you talk to, the more you find have the same or similar experiences. After my 3rd colonoscopy (I don't "twilight" well, so I have them put me completely out--I don't like watching the procedure on the monitor and not being able to tell the doc I can actually feel what he's doing), doc goes out to the waiting room (filled with 23 people)with photos of my colon to show my husband, and happily announces "This is your wife's rectum...she did a nice job with the prep. It's so clean! She's fine. Got IBS/ Spastic colon. Look at these pics! She's really clean!" Husband reported one woman in the waiting room actually giggled. Obviously SHE was there waiting for someone. I bet SHE never had to do that PREP. ugh.
Nothing embarasses me any more.
I'd still like to know why Slurpees bring on such a horrific attack. Not that I'm going to stop buying them, but I'm curious all the same.
(It's just not the Mountain Dew kind, coke and cherry do it to me as well) Anyone know?

Hey, Slurpee Squirts- caffeine can be a HUGE trigger for IBS symptoms. That would be my guess as to why Mountain Dew and Coke gives you problems. One of my triggers seems to be meals high in fat like fried chicken and french fries.

slurpie,
that would be the corn syrup, or the obvious.

THE ICE COLD LUSCIUOS drink causing furious contractions of the gut!

IBS can attack with no rime or reason.

There are the kinds of IBS: constipation predominant IBS, diarhea predominant IBS, and intermdtiate IBS (both types combined, plus the extra bonus of gas).

I had IBS for 17 years, and finally overcame it in early 2006. I did a Dr. Natura colon cleanse, followed by three months of Digestrol.

The Digestrol worked wonders, and I have been symptom free for nearly two years.

There are people who say that this product donesn't work, but I beg to differ. If done right, it works wonders.
_______
"Two percent of the population think; three percent of the population think they think, and 95 percent of the population would rather die than think."

Yeah, rime in the ass is exceedingly painful!

had colonoscopy and endoscopy one mo. ago. Horrid procedure. Have hiatal hernia causing acid reflux. No appetite. Acid not there to break down foods so stuff sits in intestines. I go from constipated to a bad attack of diahrrea. Painful cramps right before. I swear this is worse than childbirth. Have had it on and off for 7 years. IBS is the diagnosis. Esophogus is burned out but as I'm a singer am hoping it'll come back if I keep acids away from throat. Sleep upright. Small meals. No caffeine, chocolate, booze, tomatoes, nothing spicey or acidy. Small meals and nothing after 6 pm. Metamucil in the a.m. Not working yet, and had horrid attack last night. Blood this a.m. in stool but the doc said I had hemerroids which I didn't know, so they must be internal and bleed once in a while. Glad to know I'm not alone. If you have GERD AND IBS, don't do the peppermint, it's bad for GERD even tho it soothes the stomach. I heard a certain kind of licorice, DGL, is good for the intestines. Anyone tried it? No drugs for me, side effects outweigh any slight benefit.

Great article! Very informative. And yes, IBS is quite agonising.

Glad to find this page. Since I was a teenager I have had difficulties with elimination. Could not pee in a public restroom unless it was was empty, was a singular room with a thick door, or unless someone flushed a toilet or was peeing louder in the next stall and then the flow would stop when the other noise stopped. Overcame that. However, never overcame the inability to pooh in a public restroom or when out no matter how necessary. Would go in without result even in the singular room style ones. Vacations where there was a shared room were a nightmare. In the mornings at home, I would be up before everyone so I could use the hall bathroom which was the kids' bathroom knowing they were all asleep, but if I heard the sound of someone get up, or even turn over like they were awake, it would be an interrupt until I was sure they were still asleep. If someone else actually got up, I was in trouble and I would feel so angry that they had gotten up early because I knew I would carry discomfort with me until they were out of the way and I could get back into the bathroom. I would seek out the bathroom off my parents' bedroom at other times because it was out of the way. The doctor referred to it as a shy bladder and shy bowels. As an adult, vacations sharing a room with anyone, even my mother or husband, would produce severe constipation and after the first few days it would be uncomfortable. I would go to extremes to avoid sharing rooms with people when we went away. I'm a teacher and the school, for several summers in a row, sent us to training seminars out of state and set us up to share rooms. I was so distressed in advance because I knew what was coming and how awful it would be. A whole week. I ended up staying with family friends and driving an hour and a half each way every day for the seminar meetings - including driving 12 hours to get there in the first place so I would not have to go to the expense of renting a car. It was not perfect but it was much better than the alternative. Once married, I had the same issue and I never shared the information with anyone. Once divorced and living alone for the first time in my life it was amazing. What relief. Years of comfortable normalcy. Two bathrooms in the house, though and only the one off my bedroom area was comfortable for me to use. Great schedule - get up in the morning, have coffee, immediate normal emptying, shower and off to work. If anything upset the schedule though - like oversleeping or a phone call, it would be a rough day until I got home. Any pressure of time would lock things up, so I was careful to protect the mornings. The only thing that would consistently throw things off other than that was if a time period was really stressful and I was tense. If I went away, the issue would arise as it always had unless I had my own space and bathroom, and it would resolve within minutes of returning to the quiet and privacy of my home. About 5 years ago, I started dating a man who lived out of state. Eventually, we had regular travel to each other's spaces on weekends and vacations, and we made lengthy trips several times a year. I was okay in my space when he was there and I knew he would not be entering the area where my bathroom was -- no regularity in the morning unless I was up super early and knew he was out cold, but at some point in the day there would be relief and the schedule would reset during the week. In his space where there was only one bathroom, it would be rough and I would finally think I did not have to go even though I would be uncomfortable and become bloated, but the second I would return home I had to head straight to the bathroom where all would be normal. On school holidays, when I would be in his space for extended periods, it would be difficult as well -- even if I got up super early or tried to get into the bathroom when he would go out to the video store or market - but the pressure of limited time usually prevented result. In summers, I would create an excuse to drive home when it got too bad and drive back the next day. Hours on the road. On vacations away - horrible unless we were in a multi-bathroom space and even then by the end of the vacation I could be in trouble. The last time I had such severe back pain from constipation that the flight home was excruciatingly painful. It was our honeymoon. I've been here in his space now for 6 months and constant constipation has been my companion. My last normal movement was in July and with the assistance of laxatives that took a day longer than they should have to work...specifically the morning we were leaving for my home state to attend a wedding scheduled for 5 hours from the time laxative started to work. I have been able to tell him about the issue - had to when I needed to take a laxative on our honeymoon... fortunately he went out that night AND we were in a 3 bathroom space which did help a little at the start of the time away but had no effect by the end of the month. Took Milk of Magnesia for the first time in my life and in as many hours lost between 4 and 5 pounds that had come on over the previous 3days. After that though, it was pretty much nil for the rest of the time there. I've had all sorts of back pain and it has been awful but when my bowels relieve themselves there is immediate relief from the back pain. Unfortunately the standard has been marblelike stool excreted with straining and throughout the day when I know for sure he is either asleep or out for a time - or specifically just enough for it to seem like I am in the bathroom no longer than it takes to pee then nothing more even though the need is still there until the next time I need to pee and then likely a little more. As though my system has adapted to this place so it will appear as though I do not "go". There are nights he will go out and I will stay home just because I hope for relief when the house is empty. I am uncomfortable in this house to start with and have stress from subbing and the inconsistency of the schedule and not being happy with the work. He is retired and is here all the time. There is little alone time except around 5 am and I never know when he will wake and come down to use the bathroom. I have tried fiber supplements which have not helped, lots of fruit and water. Nothing but getting fuller faster than I could empty. Stomach massage. I was beginning to think I had a bowel obstruction then we visited home for the holidays and stayed with a friend whose house had been my home away from home for as long as I can remember - 3 floors with the guest quarters 2 floors below the homeowner sleeping quarters and a bath on each floor. They are both late sleepers and I woke super early as usual the first morning there and feeling the need. Expecting the same struggle, I entered the bathroom only to think nothing but similar small movement had occurred except passed for the first time with ease. Stood to see a completely normal movement. Another a short time later. Same experience the second morning, Relief of back ache. The next 2 nights at a family member's small place with central bath and right back to where I was before but worse and home to more of the same. Finally, a week later, starting to "normalize" which means back to the non-normal lunacy of intermit small movements throughout the day which has become the normal for being here. I now realize that stress over conditions and comfort level here, or lack thereof, are controlling my system, and as powerfully as I condition my mind to all other things, I have not been able to do it here. Thought the stress was finally managed, but it really was not. This is nuts. The mind can have significant impact even when you are not aware of stress. I am going to try the breathing and relaxation exercises mentioned in one of the posts as well as the mental conditioning. I am a very practical, no nonsense 55+ year old adult. You would think this nonsense would be long gone. I did think it was pretty much over except for vacations until recently. Now I am in a new home that my body refuses to recognize as home and tense about this stuff sharing space with someone else. It is like regression to teenage and young adult years. Here's hoping.

research this little guy!

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