IBS.

Hi, my name is Lindsey, and I have IBS [Irritable Bowel Syndrome]. Oh, and Acid Reflux too. Woot, glad to get THAT off my chest.

Yep — this has defined me since I was 12. I was your normal kid growing up — maybe a little more anxious or easily stressed than your average kid, but no biggie. I was just a planner, and if things didn’t go according to this plan, I would mildly freak out. Mildly being the key word here.

little Me, stressing out already. Silly Me.

I had lived my whole life in a smallish town in North Carolina. My family was all there, friends, church..you name it. I had gone to a tiny Christian school where I had known the same 18 classmates since kindergarten. I lived in a bubble. And I was happy in this bubble.

And then Kansas City happened. POP went my bubble. And I vividly remember walking into my new junior high — public school, no less — where there were 500 people I had never met in my life. I was alone. And I stressed (just a little). I spent the majority of my 7th grade year sick, every single morning. I started waking up ten minutes earlier in the mornings, because I knew my stomach would act up. That’s when you know it’s bad — budgeting bathroom breaks into your morning routine. The nurse and I became quite close that year. At first, my family was sympathetic, and let me stay home on days my stomach felt like it was ripping me apart from the inside out. But eventually, they started realizing this wasn’t going away, and I couldn’t stay home forever.

I started seeing doctors, and learned what gastroenterology meant [stomach doctors]. I had a scoping done [sticking a camera tube down my throat to take pictures of my intestine], ultrasounds [a 13 year old getting an ultrasound, imagine that], and was put on so many different medications, I couldn’t keep it straight. The only way to find what medicine worked best was, unfortunately, trial and error. I’d try three meds at once for a few months, and then switch it up. Doctors couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong, so they stuck the label of IBS on me. All they could find were strange chemicals my stomach was producing, but they didn’t know how they got there, or how to get rid of them. Basically, I was told the best way to treat my stomach pain was to get my stress under control and learn to deal with the pain.

I kept taking medicine, again changing it up every few months. I hit my teenage years, and I developed an addiction to….Mountain Dew.  duh duh duhhhhhh. Come on, what’d you think I was going to say?? I drank that sucker like it was water. I could down a 2 liter Friday, Saturday, and Sunday [that’s 6 liters for those of you doing the math].  Not to mention the Dew I’d do during the week [had to]. It was bad. And I was stressed with college, AP classes, extracurricular activities, fear of graduating, what to do with my life, etc. So my stomach condition, which had been tolerable for the past 5 years, worsened. I remember feeling burning sensations in my stomach, and started developing new symptoms.  My stomach would cramp up, and I would feel as if I had a brick sitting in my gut. I could go a week without using the bathroom, all while having a rock hard stomach [and not in the good way].  I went back to the doctor, where he diagnosed me with Acid Reflux in addition to the IBS. Code word here – stop doing the Dew [these jokes are just TOO easy]. I quit, and my symptoms slowly started getting better. I was put on new medication in addition to my IBS meds.

My stomach condition still didn’t get that much better. Senior year and freshman year of college were the worst two years for me in terms of my stress and stomach. I started throwing up because of my stress levels. I developed anxiety and panic attacks, when I felt like the world was caving in and I couldn’t find my breath. I stopped sleeping — I would sleep for about 3 or 4 hours a night. I was put on Ambien to help with the insomnia, and told to start biofeedback to help with my stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, I’d have to drive home from college twice a week for biofeedback, which just wasn’t feasible with my schedule. Once I removed myself from the stressful situations surrounding me freshman year, my stress slowly started getting under control. I still needed the Ambien occasionally, but the panic attacks and the vomiting stopped. Progress.

The rest of college, my doctor attempted to wean me off my medication.  The meds I was on are supposed to be for short term use only, and put me at a greater risk for Osteoporosis. So far, I had been taking it daily for 3 years. We decided to try the weaning off process during a Jan-term, when my stress would hopefully be at a lower level since I wouldn’t be taking classes, and I’d be at home so he could monitor it.  He gave me an over the counter medicine to help with my Acid Reflux that I was to take 8 times a day, and I went off my normal medication. I remember the first day off of it, I spent the day lying in bed with my mom, crying and holding my stomach. I felt like I was having pain contractions in my stomach. I’d be fine for a few minutes, and then everything would tighten and the pain would…literally, take my breath away for 5-10 seconds. This happened ALL DAY.  It was the worst. We gave it a week, but I couldn’t handle it. I went back on the medication.

Fast forward to a couple months ago. I’ve been on this medication for 8 years now. EIGHT YEARS. And it came time for me to renew my prescription, and I just…didn’t. I’d had it. I was done. I was so tired of taking medicine that didn’t fix my problem. Yes, it helped.  It definitely helped manage some of my pain, but it never took it away. I was still in pain almost every day, but it was just manageable pain. I started researching IBS more and more, because I realized most of my symptoms [at least the ones that caused the most pain and discomfort] were IBS related, and not Acid Reflux. And I read about triggers — and I’ve been able to identify my 4 trigger foods that guarantee discomfort for me.

Dairy. Red meat. Anything fried. Caffeine.

Modifying my diet has been SO hard. I never realized how many things have dairy in them until I spent over an hour in the grocery store, just reading labels. And I love cheese. I put cheese on everything. Don’t get me started on sour cream. Or butter?! Oh goodness. Red meat hasn’t been too terribly hard — I think it’s harder on my husband that I don’t cook with it anymore. Fried food has been difficult because it’s so hard to get something not fried at fast food restaurants.  E and I both have crazy busy schedules, and a lot of times, I have no choice but to eat on the road.  There’s only so much Subway one person can take.  When you go to fast food and take away cheese, mayo, beef, and fried food…you’re not left with a ton of options. As far as caffeine, I actually don’t miss it that much. After the Acid Reflux diagnosis, I have never been able to really enjoy soda anyways. I’ve never been a big coffee person either.

So after 12 years, I’m finally becoming dairy free. Did you know that dairy and red meat are the two HARDEST foods for any normal stomach to digest? So far I’ve noticed small differences — when I adhere to this, my stomach hardly hurts at all.  If I cheat, like the other night, then I regret it almost immediately.

If you’re still with me at this point, I’m impressed. Thanks for reading my long novel on my newest change in my life. :)