questions about symptoms
Not sure where to start but I am experiencing symptoms of diarrhea and constipation. When it is diarrhea I find that it sometimes may be accompanied with head ache, fatigue, chills, achey and mild nausea. It may knock me down for a day, sometimes two. No particular food intake seems to directly cause the diarrhea. Some events are without warning and quite drastic. I might go months without an event or it could be several over several months. Are these common symptoms for IBS?
I'm so sorry you're dealing with these flares. It sounds like you could have IBS-M, which tends to alternative between diarrhea and constipation. The unpredictable flares as well as the varying time periods between flares sound pretty common for IBS.
Have you had all the tests done to rule out other conditions? If you haven't already, I'd definitely suggest doing that, as many other illnesses can have similar symptoms but may need different treatment.
Have you tried keeping a food diary, even though you don't feel like the food is causing your symptoms? Sometimes, it can take a while for symptoms to appear after ingesting a trigger: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/fodmaps-trigger-ibs-symptoms, so it might not always be obvious...
Karina (team member)
I agree.. Talk to your GI doctor about doing tests to rule other issues out first, then its time to battle the craziness of IBS. I went through a ton of blood work over the years and imaging and colonoscopies/endoscopy to rule things out. IBS-M is the toughest because you want to stop the Diarrhea but you want to make sure to keep it flowing for the constipation. Doing the tests is the easy part and it helps ease the mind. Keep us posted.
Thanks I have done all the blood work, colonoscopies, endoscopy and all the other tests, all were negative. Has anyone tried this had any improvement https://healthheron.com/hh/ibd-cta-aw/?clink=textversionlink.
I'm glad you had all your tests done.
The link you sent seems a little to good to be true to be honest... I personally don't believe that there's a simple, one-size-fits-all solution for IBS. We're all so different. If you're interested in alternative approaches, I'd look into seeing a naturopath. Some of our community members have had success with this approach. Our advocate Elizabeth describes her experience here: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/naturopath-experience.
Do you have anxiety on top of your IBS? If yes, then approaches like hypnotherapy (https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/clinical/hypnotherapy) or EFT tapping (https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/eft-tapping) might work really well.
I hope you'll get some relief soon.
Karina (team member)
