Eating Out With IBS: The Aftermath

For those who don’t have IBS, eating out can be fun. What’s not to like?

No need to cook at home, no dishes, and the opportunity to taste delicious foods. However, things aren’t as simple for those of us with IBS.

First comes the anticipatory stress of eating out

Whenever I plan to eat out - whether it’s at a restaurant, at a friend’s house, or even a simple picnic - I always get nervous beforehand.

What if I can’t find anything safe to eat?
What if the only thing that agrees with me isn’t available?
What if I get symptoms when I’m not home?

I often feel my stomach tighten before I’ve even tasted the food, with worst-case scenarios playing in my head over and over.

Because of this, I don’t like planning anything when it comes to eating out. At least when it’s spontaneous, there’s much less pre-eating anxiety involved.

But being spontaneous also means that there is less time to choose the right restaurant that offers safe foods, or analyze the menu to avoid bad surprises.

Then, the post-meal anxiety kicks in

Unfortunately, anticipatory stress is still the easy part. Once the meal is finished, the damage is done, and the real anxiety can begin.

The question “What if I get sick?” replays in my head in every possible variation, focusing on every little detail that might have gone wrong - from hidden triggers in the meal to new foods I haven’t tried before, or any unfortunate mixture that might trigger my IBS, any minute now.

Thanks to the (very real) possibility that anything other than a super safe home-cooked meal could upset my stomach, there are drastic precautions to be taken.

Eating out also makes me want to cancel other plans

To me, eating out means cancelling all other plans I might have had for the day, and if possible, the morning after. After all, if symptoms were to start, I at least want to be safely at home.

I wouldn’t ever meet up with anyone or do anything after eating out. And if I absolutely have to, I’ll be so scared that my IBS will flare up just from the stress.

To avoid this, I usually only agree to eat out when I have nothing else planned in the first place.

Overthinking my IBS symptoms and living with constant anxiety

Any strange noise my stomach makes, the tiniest bit of bloating, or anything that might resemble the start of an IBS flare will send me straight into a downward spiral.

“That’s it,” my brain will tell me. “That’s what you get for taking a risk. Prepare to be miserable for the foreseeable future!” I’m very good at making myself feel sick all by myself, even when the food was completely fine.

Since I never know exactly how long it takes for symptoms to appear, I can remain anxious for up to 3 days.

Is this reasonable? Probably not. Does my brain still function that way? Absolutely.

So, while the sheer panic usually subsides after about 6 hours of being symptom-free, I don’t feel completely calm until about 72 hours later. By that time, I’m usually so exhausted from being stressed that I start promising myself to never eat out again.

If IBS symptoms appear, they're not easy to figure out

And what if symptoms do appear? Well, apart from the utter misery of having an IBS flare, I’m now bound to overanalyze every aspect of my meal to find out what triggered it.

Was it the drink?
The combination of different sauces?
The one bite I had off of someone else’s plate?
Or possibly the anxiety that went along with the whole experience?

In most cases, I’ll never know, and the place I ate at - along with all the foods I tried - are now added to my ever-growing list of no-gos.

My 3 "reset" methods after eating out with IBS

All in all, social outings involving food can get extremely exhausting, with or without a flare. Fortunately, I have found a couple of ways that help me reset after eating out:

1. Consuming only safe and light meals after the outing

For me, having multiple risky foods in a row is almost bound to give me symptoms, so I usually opt for something bland and extremely safe to let my digestive system rest.

2. Activated charcoal

Whenever I feel symptoms coming on after a risky meal (or when I’m just too scared), I immediately take activated charcoal to hopefully absorb any triggers. It has saved me countless times before, but this is just my experience. It may not work for everyone.

3. Doing anything to calm my nervous system

Since I’m already so on edge because of the fear of a flare, I find that resting, drinking tea, and watching TV to get my mind off of it can truly help.

How do you handle social outings involving food and the fear of a flare that goes along with them?