Face the Weekend with IBS

By Tiziana Boaro

2 min read

We are supposed to love weekends.

We get to relax after a stressful week at work, stay up until late drinking a glass of wine, partying, watching a movie, having dinner out, or just sleeping in until 10 am.

To me, it is a nightmare.

My body and IBS speak to me and I learned to listen: they both love their routine.

IBS routine

Almost everything appears like it’s working when I wake up at 7 am. Drink tea with lemon. Have breakfast. Go to work. Drink 2 liters of water. Have lunch. Bike home. Have a light dinner. Shower. Relax. Sleep by 11 pm. My bowel enjoys a really boring and predictable life.

On the other side, my fiancè can go to sleep, drink, and eat whatever and whenever he pleases, and everything works just fine. HOW ANNOYING.

He does not understand why I really want to be in bed by 11 pm. First of all, having 8 hours of sleep allows my inner serial killer not to raise from hell. Secondly, it is the only way for me to have a functioning body the day after.

I honestly do not comprehend why, for some of us, life has to be so complicated.

Weekends with IBS

I would just love to chill in bed on a Saturday morning, relax a bit more, and not think about how I will feel horrible for the whole weekend if I don’t wake up by 7 am.

Of course, when the mind is set on something, it becomes almost always a reality.

Hence, at night, I start becoming nervous because I want to go home and be asleep at 11 pm. On the other side, fairly enough, my fiancè wants to enjoy his time off and take it slowly. Of course, he is absolutely entitled to use his time as he pleases, but when we are together and we go home late, I’m already internally frustrated.

Therefore, not the best scenario for my IBS.

Who sets the IBS rules?

I wonder if it is the timing, certain foods, or the amount of water I drink (while I’m at work, I drink much more), that I bike every day, or just that my mind knows how predictable my day is going to be.

Who sets the rules for a perfectly working body? The food, the mind, the environment? All of them combined? Where is the magic wand to make a body to run properly on a daily basis?

I just know that, interestingly enough, my bowels work SO much better during the working week. When I have a set schedule, no free time, and a good amount of stress from work.

How curious.

Sometimes I just wonder if my body got used to living in a constant state of being in a rush and busy. The anomaly of the relaxed and free time freaks it out and just stops working decently.

Another annoying part is that I feel and look much better during the week, while on the weekend I’m constantly bloated and I do not fit into my clothes.

I’m trying to introduce a more stable routine that blends my usual pattern to the weekend. I will see if it will improve the current situation. In the meantime, I’m starting a new meditation class.

Hopefully, removing the expectancy of a stressful weekend will help.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The IrritableBowelSyndrome.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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Kim Dolce Moderator & Contributor
<inline-mention username="Tiziana Boaro" user-id="4506959"/> I feel outraged on your behalf! Message to the cosmic powers-that-be: Please give Tiziana a break and help her make a more seamless transition from the work week to the weekend. She's been working very hard at it and is convinced she has her IBS under control because of her workday routines. We are grateful to and admiring of Tiziana for reporting to us what it's like for her to live with IBS. We care about her and wish her the best 😀 There, I sent those thoughts out to the universe. I know you will find a way to extend your work-week routines into Saturday and Sunday if you persevere, cuz if anything is going to work eventually, it's largely because the human didn't give up 😉 Time and again I learn anew that necessity is the mother invention. Tiziana, I look forward to reading more about how you experience and manage your IBS! Warmly, Kim, moderator
lucy33 Member
Most creatures actually prefer routine and are healthier when they don't deviate from established habits too much. I've had extensive experience teaching all sorts ot critters: horses, dogs and humans, and they all do best when life is (relatively) predictable. We humans tend to be "novelty seekers" and though we may enjoy novelty, it also creates stress. I get up at 5:45 every single day because I know great variation in my schedule will trigger both IBS and insomnia. My husband would like to stay up until the wee hours and sleep until 10:00 on the weekends. But I CAN'T sleep beyond 6:00 ever. I just wake up. Further, I need to stick pretty closely to my normal diet. I check restaurant menus carefully (we rarely eat out) and my husband frequently attends barbecues and other "group meals " without me. ( I'm happy to stay home with the dogs!) The hardest thing for me is that I compete with my dogs, which means that my routine is disrupted and competition always means anxiety anyway. It ALWAYS triggers an episode of IBS and that episode usually lasts for about a week. The stress feeds the IBS and the IBS feeds the stress. It is a vicious cycle. You'd be kindest to yourself if you got up on weekend mornings, got in some exercise (I exercise every day and it helps) and did whatever helps you to feel calm. Your fiance is going to have to learn to deal with this long-term. I know my husband sometimes gets annoyed but he also understands that IBS has been a part of my life far longer than he! 
1. Karina Moderator & Contributor
 <inline-mention username="lucy33" user-id="2315452"/> Those are really great tips, thank you so much for sharing! I'm glad that you and your husband have found a way to manage these situations in a way that works for both of you. It's interesting that you noticed that animals also love routine. I find the same thing with my toddlers, they thrive on their routine and get very cranky when it's disrupted. So it makes sense that our bodies as adults would love a routine, too. Karina (team member)
mktggirl Member
<inline-mention username="lucy33" user-id="2315452"/> you speak absolute truth: "The stress feeds the IBS and the IBS feeds the stress. It is a vicious cycle." 
1. Karina Moderator & Contributor
 <inline-mention username="mktggirl" user-id="2314123"/> I couldn't agree more! Karina (team member)
Njf0618 Member
My husband started to understand a bit better when he got older and had some bowel issues of his own - not necessarily IBS but just having to deal with some sudden urgency. We both tend to keep to schedules day in day out but occasionally do stay up later or get up early. I think when I stress about stuff it is so much worse and when I’ve done all I can to eat the foods I know agree with me that the emotional side of this is the thing I have to work on the most. Glad to hear you are thinking of meditation. I know when I can slow it down with the stress side of things I am so much better off 
1. Karina Moderator & Contributor
 <inline-mention username="Njf0618" user-id="4832334"/> I'm sorry that you're husband started experiencing issues as well, but it's nice that he now understands a bit better what you're going through. The emotional side of things is what I struggle with the most, especially when life is stressful... I hope you're doing okay. Wishing you all the best, Karina (team member)