Advice-IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

Living with IBS 

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Good afternoon Little ones! How have you been today? I've been doing my last week of training, mixed with preparing for University, it's literally so crazy! I'm sorry that I haven't been posting regularly, I hate that I'm not posting everyday; but as soon as I get into University and have my timetable I will be back to normal! 

As you can tell by the title of the blog post I am going to be telling you about my history with IBS and what it's all about! If you suffer from this condition, or just want to find out what it's like to live with have a little read down below :).

If you want to read other advice blog posts, click here!

WHAT IS IBS?

IBS, which is also stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It's a condition that affects your large intestine (colon), it causes it pass food through your system as fast as possible; which means everything that you eat goes through you! It makes you insanely bloated, and the pain is immense, (the pain does vary); in my case the pain is so bad I pass out. With IBS it's a chronic long term problem, some cases worse than others, you may have to go to the doctors to maintain the pain, or to keep food down. For example, IBS can last a few hours, or a few days, it depends what's causing it. IBS can be caused from particular foods or major anxiety, which is what I suffer from, this is a huge factor for why I get IBS so often.  

SHOULD I GO TO THE DOCTOR?

Fundamentally, this is all based on how much pain you can take, and if you feel that this is a major concern. When it came to me I felt like I left it too late, simply because I would suffer with IBS at least once a month, for that one day of the month I would be in excruciating pain, could not move in the slightest; and it would last AT LEAST 6 hours ... Yes I would sit on the toilet for that amount of time. Let me talk about the bloating! I would be insanely swollen and bloated! I would look pregnant, that's the gas in your stomach expanding; IT DOES GO DOWN! Don't worry! When this first happened to me I was panicking, it takes a day or so to go back to normal; so don't worry :).

If this is happening to you very frequently, I was suggest that you head over a doctor, they will then be able to give you medication for your: pain, swelling and anxiety. Evidently, anxiety is a seperate issue; but if it interlinks with your IBS then your doctor can suggest if not give you new medication which suits your needs :). 

MY IBS STORIES:

• Caught in London:
  This happened 2 years ago, I was visiting a guy I was talking to in London, he was based in Kingston; this was the first time I was going there in my life! I was new to traveling alone, and testing the waters in a place like London was wrong! I remember arriving at Finsbury Park, heading down the stairs to the underground, and that's when the anxiety hit. My heart was pounding, the fear of getting lost or hurt was constantly spiraling around my mind until I arrived at Kingston. When I met up with the guy I was completely fine, I was happy that I was getting to know him more as well the area; Kingston is beautiful! After 3 hours of being there I started feeling a slight pain in my stomach, I knew straight away that it was IBS; but I put it to the back of my mind and tried to ignore it. NOT THE THING TO DO! After 20 minutes of me trying to ignore it, a wave of pain paralyzed my entire body, I could not move; I literally fell to the floor. I remember waking up with Mark (the guy I was talking to), he helped me up, I was BLOATED! I remember sitting up and being in so much pain. It then struck that I needed to get home; but I was 2 hours away. I had to go on 3 seperate trains, including the London underground. The longer I held this in for made the pain even worse, I collapsed again on the London underground, this time a doctor that was on the train calmed me down and carried me to my final train, luckily he was from Welwyn (Where I live) and helped me home. The thing with IBS, is that you can't do anything, you just need a toilet ;').
  I phoned my Dad, and he picked me up from the Welwyn train station and drove me home as fast as he could. When I arrived home I was on the toilet for 4 hours ... A lot of YouTube videos were watched in that time, and also to distract the pain. 
• The middle of the night:
  Fundamentally, I'm a VERY deep sleeper, so deep that a fire alarm won't wake me up ... Yes I'm being serious. So the fact that IBS did was shocking! All I remember is a strange dream, I was being stabbed over and over again, more like a nightmare right? :').
  I could feel everything! I woke up, and my stomach was on fire! I assumed that it had taken a few hours, as I was extremely bloated, and the pain was so intense! It was dead on 3am, I crawled to the bathroom with my duvet and rocked back and forth. The pain was out of this world, IBS pain is the worst pain I have ever felt; I would rather someone punch me in the face. After 3 hours I was exhausted, I wanted this to end, so I got up and went to bed. Not even 5 minutes passed and I had to rush back to the toilet ... 9am came around and I was done, I was finished on the loo! 6 hours! That was the longest time I have ever spent in the bathroom! After that IBS episode I went to bed and woke up later that afternoon, I tried to eat a dry bit of toast and that went right through me. It took 3 days before I could hold any food down at all. 

IBS that lasted 10 days:This was the most recent episode, as you may or may not already know, I have just come back from France, it was my first time abroad. Anxiety was surrounding me as per usual, mixed with different food and living environment. After 3 days of being there a constant pain in my stomach lived there, everything I ate and drank increased the pain,I would try and go to the toilet but nothing would come out; I was terribly bloated and the pain was like IBS. The week passes by and the pain is still there, I'm still able to keep food down, but I didn't want to eat because it hurt so much. As soon as I get back to the UK I'm terribly sick, everything I'm eating is going through me, I lost quite a bit of weight, the pain was getting worse and worse. This was absolutely terrifying! After 5 days of not being able to eat or keep food down I went to the doctors, they were worried that it might of been something else, but they came to the conclusion that it was IBS; but because of the climate change it had made the IBS even worse. They gave me medication which reduced the swelling, pain, and widened my intestines, this enabled me to eat without it hurting as it would make room for the food. After two days of this medication it enabled me to be able to keep hold of my food, it was still going through me; but not as fast as previous days. A full 10 days pass and I'm finally able to eat proper food while keeping it down at the same time. It was so scary for me, this was a different perspective of IBS that I had never experienced. Just to let you know, especially people that suffer with IBS it can last a few hours to a few days, if you are really worried go to the doctors and get checked out; that's what I did. 

This is the end of my blog post! I am very sorry that this has taken so LONG! I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED MY TRAINING! I am able to write as many blog posts as possible now, which I love! I will be doing a University blog post soon! And when I move into my new home I will give you a flat tour as well! I hope you have had a lovely day, I start my new job tomorrow and I am so excited! 

I hope you have all been well, I love you all so very much! See you tomorrow with a vegan recipe! 

I love you again! Stay safe and stay tuned Little ones :) x x x 

Instagram:amymrmcguire

Twitter:AmyRoseMcGuire
Snapchat: missamymcguire
Email: missamymcguire@hotmail.com
If you want to keep up to date with that I do on a daily basis follow me on my social media above, and I'll be sure to follow you right back :).