My first attack of Irritable Bowel SyndromeBefore I’d even heard the term Irritable Bowel Syndrome I was suffering from stomach problems since about the age of ten, usually nausea and trapped gas. Article by Sian Nervousness, tension, fear all went straight to my stomach. ‘Sick to my stomach’, was a truism for me. At around 19 to 20 years of age, I began to experience days of lower stomach pain, as if a wide iron band was being tightened around me. I would suffer bloating, gas, and either a continuous need to empty my bowels, or diarrhea. This would be accompanied by nausea, sometimes so acute that I felt green. Since I was almost always anxious or nervous about something this became a part of my life which prevented me doing many things. And then it worsened.
On this particular day I ate a pasta salad and within ten minutes pain began in my lower stomach. It became worse and worse until I was bent over on my chair and one of the women came in, took one look at me and went to see my manager, who gave me a lift home. I did not know where to put myself, the pain rose up through my entire torso but was concentrated in my lower belly. In quick succession I took co-codamol, Pepto Bismol and lay on the sofa with a hot water bottle clamped to my stomach. All I could do was writhe in agony until it gradually subsided. I was not sick, I did not have diarrhea, although the next day I was continually in the bathroom. The sensation of a band around me continued for a few days, with dreadful nausea, and I was off work. 
I had suspected for some years that if I ate peppers they would give me cramps, gas and diarrhea, so I decided, since they had been in the pasta salad, they were probably responsible. And it has proved to be true that peppers are one food which does trigger an attack of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in me, apart from stress. The next time I experienced the same sudden onset and degree of pain was a few months later when I was desperately seeking temporary jobs. Often a temp who is covering for one day is thrown in at the deep end, and this was the case that day. I was panicking, and going blank, completely confused, and about two hours after I started the pain began. This time I had drunk nothing but water and eaten nothing at all. I had to ask to leave, and for my mother to meet me and take me home. I was not employed by the Agency again. Severe episodes can last several days with me. The pain, then the dreadful gas, leading to belching, then days of needing the bathroom, and of pea-green nausea. I am now prescribed tablets to help the nausea although these tend to lead to diarrhea. At times I will go through a phase where I get up and take a sip of tea, or water and immediately get the most dreadful cramps and have to dash to the bathroom. At one time it lasted a month and I saw the doctor as I was worried. He prescribed me Codeine Phosphate for the diarrhea and the pain. These periods, as well as the nausea, are more frequent than the severe cramps, but apparently are just another manifestation of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Return from First Attack of Irritable Bowel Syndrome to IBS Stories
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I had not long begun a job which I believed I was not qualified to do. I dreaded going into the office and ate nothing until my lunch break. 
