Hayley's Story

by Hayley
(UK)

Hello all! My name is Hayley and I am 21 years old. I?m currently at university and have a part time job at a nursery/ out of school club. I am hoping that my story can bring IBS sufferers and people whose loved ones are sufferers, some sort of comfort and a sense that you?re not alone.
I was first diagnosed with IBS when I was 15 years old. Even though I was diagnosed at this point, my parents said that as a little girl I always complained of ?tummy aches?. When I was first diagnosed, I was so confused as doctors said they didn?t really understand the condition and that there was limited medication for it.
This caused me further problems as I had little support from doctors for 3 years after being diagnosed. No treatment seemed to work and I was becoming more and more frustrated that the people around me found it difficult to understand. I now know why they didn?t understand as it is difficult for people who have never experienced it. People would think I was skiving school or refusing an offer to go out and using IBS as an excuse. This used to get me really down as I knew no one who had it as well.
After 3 years of confusion and frustration, I decided enough was enough. I booked myself into a private hospital to see a gastroenterologist?I think this was the best thing I ever did. My parents came with me as they were getting more curious than what I was. I decided to make a food diary before I went?but no patterns emerged with what foods could have affected me. I ended up have an endoscopy and a colonoscopy to rule out more serious conditions. When I got the results I got told that I definitely had IBS, this helped me as my parents could hear the facts about IBS from a professional and I had a definite diagnosis.
Since then it has been a little easier, however I tend to have problems everyday rather than every now and again. My symptoms range from alternating constipation and diarrhoea, pains and aches, weight loss, nausea, bloated stomach, tiredness and low self esteem and mood swings. My pains are how I describe either ?like someone doing the washing up in my stomach? or ?having a chainsaw rammed up your bottom?. Its mostly the pains and bloated stomach that get me down the most, sometimes the pains are just to hard to cope with and I get really embarrassed by my bloated stomach? it makes me look about 5 months pregnant.
Not only does IBS affect you physically but it can affect you mentally. I have had days where I am too frightened to go out or to go round someone else?s house. It also has made me lose friends and even boyfriends. It?s a hard thing to explain to people especially when your young, that you have a condition that involves toilet troubles (and lets face it people always get embarrassed about this, even though everyone uses the toilet!).
My current issue is from a bad phase of constipation? I easily tear my bowel (and it has happened before), which makes me bleed when I go to the toilet and can take ages to heal, it gets very sore. This has made my condition a little more difficult but will heal with time.
My biggest thing that makes my IBS worse is stress and worry, even though I still have problems everyday. So my biggest advice to anyone is to do whatever you can to make yourself happy and to enjoy life the best you can. The only way that I feel that I can cope is to try my best to do what I want to do and to not let IBS rule my life.
I have found that I feel less embarrassed about it if I talk about it and to be honest with people around me. I tend to make light of the condition by making jokes, even though it gets me down?I just think that other people have this condition and it shouldn?t rule our lives. I think that the hardest thing is to get past being embarrassed about it. I have found that when I tell people about it, its more than likely they turn around and either say they suffer from it or they know someone who suffers from it. So I hope that this comforts people and makes them feel comforted. And this condition really shouldn?t be that embarrassing, I mean we all use the toilet and we can?t help our condition. So I wanna say enjoy life the best you can and try not to be embarrassed about it, be honest with people. I feel better that I have support off my family, close friends and my current boyfriend. Its also a big help to have websites like this one?I wish I found them sooner rather than later. But I figured I can give advice to others if needed.

Also there is a fantastic novel written by a man who has IBS and the book is his memoir of his life with IBS! This is fantastic and made me make light of the condition as it?s a really funny book. Its called ?Romance, Riches and Restrooms? by Tim Phelan.

If there are any questions or advice or even a CURE!!!!! ?please comment would be great to hear from others.

Hayley
xx