Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Causes and Ways to Live with the Disease

I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome at the age of fifteen. IBS is not a disease but rather a functional disorder. The muscles are the bowel contract too much when digesting food. When the bowel contracts it can cause abdominal pain, cramping, swelling, or bloating of the abdomen, diarrhea, and/or constipation.

I had been having stomach pains and was constantly constipated. When I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, I was put on Nulev, a muscle relaxer, and darvocete for pain. Typical diagnostic procedures are the Lower Gastrointestinal series and the colonoscopy.

Most of the time my irritable bowel syndrome symptoms presented themselves as abdominal pain and constipation that was above normal. The stomach pains were severe; I missed many days while I was in school because of it, which even resulted in me failing a grade. During both of my pregnancies my symptoms changed, although I still had a lot of cramping, I had chronic diarrhea as well. Every time I would eat, I would be running to the bathroom within a half hour.

My symptoms seem to get worse when I am stressed. Now that I have had irritable bowel syndrome for so long I have learned ways to lessen my symptoms.

Fatty foods, diary products, alcohol, and soda all can worsen irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. Cutting down or eliminating these from my diet helped a lot. Adding fiber to my diet as helped with the constipation as well. This works because fiber makes stools softer, therefore easier to pass. Fiber can be found in vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.

At times, the constipation as been so badly I have had to take laxatives. Usually I drink prune juice; this seems to work very well. As for the diarrhea, nothing helped, I just learned to cut down on food containing a lot of acid, which would make my rectum sore.