Ive been having ibs symptoms that started around 2017/2018. It started off as weird extremely loud gurgling noises. back then i thought it was due to hunger but the noises will only calm down if i fast. With time fasting stopped helping and if anything fasting made the noises even louder. With time i started getting constipation/diarrhea issues and the noise will just get worse with time. I went to see a doctors about 4 times in the past years and i was always brushed off, my last time being in 2022 where i got a blood test for chrons but never got the results or any follow up. Already this issue had caused me so much embarrassment i felt that i shouldn’t go to the doctor anymore and tried solving it myself.

I was never able to 100% follow the fodmap diet but from what i noticed i dont think food is triggering my symptoms. I noticed that adding fiber helps me but doesnt solve the issue 100%. My symptoms now are the very loud noises that sound like a shipwreck, going to the bathroom multiple times in the morning (sorry for the detail but it starts as normal stool then just diarrhea, because of this i have to wake up super early because i take 4 or 5 trips to the bathroom and even after that i feel the urge but cannot pass stool. I always end up leaving the house feeling like theres still so much more stool inside of me that i cant get rid of) this happens when i wake up early by an alarm. If i wake up naturally i either pass small stool or unable to completely.
I also have left lower quadrant pain, im experiencing it now after not having eaten for a couple of hours, i noticed this pain gets more pronounced after not eating for a while for some reason. I also occasionally have mucus in my stool and bloating. The bloating has gotten worse the past few weeks and i feel like im getting worse in general. Also lots of gas.

Im thinking if going back to see a doctor i really think there is some structurally wrong with my colon.

Im writing this with tears in my eyes and with so much pain in my left side. Anybody with similar symptoms? What was your experience with going to a doctor? Its already so humiliating having to go back but i cannot live like this anymore.

I’ve been on Linzess for 2 years. I typically take it in the morning an hour before I eat breakfast.

I’m about to start a new routine of going to a workout class at 7:30 in the mornings. I’m trying to figure out if I need to wake up extra early to take the meds, wait a while, eat breakfast, then head to the gym. I also don’t want to poop my pants during my workout class lol

I tried to ask my doctor but she just gave me the “it’s recommended to take it 30 minutes before your first meal of the day” and no other advice.

Wondering what other people’s experiences are around when they take their meds.

Does coffee cause you a flare up? For me it’s pretty bad but I cannot live without my coffee.. any suggestions ??😖😭

I have IBS-D, and after having actual accidents from not making it to a bathroom in time, I developed really severe toilet anxiety.

Basically, my brain always needs to know there’s a bathroom available. If I know I can use one whenever I need to, I’m usually okay. But the second I feel like I don’t have easy access to a toilet, whether I’m outside or even at home when someone is using our only bathroom, I start panicking.

Within just a couple of minutes, that anxiety can trigger a very real, intense urgency to go. And if I can’t get to a toilet within another minute or two, I can actually end up having an accident.

It’s this horrible loop of “What if I need to shit?” → anxiety → sudden, intense urgency → even more anxiety. And the worst part is that the urgency isn’t just in my head. I genuinely need to go, and accidents can happen.

At this point, I pretty much only leave the house when it’s unavoidable, maybe once a month. When I do, I take Imodium and wear an adult diaper because I’m terrified of having another accident. But even with those precautions, I still sometimes get sudden urgency and have to rush to find a toilet.

I barely have a social life, I don’t travel anymore, and it got so bad that I had to quit my job. My entire life basically revolves around making sure I have immediate bathroom access. Even being at home can be stressful when someone else is using the toilet.

I’m looking into therapy now because I really want to break this cycle and get my life back.

Has anyone else experienced toilet/bathroom anxiety this severe, especially after having actual IBS accidents? Did anything genuinely help you overcome it?

I’ve been experiencing pressure/tightness around my upper stomach and ribs for about a year now. It comes and goes unpredictably. Some weeks are better, while other weeks it’s more noticeable. It’s usually more of a pressure or fullness sensation than actual pain.

I mostly notice it when I’m lying down before bed, often around the right side of my ribs, although the location can fluctuate. I’ve also noticed it sometimes while driving.

Interestingly, it goes away (or I simply don’t notice it) when I’m busy, working, playing sports, or distracted. The pressure always goes away when I take a hot shower.

I’ve also had some digestive issues, including gas, bloating, and constipation/straining, but my bowel movements have improved over the past month or so since I stopped forcing myself to poop.

My abdominal ultrasound examined my liver and gallbladder and came back normal. My H. pylori test was negative, and my bloodwork was generally normal apart from elevated bilirubin.

Has anyone experienced something similar? If so, what turned out to be the cause, and what helped? I’m especially interested in hearing from people who experienced a similar pressure sensation rather than significant pain. Thanks!

My husband and I have started trying for a baby and I’m wondering what other women have experienced with having IBS-C while pregnant. Did it make your constipation worse or did it make you poop more?

I’ve struggled with “IBS” for 15 years at this point. The past year I have experienced severe, crippling pain in my abdomen that comes out of nowhere and it’s so bad to the point where it hurts to stand up. The only thing that happens is laying in the fetal position or having a large bowel movement/passing gas. I finally went to the ER today because I didn’t know what else to do. All my bloodwork was normal, the CT showed a small (4mm gallstone) which they said was normal and not the cause of my pain and “moderate stool burden” (no surprise there) and I left with no answers. I just don’t know what to do anymore because I can’t be in pain like this and live my normal life or just leave work every time I experience this. I have a GI appointment 12/23 with a new doctor (the soonest they could get me in) and an appointment with a pelvic floor therapist on nov. 8th to see if that helps at all. I’m just at a loss. I take miralax every morning, fiber seems to make it worse and if I’m really backed up I take milk of magnesia. I just don’t know what to do anymore. Does anyone else experience extreme pain like this? I have a pretty high pain tolerance (my entire stomach and back are tatted) and it makes me want to just curl into a ball

Hey everyone,
I’m 16 and I have IBS ( I was diagnosed recently a few weeks ago) and lately, the fatigue has been absolutely exhausting. I feel tired pretty much all the time, even when I get a good night’s sleep. I wake up feeling like I haven’t rested at all, and even if I take a nap, I can feel sleepy again just two hours later. It’s like I never have enough energy, no matter how much I sleep.

It’s starting to affect my everyday life, especially school I have a really important exam at the end of this school year, and I mean really IMPORTANT and I’m genuinely scared that this constant exhaustion is going to affect my grades. Like sometimes I have to study, but I’m just too tired to concentrate or get anything done, and it’s really frustrating. All i do is sleeping and it’s doesn’t even solve the problem :(

I wanted to ask if anyone else with IBS has experienced this kind of extreme, constant fatigue and, if so, what has actually helped you?
Are there any dietary changes, supplements, vitamins, or other things that have made a difference for you? Is there a particular diet that helped with your symptoms and energy levels?

I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. I just want to feel like I have enough energy to get through the day and keep up with school without feeling exhausted all the time.

Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to respond ! 🫶🏻

Hi community! I've been going through a LOT of medical testing for the past 6 months and have officially been declared a medical mystery and told I just have chronic IBS-D that I have to live with. I'm seeking any advice on how to manage this!

My symptoms are diarrhea 3-15x per day, severe upper abdominal pain (sometimes so bad I can't stand or walk), lower abdominal cramping, gas, bloating, and nausea. This has been daily for 6 months, without a single day symptom-free.

For context, I've done pretty much every blood and stool test under the sun. I've also done a colonoscopy with biopsy, ultrasound, ECG, liver scans, urine tests, the works. Absolutely everything looks perfectly fine. Bloodwork shows no signs of infection or inflammation at all. Only abnormalities are low IgA levels and the presence of blastocystis in my stool (I tried 3 different antibiotics for this and none of them worked).

I take florastor and HMF probiotics daily. I've been on cholestyramine for 3 weeks with no results. I've also been on amitriptyline now for 1 week and have not felt any changes whatsoever. The only thing that helps is a shit ton of Imodium, but I don't want to take it every day because I really fear building an immunity and have it lose its effectiveness.

Please let me know ANYTHING that works for you, no matter how weird. I'll try it all! This disease has taken my life away from me and I desparately need to pick up the pieces and get back on track before I lose what I have left.

Can I drink them together? They’re both powered, I’ll start with 5g of each and work my way up. I’ve been drinking the broth for a week now and it’s not causing any issues, but I want to add l-glutamine to my supps now and I was wondering if I could mix them?

I have been taking it for about a week and it’s literally like water and I feel nauseous all the time. I just want some relief

I’ve been experiencing IBS for over a year now and in the last few months started experiencing pain in my balls it’s a dull pain nothing sharp or severe, it feels like it’s being pulled. I had this same sensation beginning of the year and I was given antibiotics by my gp even though my urine sample came back normal. She said as a precaution she will give me a short course of antibiotics. After a day or so that pain completely went away. In the last 2 months my IBS has been acting up, I have mainly good days but occasionally really bad days. I’ve noticed when I have these bad days it’s usually followed by the ball pain… it lasts a day or two and then goes away. I was going to book a doc appointment but the pain went away for 2-3 weeks now I have it again… after having a IBS episode yesterday. I just don’t want to waste my time going doctors and they tell me it’s nothing, which happens every time I go - does anyone else have the same issues?

Today I ate pancakes (on buttermilk) with apple jam and I had a stomachache. During 2 months I ate these pancakes twice and I had this pain. Never had it before.

Any ideas what’s the reason? I also had pancakes with milk and I also had stomachache. All those products - milk, gluten, buttermilk and apples are ok when I eat them separately.

I'm starting the low fodmap diet with a nutritionist after doing a round of antibiotics for SIBO treatment. I would rather use an app for the process instead of writing it down because I honestly think I will forget to do it if i write it on paper.
I saw that monash is a paid app, so I just wanted to know if that one is is the best app right now for both the elimination and reintroduction phase? Do you all recommend another app?
Are there any stand out features, pros, cons?
Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I’ve been dealing with IBS for about 5 years now. Diarrhea, gas, stomach noises, etc. I’ve noticed on the days where I’m taking Tylenol for my period cramps, if I end up having dinner I get no symptoms. I’m lactose intolerant and even if I have dairy it slows down the symptoms for me and makes them less severe. I can eat almost whatever I want and pretty much will forget I even have ibs in the moment- no gas, no weird stomach sounds.

I’ve tried googling this but don’t have info. Anyone have ideas on how I could work on my ibs based off this observation I’ve had? My guess is the Tylenol works on the pain signals my gut sends so maybe I have an over reactive gut? I think a next step for me could be trying gut hypnosis therapy?

Also edit: gotten a bunch of tests done at the doctors, CT scans, scopes.. they’ve found nothing. I do get stomach relief whenever I’m on antibiotics like rifaximin. So it seems like it’d either be a microbiome or gut-brain thing to me.

Hi everyone,
I (29F) wanted to share my full story here to connect with anyone navigating a similar overlap of severe GI spasticity, pelvic floor dysfunction and shifting motility, as well as to get your thoughts on long-term management.

About a month ago I suddenly suffered from excruciating abdominal cramps, so intense I was sweating cold, vomited and had diarrhoea. I immediately went to the ER and giving the location of my pain (lower abdomen, distinctly left and right, very similar to period pain), they sent me to the gynaecologist to do an ultrasound without any result. In the next few days I had other pain episodes that landed me in the ER two other times.

After an extensive diagnostic workup, including going to two other different gynaecologists, blood (ESR and CRP) and urine work, electrolytes, abdominal ultrasound, CT/EMG scans, full stool cultures, negative Fecal Calprotectin (2.1 µg/g), and negative Celiac/IgE food panels for wheat (<0.10 kU/l), milk (0.18 kU/l) and egg whites (<0.10 kU/l), all organic and inflammatory diseases were ruled out. My blood work did show high total IgE (267 U/ml, mostly from respiratory allergies), but my primary GI diagnosis is Irritable Bowel Syndrome with severe visceral hypersensitivity due to stress, alongside diagnosed pelvic floor hypertonia and vulvodynia.

One week before going to the GI, my GP actually already diagnosed me with IBS and started me first on Buscopan 3x/day and then on Valpinax (half a tablet/day, to increase if I didn’t feel better). At the same time, to try and avoid cramps, I also spontaneously removed a lot of foods to see if I was feeling any better, so I was on a strict diet of plain rice, potatoes, meat and fish. The acute cramps practically disappeared, only my stools were still very irregular.

When I went to the GI, he was a bit stumped by how acutely my symptoms started, and was also concerned about the fact that I usually don’t feel better after pooping during my cramps. Still, for a lack of other medical evidence, he confirmed the IBS due to stress.
To stabilize my gut he told me to stop Valpinax and to instead take Gaspan (peppermint/caraway oil) and Elgasin (digestive enzymes) before eating. He also put me on a Low FODMAP diet and told me to take VSL#3 probiotics for a month.

In the midst of everything, I was about to move to a different country for Uni and recently came back from a very physically intensive internship during the summer, so I admit I could have been a bit more stressed than usual. At the same time, I’ve been going to a therapist for the past three years, and I moved many times before.

Interestingly, as the initial explosive spasticity calmed down over the last few weeks, my transit slowed dramatically. I haven't had loose stools in days, and now I'm dealing with hard-to-pass stools. I still have mild cramps/nausea from time to time and feel way more bloated than before. Straining against a tight pelvic floor makes evacuations difficult and risks triggering pelvic muscle spasms, so I will try to contact my GI for possible solutions. I also suffered from GERD in the past and it seems that it’s starting to flare up again, especially late at night/early in the morning.

I also had the very sad realization that I experience sharp abdominal and pelvic cramps immediately after masturbation/an orgasm. This is probably triggered by my pelvic floor hypertonia, which was untreated so far. I will definitely have to look into pelvic floor exercises and gels to help relax my pelvic muscles.

Has anyone else here experienced IBS shifting from explosive bouts to constipation while dealing with pelvic floor hypertonia or post-orgasm cramping? How do you keep your stools soft without triggering sudden visceral spasms? Thanks for reading!

(posting from a second account not to have a full clinical history on my main)

just reached 20 years of ibs-d. im Trying to get a colonoscopy because I can’t fathom 20 more years of “just” this..? I have type 6/7 BMs 1-3 times a day, every day. Usually no pain, sometimes after going & exhaustion after going. occasional fatigue. Idk man I’m just at a loss. What’s everyone else’s stories?

Hello all! Recently diagnosed with IBS. Today, out of nowhere, I got INTENSE abdominal pain (sharp/stabbing). I could hardly stand up straight & just wanted to curl into a ball. My stomach was super bloated and hurt to the touch, all over. I even had pain in my back & it moved all over my stomach/abdomen. I’ve had this type of pain before but never this bad or for this long.

I went to the ER & after 2 hours there, I farted a bunch and the pain completely disappeared. I feel so dumb but they said to get an ultrasound for gallstones outpatient rather than hang out in the ER while feeling fine.

Is this potentially gas?! Is it this severe for others?!

Empece a tomar constella 72 el sabado y me dio una evacuacion blanda el sabado y el domingo pero despues ya no me esta funcionando.

Cuando es el mejor momento para tomarlo?

Deberia aumentar a 145?

Gracias por vuestras experiencias

for the past 5 years ive been having ibs like symptoms (never got diagnosed for it tho) like gas, weird bubbly feeling in bowels, constantly changing bowel movements. id describe it as ibs-m probably. the symptoms are very irregular and sometimes i get weeks of almost nothing, then it just hits again. today I finally went to a gastroenterologist, which didn't really tell me what it could be, only prescribed xifaxan and a probiotic. now im reading mixed opinions about the antibiotic and im not sure whether to give it a try or not. the side effects are scaring me off, too. does anyone have any experience with it? ):

So I have been dealing with ibs on and off for years. Back in January I was put on clyndamicin for a tooth infection and haven't been the same since. Symptoms are almost every day, particularly in the morning. I have tried carnivore, low fodmap, peppermint oil etc to no avail. I am down a bunch of weight which is great, but I just can't live like this.

I noticed recently that whenever I really don't give a damn, I will go eat whatever I want. How will that be any different than what I am already dealing with?! Well, to my surprise, and its worked every time without fail, all my symptoms go away, atleast for a few day or two. I'm talking orange chicken, pork fried rice, egg rolls and a couple of mai tais. Nothing. Is that not crazy? Has this happened to anyone else?

Perhaps the most deflating part about suffering with this is that everyone is desperate to live a better quality of life but has to face the reality that years of eating and drinking whatever has caused such damage that our bodies feel at ease with the garbage more than the good stuff.

At any rate, they prescribed me Bentyl which I started taking yesterday. Haven't noticed any marked change yet so I might just be getting some Chinese for lunch :)

Are acidity tablets compulsory to be taken with Mebeverine Hydrochloride or is it independently effective for IBS-D? Acidity tablets like some which has Domperidone also!

Okay, here goes.

I (F26) have been suffering with IBS-D for 6 years. It started in uni, and it took over a year to get a diagnosis. I tried going without gluten, without lactose, low FODMAP etc., and nothing really seemed to work.

What helped intially was to reduce stress (moved away from home), but just the worst cramps disappeared. I kind of gave up experimenting with my diet becuase I didn't have the mental bandwidth after years of trying, but I am trying to eat healthy.

A year ago I met my now boyfriend. He suggested an*l about four months ago, and I was obviously very skeptical. My pelvic floor is really tense, but ovee the span of like a month and a half we gradually got there.

And phew, folks.

I haven't been this regular and pain-free since my first symptoms 6 years ago. I also helped me destigmatize the whole issue (kind of insecure about the whole thing - farting, cramps, needing the toilet at inconvenient times etc.), becuase my boyfriend is a total sweetheart and doesn't mind dealing with this kind of stuff (a bit of poop etc.).

So, yeah. As the title says. My pelvic floor is in bliss, I poop normally and regularly and have only small flares from time to time.