So, I don't know how many of you actually know this about me, but I suffer from IBS. It's a fairly common disease, that happens mostly to women around my age and people don't like talking about it because the symptoms are not that kosher.
It's also very hard to determine if it's a "real" disease or not. This is because the triggers are mostly phycological. Basically I got mine from my anxiety and panic attacks. Which is another thing you might not know about me. Senior year of high school I got my first panic attack, and I got scared of public transportation. It took some weeks before I got a diagnos and medication to help me. I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and panic attacks. It was a very difficult time. If you are not familiar with this disease I'm not going to explain it, just send you to a video that Zoella posted a while ago that describes the symptoms and disease very well, even better than my phycologist did back when I was diagnosed!
It's almost 20 minutes long, but trust me, if you don't know what panic attacks and anxiety is this will explain it. And if you are suffering from it yourself this will help you understand it a lot better!
Now, back to the topic at hand, IBS and FODMAPs. I was diagnosed with IBS as a follow-up from my panic attacks, which is usually how you get IBS. IBS stands from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and has also been called Nervous Bowels. Basically, if I'm nervous, stressed or faced with something challenging or new my body stops functioning as it should. I get stomach pains and the urge to visit a bathroom becomes an emergency. I won't go into details, but let's just say that I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.
It has become such a problem that I've let it control my life and because of it I'm not actually living my life to the fullest. I've lived with this problem for almost eight years now and it has been a constant struggle and worry for me.
One of my resolutions this year was to actually live my life and in order to do that I have to get my IBS under control. I've read about this diet called FODMAPs which is an Australian thing where you eliminate quite a lot of foods that are known to be irritable for your bowels. I've been eating according to this diet for a week now and I've noticed major improvements! Trust me, I noticed a change 24 hours into the diet!
I've eliminated gluten, lactose, unions and garlic. This is very, and I mean very, problematic and difficult in the beginning because there is unions and garlic in almost everything. However, it is so worth it due to how much better I feel already.
On Friday I accidentally ate something that had unions in it and the pains arrived a couple of hours later. This diet has definitely showed me things that I absolutely can't eat, and that I do feel better when they are eliminated. My co-workers are telling me that I have a healthier glow to my face now and that I am more energised.
I'll update you more about all of this as I go, but for now I'll leave you with that this diet works and if you have IBS I urge you to try this.
xx Zandrina
Wow didn't knew you could get IBS from panic attacks. Just curious, how did you get diagnosed for IBS? And do you have any good links about IBS and the link between anxiety and IBS? Thanks sweetie.
ReplyDeleteHi Lovely,
DeleteUnfortunately I don't have anything on hand, I just have what my doctor told me all those years ago. Basically, when you have panic attacks your body jumps into "fight or flight" mode and parts of your body shuts down. One part that shuts down is your bowel system. This is the reason for desperately needing to run to the toilet. After going through this ordeal everyday, sometimes many times a day, your bowels end up damaged. It's as if someone has crunched down my intestines making food processing very difficult, sometimes impossible (not gonna go into details but sometimes things looks the same upon entering and exiting...) I've been hurting my intestines for so many years now that the comeback to healthy ones will take a while, the pain will still be there but at least I'm not running to the toilet!
After my first doctor had diagnosed me with panic attacks I was sent to a psychologist who explained that illness to me and tried to help me combat it. It took a year or so for it to become manageable. And yet my stomach issues didn't leave. My mum self-diagnosed me with IBS shortly thereafter (still not official) and I began trying different medications to see what would happen. And nothing changed. One day, I had enough and I called the medical center in my local town, begging for help. They sent me to a dietician who finally gave me an official diagnos, although told me that I'de probably had this problem for a few years before coming to her. Unfortunately she was crappy and didn't know to much about IBS, so all I know is from self-teaching from the internet!
Sorry for the long, rambly response :)