(Hopefully) Beating IBS or How I Got My Life Quality Back

Anyone suffering from IBS knows exactly what I’m talking about. The constant issues, often coming out of the blue, when you least expect or need it.

I first came in touch with this illness three years ago while on my first trip to a friend who lives in Scotland. The day we planned on going to explore beautiful Edinburgh (which required a car drive of about one and a half hours from where she lives), I suddenly had those symptoms – I could barely get out of the bathroom, thinking maybe the cereal I ate that morning was the problem, that my digestive tract didn’t like what it was given, that it couldn’t cope with the dietary fibre inside it. Today I know that I actually am not able to actually digest the dietary fibres and other stuff that’s in oatmeal, for example, but back then, it was all new. I felt so tired the entire morning that I felt like sleeping for the rest of my life. And even though it was sort of embarrassing to talk about that stuff with one of the most important people/friends in my life, face to face, when she asked me about all the symptoms I had had before and that day, it was soon clear that I obviously suffered from IBS. And though it was a bit of a shock to have a name for it, it was also a relief knowing that I might be able to do something about it, because ever since knowing, I realized how limited my life had become.

I finally knew what happened when I was in new or uncomfortable (e.g. nervousness because of dates or job interviews, meeting new people for the first time, doctor’s appointments), or, especially recently, psychologically stressful and challenging situations (my current work situation, constant worries that “something” will happen while I’m out and can’t go to a bathroom I’m comfortable with, hygiene-wise). It went so far that ever since I had a protracted stomach bug last december, my every day life was often a fight. I basically lived on rusk, Perenterol, charcoal tablets and Loperamide for months – with especially the latter not being healthy if you take it longer than two days in a row, but I felt like I had no choice. I popped those things like Tic Tac’s, and I ate even less than I already do (due to a slight eating disorder) because I felt like no matter what I put into my mouth, it would result in new issues all over again, and even the slightest weird feeling in my stomach made me start to panic – resulting in me weighing as little as I ever have in the past couple of years (46,7kg at 1,71m). I have lost count of the number of sick days I pulled at work because I was feeling like “something was coming on”, and though my boss always seems understanding about it (because he claims having similar problems), there’s only so much understanding a boss can feign and have.

I avoided my beloved Latte Macchiato or cereal in the mornings because the milk and/or the caffeine would result in hours of feeling uncomfortable and the urge to run to the bathroom, “just in case”. I stopped eating pizza and cake/pie because I was paranoid that those things also made me react with IBS symptoms (especially the cake, it seemed, when it came out of a freezer). I even went to a gastroenterologist to test whether it was actually a lactose/fructose/gluten intolerance, and the results of all of them came back negative, which left me absolutely desperate and hopeless, because I just didn’t know what to do to stop this.

This was the moment I decided that no matter how skint I was, how little I should and could actually afford it, I needed to take action and get a special medication from the pharmacy called “Kijimea”, which is known to be quite expensive, but the only REAL help with IBS if you take it constantly every day for at least 4 weeks, better 6 weeks. It is proven that after that time, the IBS symptoms and whatever comes with it disappear for good, and though I never actually believed it, I found myself at a point where I was so desperate and trapped in some sort of depression because of my limited life quality that I decided to give it a shot. And today, after two weeks and one day, I can honestly say: FUCK, IT WORKS.

The pharmacist said it would still take quite a while for my body/digestive tract to get used to it and regenerate completely, but that the first results will already be palpable after two or three days. I never believed that kind of stuff, but in that case, I say it again: FUCK IT WORKS. It’s not completely gone yet, but I can say with pride and relief that I already got back some of my life quality. I barely take the fore mentioned pills anymore, I feel more relaxed (although almost every morning when I’m almost at the office, I have a short, tiny setback, but that’s probably due to the current stressful situation) and safer about it than I have in years. I even feel happier and calmer when I’m out for a walk through the city, or meeting up with friends, or walk home for one and a half hours instead of taking the tube where I can sit safely. There are still days that I feel the bubbling in my stomach and am slightly worried what is going on, but those moments have become a bit rarer in the past two weeks.

And though there are still two weeks left of the Kijimea treatment, I can actually say that I have part of my life quality back, and there’s barely anything these days that leaves me happier and more satisfied than that. They say that health is the most important thing, that it doesn’t matter whether you’re rich of have loads of friends or a loving boyfriend/husband. I never believed that before, I admit that, but ever since that treatment is actually helping, I do.

There’s nothing more important than health, and you have to cherish it as long as you can possibly do, because you only have this one life.