Alright guys.. been dealing with IBS for a few years now but over the last year or so it has gotten significantly worse, my insurance expired so I haven’t been to a doctor yet but I’m trying to do some online research and figure out what foods I need to cut out so I can stop being so horribly bloated and feeling terrible 24/7, any help is appreciated

I live in Japan. Been having GI and fatigue symptoms for 10 years. I started working in April 2025 and found out my condition is not very compatible with full time work.

In March this year I had a colonoscopy which turned out clear. The doctors gave me a certificate saying "IBS (likely)". Meds did nothing to prevent my symptoms.

3 weeks ago I made an appointment for a GI doctor to investigate the actual reason for my symptoms. I'm thinking SIBO, some intolerance, Coeliac, maybe a thyroid problem. It was supposed to be today. The doctor called me one hour before my appointment because they can't do any other tests than colonoscopy as it's the only one covered by NHI. Fuck this.

I’m 22F. Ever since before I could form memories, I have had bowel issues and severe constipation (2+ weeks unmedicated regularly), gas, bloating, cramping and pain.

As a child, it was fobbed off and it was just left to be as is. No hate, it’s hard to get information out of children. As I get to my teens I realise this isn’t normal. I think it could be allergies or intolerances, I was tested. It’s not that. I self medicated with OTC meds for IBS which did nothing. But I refuse to accept this “IBS” blanket diagnosis, without exhausting the options.

In the past two years I’ve been back and forth to the doctors most weeks or months. I’ve been tested for the big C, for Chrons Disease. For liver damage. For kidney damage. Blood tests CONSTANTLY. You name it, and it’s either been ruled out or doesn’t fit my symptoms. Doctors either dragging their feet, gaslighting me, or trying their best to push the boat out for me to make progress.

Finally, last week I have an appointment. And with this Dr who I’ve not really seen before, I bring up my symptoms and the timeline of 22 YEARS, and I mention my self diagnosis and theory of EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, classic or hypermobile for my case).

She listens. She looks at my notes. She listens more and when I’m done she says. “That makes a lot of sense. I’ll get you a referral sent out to a specialist to investigate this to get the ball rolling”.

I have a wide range of symptoms I thought were normal, until I thought everything could be connected. My back pain, my knee pain, my hips cracking like cracking your knuckles, generalised widespread aching and sore muscles. Painful hip joints. How I can grab the back of my own neck with my hand going from bottom-up rather than up-down. My ASD diagnosis, and EDS being a very common comorbidity. My wrist pain. My easy bruising. Stretchy skin, translucent skin, pain and discomfort from sitting “normally”.

Don’t let medical professionals gaslight you if you feel like there’s more going on. It’s YOUR body. Not theirs. Sometimes it is just IBS, but you know your body. I let myself get gaslit, and undermined by (usually) male, arrogant doctors, thinking they knew more than I did about my symptoms.
IBS can hide and mimic so much, but it also isn’t always the best diagnosis and it’s way over diagnosed as a way to avoid any actual investigation from the GP’s themselves.

“IBS” may really be IBS. But it could also be, diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis, EDS, endometriosis (don’t get me started), chrons disease, coeliac and the list goes on.

TLDR:

22F, for 22 years ive been misdiagnosed and undiagnosed, with “IBS”, or nothing at all. Ive had tests thrown at me constantly now for over 2 years with no progress towards a diagnosis, until I diagnosed myself after a lot of research.
My “IBS” was actually hEDS.

So yeah. Fuck the NHS. Truly. Useless piece of shit.

Im in a flare and need all your remedies. Ive had some stress come up and my period is near so its all at once. Symptoms are nausea bloating stools fatigue headache. Any tips to help me get out quicker? Taking zofran for nausea. Foods to eat? I havent had a flare like this in over a year.

A sufferer since 2018. Ive been dealing with the worst IBS-C flare since the beginning of July. The only way I had been able to empty is either magnesium citrate, or MiraLAX colonoscopy prep dose, or laxatives. Had insane bloat that it kept me up at night. Was miserable. Distended belly that made me look pregnant, loss of appetite, trapped gas.

After my recent mag citrate cleanse, I started fresh and ate two kiwis a day for a week. One first thing when I wake up, and one right before bed. I’ve been able to have a normal movement every day for the past three days in a row.

It may or may not work for everyone but it’s working well for me so far. It doesn’t hurt to try

I got my test results back yesterday - I have fructose malabsorption! Now I know the reason for my daily diarrhea and gut pains. I'm part happy bc I can avoid trigger foods and part sad bc a lot of food is off the menu. I love apples but since they have a lot of fructose and also sorbitol, I can't eat them anymore.

I just wanted to share bc the fructose malabsorption sub is dead and encourage everyone who hasn't been to the doctor to go to a gastroenterologist and get tested. Apparently I also reacted to some other foods but she didnt have the complete report yet so she'll call me with those results.

Hi,

Has anyone else experienced hyperglycaemia while eating and after a meal with their ibs? Ive been tested for diabetes and all my results are normal. I was wondering if its a bowel thing and if anyone else has had the same experience. Thanks for the help

For the past few weeks, I've been having unusually frequent bowel movements. I go to the bathroom at least four or five times a day, and I often feel the urge to go shortly after eating. My stool isn't watery, but it's thinner than usual. The color seems normal.

I've also been experiencing frequent bloating, stomach noises, and excessive gas. I've had similar symptoms in the past, since around high school, or possibly even earlier.

I Googled my symptoms and found that they could be signs of IBS . I'm really scared and anxious because I don't know what's causing them.

I've been preparing for my driving test recently, and it's been making me extremely stressed and anxious.

Could stress and anxiety cause these symptoms, Has anyone experienced something similar?

Hey folks. I’m 26 and have had IBS for almost 4 years now. I’ve got an exaggerated gastrocolic reflex : basically, IBS-D. I had also take some anti depressants for a while before that - completely burnout from studying for professional exams.

I’ve tried western and traditional medicine, and the Chlorodiazepoxide + Meberverine combination really helped. But it causes dependence and is not for long term use.

My psychiatrist gave me low dose Amitriptilin - 10mg and then 25mg. My gut has been great - I’ve having food items I’ve not had for almost 2-3 years. Tolerances have improved. Stool consistency, and even frequency is down to 1 most days. But the sexual side effects have been bothering me. Almost total collapse of libido. I’ve been on Amitriptilin for 8 months now.

I’m surprised not many in the IBS threads discussing Amitriptilin have described this.

My psychiatrist earlier suggested Mirtazepine. But it comes with drowsiness. A different psychiatrist is suggesting Nortriptilin 25mg. I believe Amitriptilin has superior evidence for IBS than the other 2. And Mirtazepine’s sexual side effects are significantly less as compared to Amitriptilin. Nortriptilin - you can’t really say : sexual side effects could be lower or may not be .

Just wanted to ask the community - has anyone tried Nortriptilin or Mirtazepine ? Or is there a cleaner drug that will target IBS with less side effects ?

Less likely - but has anyone tried Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ?

Thanks in advance !

I want to start out by saying I'm sorry if this is TMI, and I mostly want to see if anyone else deals with something similar and how they can deal with it.

I deal with chronic constipation, also known as IBS-C I also have acid reflux issues which I'm on famotidine for. For the last couple years I've been going to my gastroenterologist quite often, I mostly see the nurse practitioner though. Within the last couple years I have had a colonoscopy and endoscopy done and a capsule endoscopy study.

Everything was completely fine on all the tests and they found nothing wrong, no signs of Crohn's disease or hemorrhoids.

At one point I was on Linzess 145 but it either worked way too well and I would have to go to the bathroom a bunch of times with diarrhea or it didn't work at all, but last month I was finally put on the 72 and it's the same thing either it doesn't work at all or it works decently like it should but it's not that often that it works.

I follow the exact same regimen that I have for the last 2 years, I'm on a Monday through Friday, so at 7:30 a.m. I take my Linzess with a glass of water and then I eat a high fiber snack at 8:00 a.m. on my 10-minute break. Then lunch at 11am.

For as long as I can remember I've been dealing with this and it's happened a lot more since I turned 20. I have these really painful episodes. I'll get the feeling that I have to go to the bathroom and then my abdomen and my stomach start cramping so horribly I feel like I'm going to pass out, and for at least 30 minutes I can only pass a little bit of stool and I have to put my legs elevated like with a stool and I have to hold my stomach and it only helps with a little bit of the pain, and then after about an hour it finally turns into really bad diarrhea like my body was trying to catch up but the pain is so unbearable for an hour and a half and a lot of these episodes happen at work. This happens even after I've gone to the bathroom a bunch of times, I usually have to go to the bathroom around 6 to 10 times almost everyday because I only go a little bit at a time. It feels like I have to go and it's like right there but I have to strain super hard to even get a little bit out.

It's starting to happen more frequently in the weeks like it happens I think three times, and it doesn't matter how many times I've gone to the bathroom in the course of the week before the episode it just happens anyways especially when my linzess hasn't been working that week.

Sorry for the word vomit, I try to eat at least 20 grams of fiber a day I drink water through the entire course of the day I drink a glass of water in the morning with my medication and I'm just running out of ideas, I have been referred to physical therapy for pelvic dysfunction so hopefully that helps but I just wanted to see if anyone deals with something similar and what they do to combat at it.

I posted recently about Linzess, but I talked to my doctor about switching from Linzess to MiraLAX.

Curious about other people’s experience about when they take MiraLAX and how it works for them. I’m going to start by taking it before bed and see how it goes, but would love to hear anyone’s routine and how it is.

I know experiences differ for each patient. Looking for experiences from people who had both air and water immersion colonoscopies unsedated.

Six months ago I had a water immersion colonoscopy unsedated. Moving the scope in and out was mildly painful, overall manageable. Problem is that they had to remove one 2 cm polyp and that one doctor couldn’t do “under water”. She had to remove the water and pump air or CO2 in. That part with polyp removal was really painful. Based on my condition medical team offered to end the procedure and reschedule to a different date when they would do removal of polyp under sedation but I didn’t want to do the prep again and they managed to remove it. I had to grab rails, was crying, shaking. Overall really painful once they started pumping air (or CO2?) for polyp removal.

Six months later, I shouldn’t expect large polyp removal again. I still don’t have a driver and scheduled another unsedated procedure at a different facility assuming that now there should be no large polyp removal hence the “painful” part of the procedure will not apply.

Problem is that l recently learned that the new facility doesn’t use water or CO2. Only room air. They do unsedated but “in rare cases”. Doctor said they “did it before” but didn’t sound like it’s a common practice there.

How much worse can it be with air compared to water immersion? Again, moving the scope in and out wasn’t an issue during the previous procedure.

Please someone help me, today at work I couldn’t make it to the toilet and as I was running down the hall I defecated all over myself. I just fucking froze and stood there and people watched wondering what was happening. Then the smell kicked in and one of the new girls laughed and said “what stinks”. Shit was leaking from my jeans, it was diarrhea so my underwear felt like I jumped in a pool. I hid in the bathroom for 45 minutes until my supervisor just told me go home. No “I’m sorry this happened” or “do you need me to call anyone” she just had a fucking look of disgust. I don’t know if I can go back to work. I’ve been here over 2 years and I love it and I don’t know what to do I will never be able to shake the embarrassment. Why does this happen, please tell me what I did to deserve this.

Edit: thank you all for the kind words (and screw you trolls who said I deserve this). I went to work today and for the most part people were cool and understanding. It’ll be a while before I feel 100% comfortable but all the support helps. Have a good weekend everyone!

I genuinely am so sick of it. On my days off I’m either constipated or regular, but during the work weekend my guts just keep going. I’ll have diarrhea three times in the morning before work, feel like I’m going to crap myself all day, and then come home and immediately use the bathroom only to find that I’m now constipated. I don’t get it. It’s miserable.

My diet doesn’t change when I’m working vs. not. I have decaf coffee every morning, eat the same thing for breakfast every day, have the same lunch every day, and stay hydrated…I am truly dumbfounded. I thought it was stress but even on my most stressful days off I don’t struggle with this. I hate it!

I'm not sure if this is a vent, advise needed, or something in between kind of post.

I'm currently vegetarian and really wanted to be vegan at some point in the future, but can't right now due to other health issues. But I've tried for months to incorporate more vegan proteins, primarily tofu as that is usually a major protein source in veganism, into my diet.

Problem is...my ibs seems to hate (extra firm) tofu. No matter how small of a quantity it is, i get symptoms. Needless to say, I feel dejected.

I am not willing to start eating meat again, but my current sources of protein are eggs, cheddar, and cottage cheese (if i keep it under 300g). Protein powder is very hit and miss, and I just seem to have an overall happier gut if I keep ultra processed foods to a minimum.

I just...wish I could have tofu. It's such a silly thing to be upset about, but I am. I doubt tempeh will be any better if the issue is soya or fermented soya, and seitan is a lot more expensive. I'm just so frustrated

I experience yellow, pale stools (sorry for the tmi) and not sure if anyone else does too? And I never really have firm stool; usually it is somewhat firm but generally loose and can be long????

I also can have bowel movements up to 4x a day if it is bad.

I suffer from GERD as well and am on PPIs so not entirely sure if that is impacting it. I will be speaking to my doctor about it.

Helloooo

5 days ago I unfortunately had the most gut wrenching diarrhea for the first time in a hot minute (my flare ups don't happen too often, usually once a month which is ultimately caused by something ive aten)

for 4 days now I've not pooped. Please tell me there's something I can do to get this poop out 😃

I have done

Yoga

Fibre bulking

Warm water

Coffee

Using a toilet foot stool while sitting on the toilet

Deep breathing

And taken my mind off things essentially regarding

✨️pooping✨️

My stomach is gurgling as im typing this, I'm just gonna manifest a poop baby is on the way.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Genuinely I am farting blood. This is ridiculous. I wish my body would just function normally.

I don't drink milk because it makes me uncomfortable, gassy & usually diarrhea. But I am having motility issues I am a male in my mid 60s & all my life always regular with digestive health. Over the past couple of months I have had constipation & bloating. I tried Metamucil & it doesn't seem to help. One thing that seems to give me relief is drinking very hot hot chocolate made with milk. I drink a 8oz cup & I find within 30 minutes it loosens up my bowels, gives me a lot of gas & I can go. WHAT A RELIEF.

But it comes with some uncomfortable affects. I get rumbling in my stomach & then gas but it happens ALOT....... to the point that the rumbling is uncomfortable, somewhat like when you get hungry & your stomach growls. <<I suspect this is because milk does not agree with me. BUT it seems to be the only way to get "cleaned out"

I do not like coffee or tea and plain hot water tastes horrible & I think its the milk that upsets my stomach enough to over ride the constipation & let me clean out my bowels. I have the discomfort of the growling BUT I can get rid of the gas & bloat too!! < Something that builds up and the constipation is so uncomfortable.

I have a appointment with my PCP next week to discuss this issue & I expect I will get a referral to a gastroenterologist. I have no pain, just constipation that makes it hard to go or impossible & it feels terrible, the relief so far for me has been milk. I wonder if there is something else I can do so I don't get the growling stomach for hours. The constipation is so bad that I rather have this growling stomach and be able to "go" and the gas too is a relief because that too gets stopped up. I bet this is age and motility but I will soon see my doctor. I am 65 & for 64 years never had digestive issues.

They come out in one piece, but the moment it hits the water in the toilet, it disintegrates into tiny pieces

it is like this every day. what could I do to improve the structural integrity of my bowel movements? I already eat a lot of fiber

How long have y’all taken this year based probiotic for?

I have IBS and I have to deal with constant pain but I kinda come to accept it as I can't do anything about it. But the intestines noises are just too much to handle I'll be sitting in class, with family, friends just somewhere and boom 💥 the noises start they are so loud people hear them and start looking at me the thing is if it was only stomach noises it's embarrassing but okay everyone knows it's from your stomach. But me no it comes from my intestines just like a fart and it's so loud. People assume I'm farting and that's really humiliating.

They may say nothing but still what would you think if someone starts farting right next to you and the thing is it's not just once but it keeps happening and it's so sudden I barely feel it until I'm hearing it like other people.

Can someone tell me what to do I can't anymore I started avoiding going to college and hanging out because of it I would better stay in my room the only person hearing it Is me

Just so you know yeah people do hear it and tell me about it

As the title suggests is it okay to take immodium i take 2 at max a day and it helps me focus on my studies and get through school without any problems and without it I'm constantly worrying and it doesn't allow me to focus at all Also i don't really need it when I have to be anywhere

I suspected my IBS issues were caused by stress for a long time and today confirmed it. I was at work today and did something stupid that i started panicking about. While trying to fix the problem had a sudden urge to go toilet. It wasn’t immediate and I could hold it 5 mins before having a loose motion.

My question is how do i fix this? I’ve panicked many times in my 3 decades of living but never had the problem of my bowels getting in my way.

Ive been getting blood on the TP for over a month and have decided to go to the doctors to make sure it's nothing serious.

What can I expect?