Joan’s Personal Story: IBS After Cancer Treatment
God bless you for this site.Sharing with ppl who UNDERSTAND helps! @62, I was dx with very invasive breast cancer.Since I had such fierce cancer, I was given LOTS of VERY strong chemo. One is KNOWN to ruin heart function.But the one that brought me here was one made of bark of a literally poisonous tree.THAT one, poisonous in toto, caused the oncologists to give out Imodium like M&Ms in the chemo room. After 6 months of hard chemo, I was given a colonoscopy(!!!) although I was BARELY well enough not to live on the toilet.I begged the doc, but he said their usual thing:”You’ll be fine.”I WASNT. I had mucho diarrhea , and took Imodium daily. GRADUALLY it turned to IBS. I’d get diarrhea if I got nervous..And it was liveable-with.That was 13 years ago. I learned that making plans stressed me so that if I went out to dinner, there were bound to be bathroom visits-before, afterwards..I made less dinner engagements.. About 12 years ago, I started having bad edema& heart trouble.The drugs they gave me-you guessed it-made my IBS worse.They also made the arthritis in my knees awful.I’m a potter, I had to sell my house & get an apartment because my clay studio was in the basement. (Plus the bathrooms were on the 2 and 3 floor..) NOT a good set up for occasional diarrhea. Plus I had no income but my SS. Things got worse. I had to move to a senior housing project. Worse things got, more upset gut. For some reason, the bathroom is VERY far from the bedroom here. My IBS grew worse until one day 2 months ago, I woke up and actually felt peristalisis taking place.(cant run) but made it to bathroom only to lose it when I bent over to take off panties.Only familiar w/accidents by babies and puppies, I was horrified @ the HUGE mess a liquidy stool makes. It takes LONG to clean up. Floor, wall, toilet, clothes.Crying time.Today it happened again.And yes, as others have said, it is turning me into a hermit.Not constant(yet?) but never predictable.Plus there is leakage from an old hemmorhoid, which has taken to wetting the back of my pants.So right-no whites in summer, no light-colored clothing.Leaking is mucous, but on IBS days, there is a bit of stool involved. There is someone on my floor who uses adult diapers.(Trash room is how I know)A very nice woman friend has what looks like a coloscopy bag under her shirt.These things are NEVER mentioned.Which is why I’m here, telling my tale. Thank you for sharing, and thank you, iffgd for this VERY helpful site. If I learn anything about living w/this, I’ll surely share.Joan