Roberto’s Personal Story: “IBS can be triggered by stress but IBS “attacks” also give us stress”
At first, I tought I had a simple stomach infection after 5 days passed I went to the gastroenterologist and he gave me a course of antibiotics, anti-parasite, Pepto and some expensive probioatics. After the course was completed I was exactly as I started, but now super anxious because more than 1 week had passed and my diarrhea was still extremely liquid plus the strong gut noises, especially at night, kept me awake. I tried to de-stress but it did not work. I went to another gastroenterologist, who had treated me before the pandemic for an “upset stomach” that required an emergency change of clothes. After a while that time he concluded I had some level of IBS, and he gave me a super low dosis of a kind of antidepresant (I will not say which to avoid the bias, but it is well documented that it can help) AND he explained that I had no other “serious health” problem. That gave me a lot of peace of mind, after 1 month I was totally cured. 4 years later I have this horrible liquid explosive diarrhea that didn’t give. I went to this same doctor, he checked me, reviewed my syptoms, and the medicines I took, and concluded “You have IBS as the last time, it is not cured, don’t worry too much about it and this diarrhea and symptoms will pass”. This gave me a lot of peace and my hyperactive colon immediately reduced the intensity of the movements. I read some articles about IBS in the New England Journal of Medicine and found, among so many things, that IBS causes a lot of stress as per markers in the colon and this becomes a vicious circle because the IBS can be triggered by stress but IBS “attacks” also give us stress!!!. I will try to accept that the symptoms are unavoidable but not harmful. And do my part in healthier food and exercise (Which I do, but I had stopped for 2 months due to a broken toe, who would have thought that a broken toe would give me IBS!). Let’s be at peace with your symptoms, you are not as sick as you think, just be patient. One week at a time!
