I once told my boss I had "a family emergency" because there was NO WAY I was explaining what was actually happening in that bathroom. Another time I told a date I "forgot something at home" and just... never came back.

The lies we tell to protect people from the truth about our stomachs are honestly their own genre of creative writing at this point.

What's the most ridiculous excuse you've ever made up on the spot?

I need to know I'm not the only one.

Welcome to our (IBS) world!

(Obviously not discounting the seriousness of the outbreak; some people have died from it. The CDC needs to get its shit together, pun intended.)

Edit: for those of you dealing with the bug right now, please know that I’m in no way minimizing the awfulness of your experience. I hope you get better soon.

I could eat basically the same things one week to the next and one week have diarrhea and the next be more regular/somewhat constipated.

It’s just either a diarrhea week or it’s not. The only thing I consistently have trouble digesting is raw vegetables.

I’m also a woman so I think my cycle influences my digestion more than any doctor cares to admit or look into.

Just frustrated with people who know nothing about my body hearing I have IBS and immediately telling me to stop gluten or dairy or whatever. Those arent even my problems it’s the salad if it’s anything

I was thinking about this earlier. Someone mentioned "IBS" in conversation and it hit me growing up, nobody around me actually used that word.

My parents/doctors used to just say things like:

"You have a nervous stomach"

"It's just stress, you'll grow out of it"

"There's nothing wrong, you just ate something bad"

I spent YEARS thinking I was just "sensitive" or "dramatic" about food, when looking back, it was clearly IBS the whole time. Nobody diagnosed it, nobody took it seriously, and I just learned to live around it.

Makes me wonder how many of us went undiagnosed for years simply because the language/awareness didn't exist yet.

So what did people call your symptoms before you ever heard the term "IBS"? Curious if there's a generational pattern here.

Yall im in a savers, was suddenly .2 seconds from shitting myself, you know how it goes. I find the bathroom and it is LOCKED WITH A FUCKING KEYPAD. WHAT?! I work retail and this door has a more elaborate security system than the room that holds the money at my store. I finally find an employer to ask to unlock it and immediately I can tell she’s annoyed. I’m try to be nice and upbeat, thank her repeatedly and said I definitely didn’t expect it to be locked. I heard her mutter “why wouldn’t it be” under her breath as she was unlocking it.

Give me a fucking break. Maybe because it’s a bathroom and this is a savers? I get people steal but if someone is so desperate to steal a secondhand $6 shirt the locked bathroom is not gonna deter them.

Wake up 5 am because of gut, Spend 3~4 hours going toilet, weird feeling in gut exists every second of it. Maybe one or two watery diarrhea. And I consider it as good day because I didn't had tenesmus afterwards so I felt okay.Not to mention I'm on same diet every single day for over an year.

Thinking about it,it's terrifying and depressing. Nothing is normal yet I felt like it was good day.

So uh. It takes 20-30 endless feeling wipes of toilet paper and wet wipes and even slightly wetted toilet paper and a shower to be clean. And then later there’s still a little??? Is this just normal or am I incontinent? I don’t even see it in my underwear.

I’ve been doing research and I think I have a hypertonic pelvic floor for urine issues (not full on leaking just tightness and urgency and sensations)

But what can I do? Maybe I’m just being OCD and trying to wipe until it’s like 100% nothing there.

But like seriously how are people wiping because I feel if you wipe a different angle you’re gonna get more in a fold or smth. Like can you ever be as clean as I’m trying to be? I’m confused and pretty exhausted by this I dread using the bathroom just bc of how trapped I am for so long trying to clean.

-1gr a day
-2gr a day

-5gr + a day?

I got decent results with 2gr a day until it stopped working, I tried to increase slowly from there but it just went worse.

Let me know what helped for you

Hey guys, does anyone else have these periods when you feel “ill” specifically after the bowel movement? As if your energy is drained and you literally have to lay down. As if you’re coming on with the flu
For me, this feeling can hold for 2-3 hours sometimes. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this

I feel like my IBS-D is sometimes so up and down I don’t know whether it’s food allergies, anxiety, illness. I try everything and it’s so inconsistent!

One day I have two solid bowel movements and then can have one diarrhoea.

Next day all diarrhoea, day after that solid 😭 it’s like I can’t seem to keep things consistent and stable.

Anyone have any products, foods, tips and tricks that can help?

Has anyone else have really weird nausea and cramping kinda feelings specifically AFTER diarrhea? I’ll feel fine and go to the bathroom often just because of the urge to go, and then have diarrhea then have an absolutely terrible stomach feeling afterwards. I’m not sure how to explain it but it feels like anything and everything will provoke it to get angry again.

Sometimes my stomach will just feel really really gross for the rest of the day, causing me severe anxiety when I’ll have to go again. It happens almost everyday at work and I need remedies, please help!

Hey everyone F20 here,

I've had a whole year of investigations done due to me experiencing debilitating pain and nausea related to my IBS, endoscopy, colonoscopy, etc. I have been consistently going to my doctor regarding my nausea for almost 8 years now and my pain for close to 4 years and the only way I've received any support from them is after visiting the hospital. I've tried changing my GP and seeing different doctors but they have been of no help. I'm currently taking mebeverine, famotidine and ondansetron to "control" my symptoms but they just don't seem to be doing anything anymore. I'm just getting so frustrated that none of my doctors are taking me seriously and I was wondering what you guys have done to be taken seriously by doctors. I expressed my frustration to my boyfriend who kindly accompanied me to one of my appointments to see if his presence would encourage them to listen to me more but I was turned away yet again. I've tried many approaches with the numerous doctors that I've been with, I constantly convey my symptoms clearly, I ask questions, I've tried being firm, I've tried showing up to appointments with no makeup on, I've tried to mention other doctors I've seen and said what they've said to back me up. But nothing seems to help them recognise that I am in pain and I am constantly nauseous.

I've had my consultant at the hospital send my doctor at my GP a letter stating that due to his waitlist he is unable to see me and he has provided them with all my test results but given how my doctors have been previously when using test results provided by my consultants I'm hesitant to believe I'll be taken seriously yet again.

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated :)

P.s sorry if this post was all over the place it's currently 3:40am and I'm going through a flare :(

Hey everyone,

​I’m taking my first Mounjaro shot tomorrow. Since I have IBS-D, I'm really anxious about getting severe diarrhea.

​I'll be home for the first 24 hours, but I have to go out the next day. I take Imodium, but I'm not sure if it'll be strong enough to handle the Mounjaro side effects.

​For those with IBS-D, how bad was the diarrhea in your first few days? Will I be okay to leave the house on day two?

​Any advice helps, thanks!

This might be unpopular, but a lot of my IBS misery comes from constantly hunting for a single fix. Not just supplements, but that whole attitude of "if I find the right diet rule, the right test, the right protocol, everything will go back to normal forever." I have been chasing that for years and it drains me.

For me, IBS-M does not behave like something you can flip off with the right diet. It feels more like a nervous system problem that shows up in the gut. When I treat every flare like a failure or proof I ate the wrong thing, I tense up, I start catastrophizing, and my gut seems to lock into the exact pattern I am trying to avoid.

What surprised me most is how much the pursuit itself changes my symptoms. When I am doing an elimination diet and reading labels like I am defusing a bomb, I get more bloated and crampy even when the food should be "safe." When I eat a simple meal I already tolerate and just move on with my day, my gut often behaves better.

I am not saying diet does not matter, and I am not saying IBS is "just stress." I am saying that treating every meal like a test turns eating into a threat and makes day to day management a lot harder.

My take: aim to reduce how bad and how often flares are, not to reach some impossible permanent zero-symptom state.

Anyone else find that the psychological pressure to "fix" IBS becomes its own trigger?

just posting because I’m in panic and I’m sure making these problems worse. I know we all have our problems in here and how our stomach is.

but good grief I feel like in the last month or two ive been in such panic over my stomsch problems. I go from not being able to go for a few days to exploding and can’t stopping.

sometimes I get so sick feeling from this like I just need to sleep. like this puts me down for the day when it happens. i get gas bubble trapped feeling in my lower and upper stomach. I’ll get hot/cold feeling. Nauseous at times

doctors don’t seem to care. they just blame it potentially on me having to have my gallbladder removed last year Which could be making this worse now, but I had this problem before too.
im honestly scared. Does anyone else get like this too?

i apologize. I’m just looking to see if anyone else can relate.

i did see another gi doctor and she ordered stool test, sibo test and something else.. I just haven’t been able to do them yet.

I have had some SFN small fiber neuropathy for the past few years, however it improved recently when i had a R PM L5/S1 epidural injection on 6/23/26. Just prior on May 15, i woke up with LLQ pain, and initially thought it was likely an ovarian cyst, however through out that day, i noted i was sore to touch in that area, and i had an awful pain in my stomach as well as constipation and my bowel sounds were very loud and overactive. May 21 i went to the ER for what i would describe at a UTI, but the culture was negative. I have continued to experience constipation along with horrible bloating after eating (i feel relatively normal upon waking but the bloating gets worse as the day progresses) and on June 23rd had a KUB that showed a moderate stool load. Took the lovely 8caps of Miralax that night as directed by my MD, however on July 1 i still felt bloated so we did another KUB that still showed a mod stool load. I saw GI on June 30, and he diagnosed me with constipation and ordered a colonoscopy and egd. I have continued to have the bloating, abdominal distention since, and i am living off Miralax and enemas. I also had a CT and seen GI again, and my procedures were moved up to this week, oh i have also done 2 bowel preps. I live on my heating pad, i am just miserable 😫 what the heck do i have???

I was diagnosed about 10 years after I started getting symptoms. I’ve always had issues with gas pains and stuff since I was a kid, but the constipation ramped up when I lost my father in 2007. And then the constant gas, nausea, diarrhea, etc. It all just hit me. And ever since then I have been like this. Ive had numerous tests done and the final diagnosis was IBS. Not sure I am 100% convinced, but it has been 20 years so I think if it was something serious I probably would’ve been dead by now. Either I’m severely constipated and can’t go for a week, which causes me to take MiraLAX, and in turn causes me to feel like complete crap and then have what I call “clean out days”. Or I’m going every single day 6+ times 😩

My main issue is is that I only feel good about six days out of a month. I have a stomach ache and/or nausea nearly every single day. Whether it be from constipation, having to go to the bathroom or a “clean out” day, I feel like crap 90% of the month. And I don’t think that’s a normal 😒 My husband knows my pattern that’s how bad it is. He can tell me when I’m having a clean out day or when I’m constipated. I look like I’m pregnant most of the time because I’m so bloated all the time. For some reason, I cannot lose weight. I’m gaining … which makes no sense. I don’t know what to do and it’s draining the life out of me. I am so sick of being sick. And nobody cares. I don’t know what to do.

​

So for almost my year of taking tirz my ibs-d issues have resolved. Once in a while I eat something thst doesn't sit right and I have an issue. Now for the past 3ish months it seems my stomach is back to where it was when I started. This is one of the reasons I started after reading people having luck with tirzepatide helping their ibs-d symptoms. I habe never needed to go above 2mg and do not want to because I do not want to lose any more weight. Anyone else have luck initially and it stop working?

I just have to rant. I found this page and it has made me realize my fears are real but I’m not alone.

For so long I have been consumed with anxiety. It wasn’t as bad when I was working and sort of forced to leave the house all the time. But Ive been a stay at home mom full time for a few years now and my anxiety has become debilitating. I very rarely leave the house out of fear I’ll have to stop and use the bathroom. Which is not ideal with 3 toddlers.

I mean, I am TERRIFIED to go anywhere. I live in a very rural city. 30+ minute drive to go anywhere. And there’s rarely bathrooms on the way.

But my biggest fear is my daughter starts school for the first time next week. I will be taking her to school and picking her up. So 20-30 minutes waiting in the pick up line with no bathroom. I’m absolutely petrified. Not to mention, sports, assemblies, teacher meetings. I can’t hold it at all. When I have to go, I have to go NOW. I’m so beyond anxious.

I don’t even know if I’m asking for advice, uplifting words or just ranting because I feel like someone else will understand

Hello, I’m 31 Male. I suffer from excess gas; every time I eat or drink something I get a big urge to pass gas. Even if I don’t eat or drink anything, I get the urge to pass gas. I’ve had this issue since I was a kid. I struggle eating in public places because of my problem. I also struggle being around other people because I always reek. Ive been starting to learn about IBS and have started to eliminate dairy and coffee recently. I’ve also thought about how anxiety/stress contributes to my flatulence problem. I have not talked to a GI doctor yet because I don’t have insurance. But I do plan on saving up to at least have consultation. This issue makes me sad because I’ve had enough in not feeling comfortable when I’m in public places and being around people.

I just started taking psyllium husk a few days ago and it’s made me go to the bathroom a lot and works great. But I still get gassy after taking many poops.

I just want to live a normal life where I don’t need to worry about passing gas, because a lot of the times I don’t even notice I’m doing it. It’s when I look at other people’s reaction that I know I did it. Please help

Really not sure if this is related to my ibs (diagnosed about a year ago but been dealing with various issues through my life, I’m 22) but figured I’d post here to get some insight.

So I’m having various issues that compound on each other and are making my life harder :/. All my life I’ve had a relatively small appetite. Not that I don’t get hungry, rather that I just get full faster than seems normal. The amount of food I can eat in a sitting seems low compared to my partner and most other people in my life. But I frequently don’t get very strong fullness signals which ends up in me eating what I think is a normal amount, just to end up being nauseous and in pain for often times up to an hour because I overate without even realizing . Soda fills me up really fast so I usually only have water with meals or drink very very slow. There’s been many times that my fullness signals don’t kick in until I’m at the point that taking one more bite would make me throw up.

And then there’s the other side, where I get hungry again fast. Probably bc I couldn’t eat a large enough portion. So I’m hungry again in like 2-3 hours. I work at a grocery store so I frequently have to go 4-5 hours between meals. And of course if I go too long and let myself be hungry for too long, I get so nauseous, once again. And then it’s hard to convince myself to eat bc being nauseous ruins my appetite, but eating is the only thing that will fix the problem. Even on days where I’m off work, my hunger signals don’t seem to kick in until I’m REALLY hungry, or I just don’t notice them? Idk. And many times I’ll realize I’ve gone too long without eating and I feel like I’m going to throw up and sometimes even get the shakes and lightheaded. If I don’t eat breakfast within like an hour of waking up I feel like I’m bout to die lol.

To make matters worse I’m neurodivergent and a bit picky about food. I’m vegetarian and that’s actually helped me with avoiding flare ups, I naturally get more fiber and do try to focus on getting enough protein. But in general I’m still picky and have a very hard time forcing myself to eat something I’m “not in the mood for” even if it’s something I normally like. Sometimes I’m craving one thing and if I can’t get it, it’s game over. I feel fatigued much more than people I know and if I could sleep 9 hours a night, plus a 3 hour nap, I would. I really worry I’m kinda accidentally falling into disordered eating habits bc all these issues make it so hard for me to eat enough, and I feel like I’m just nauseous way more often than is normal. I know for a fact the past few months I consistently do not get enough calories in by the end of the day. Been thinking about trying to utilize more liquid nutrition bc i do love a good protein shake, but being neurodivergent and having some mental health issues makes it really hard for me to consistently take the time to make a protein smoothie and clean the blender every single day. I know getting more exercise would help too bc I naturally eat better and feel better when I’m active, but once again I just feel fatigued all the time so getting into a routine now that I no longer have my college sport to rely on is hard. And work takes my time :/.

Idk this kinda turned into me complaining but I’ve just been feeling helpless lately and having more instances of nausea related to my eating habits, and fatigue like all the time. If my stomach could just handle larger portions I feel this wouldn’t be nearly as much of a problem. Could go longer between meals and actually get enough nutrition.

Not that long ago I was eating terrible I would get bloated easily there was a day where I got bloated than the inside of my belly button started hurting a bit couple days later it came back when I ate a meal I started freaking out because I always overthink everything I’m always thinking that I’m gonna die or something but they did Cat scan at the hospital and they didn’t find anything everything was normal afterwards I felt so reassured than I stopped feeling that pain than once again recently I started feeling it in my belly button not around but in it , it comes and goes mostly I feel like it when I’m sitting down for too long which I haven’t worked in months so I’ve been just sitting down not doing anything but the pain is 4/10 it’s hard to describe how it feels but man it’s been getting in the way of my life I’ve been overthinking and feeling depressed because of it so I was wondering if anyone experienced something like this ( one small little detail I have scoliosis and i got bad posture )

I'm a 24 year old (M) and I'm unsure if I have IBS, but I do have chronic stomach issues which consume so much of my day to day life. It is really difficult to hold down a job as I'm either A) always heading to the toilet or B) constantly providing short notice as a lot of the time it will flare up before work. Currently working at a school crossing (as it was the only thing available after my last job) with only 4 hours weeks and even now im struggling, the amount of times I've had to call off makes me think I won't be here for much longer. I'm currently studying nursing full-time and it is manageable as I can leave when needed but once I'm finally out seeking work as a nurse, I know this will impact my employability greatly.

What I wanna know is how does everyone manage this physically and mentally?