UGH! Do any of you feel like living w/IBS is like living with a puzzle that requires you to re-solve EVERYDAY! I just feel like I hit my head against a brickwall no matter what. Doing it alone with this illness makes life feel nearly impossible. I'm 33, single, very well educated and attractive, but my life seems to have turned to a pile b/c of IBS. Mostly, the fatigue I feel keeps me from a social life.... so I remain alone because it's sooo rare that I have the energy to go out and meet men. I'm so tired of friends not understanding.. and even when they do I swear they still don't REALLY get the gravity of the symptoms. I lost my career track b/c of this illness.... I can BARELY make it through a 40 hour work week at a retard job... but it's the only job I can hold down because there is no stress, and I can call in and not be missed. It's a catch 22... I'm stuck alone b/c I never get out to meet anyone, and I'm scared to death to be alone b/c doing it all.. figuring it out, paying the bills, and trying to work is almost too much sometimes. I am getting ready to try to go back to school to get teacher certified b/c I figure I will at least have long vacations to deal w/the IBS. But Idon't know how in the world I will manage to work and go to school with no help from anyone. Does anyone else feel this way??? How do the rest of you who do it ALL alone cope?