Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Normal OR as close as it gets?

Hi - My IBS is pretty much all or nothing. Either I'm flat out on the floor in a cold sweat from the pain (or I'm on the floor because I've blacked out from the pain and landed there), with vomiting and usually diarrhea but once in while d and c alternating - always in conjunction with that indescribably horrible pain.

Or...I'm perfectly fine. And I can go from one extreme to the other in a matter of seconds. It's defintely very black and white, and I think I'm at the extreme end of things in a couple ways. One, the severity of the attacks, and two, the fact that my IBS is so "all or nothing", and there is just no in between for me of mild or moderate symptoms.

It's the fear of those attacks that keeps me on the straight and narrow (with the occasional stupid lapse) every single day. The consequences of not taking care of myself are just too awful. The few attacks I do get are usually out of the blue, and I've stopped trying to wrack my brain to figure out why they happen. I just figure some folks get migraines, some people have allergies, and my body's weakness is IBS. I do what I can to prevent problems and when I just can't, I try and recover as fast as possible. Most of the steps I take to head off attacks (diet, yoga, living in a temperate climate, getting enough sleep, drinking herbal teas, etc.) I would do even if I didn't have IBS as I truly enjoy those aspects of my life.

- Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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