Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

I am 21 years old and was diagnosed with IBS when I had my appendix removed at 17. The surgeon noticed that my intestines were red and told me to see my doctor. I went through a few tests that determined nothing life-threatening was wrong with me. My doctor said I had IBS and didn't have a lot of information for me except to relax because it was due to stress and anxiety. I didn't doubt that because I was already being treated for depression, and I'm a theatre major and occasionally over sensitive, but I had symptoms even when I was relaxed and content, so there's something else going on then just being stressed out, this can't be psycosomatic. My symptoms are horrible in the mornings but get better as the day goes on. I have never been able to stick to an eating and exercise routine for too long because I'm a college student with a college cafeteria as my only source of food and a busy class and work schedule. It gets really bad sometimes and can really knock me off my feet to the point where I miss classes, and I've never been able to tell my professors that I missed class because I was busy in the bathroom. This is really cutting into my life. I don't want to make decisions based on my bowels. If my friends are going to get pizza, I want to go too. I want to go on a road trip and not have to stop every half hour. I love spicy food, even though it hurts me. I want to go camping... I've never been frustrated about this until lately. I was hoping some one had quick, easy, cheap tips for dealing with IBS, like recipes that can be made with limited kitchen access, what to do to make cramps go away, I guess I'm looking for some sort of easy, magical cure for something that can only be treated by constant monitoring and healthy (and why does "healthy" usually mean "expensive"?) decisions. I am open to any advice since I have never received any, most people I've talked to have not been too enthusiastic to talk about the ways of the intestines.
Well, what was supposed to be an opportunity to blow off a little steam and ask a question or two, has now become one giant paragraph... Thank you for reading, Kate

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