Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

I figure this is a good point to introduce myself as well, since I had many similar issues. I'm 25, but have had IBS since I was 21. At the time I missed oodles of classes, and eventually had to give up on being able to do graduate school because my grades had dropped so much. Luckily I managed to find a job just before the economy went into its current downturn, and since have slowly been able to figure out what do to do to manage the symptoms.
The whole process has been at times quite depressing, and I completely know what you mean by wanting just to have a normal life, going out with friends, having pizza, etc., but not being able to because of the fear (or reality) of the symptoms you experience. I guess all I can suggest is to confide in your closest friends about your problem -- you don't really have to go into detail, often I just tell people that I'm really sensitive to high-fat foods, and usually they accept it.
I love spicy foods too -- it's a drag isn't it? I still every once and a while will try something like that with the hopes that I'll be OK. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Although I know this varies from person to person, I personally found a daily serving of rice to be the best thing I could do, in addition to cutting out high-fat and spicy foods. Like I said though, it's really up to you to figure out what works for you, which can be frustrating at first. You just have to keep the faith that things are going to get better once you have things more figured out; it took a couple of years to get to the point I'm at now -- I still have trouble traveling and going to unfamiliar places (get paranoid about not being able to find a toliet just in case), but otherwise I've been able to carve out a nice, albeit somewhat restricted, life.
Anyway, I don't want to monopolize the post. I'm sure there are several others who have great advice on this board for you, just by going through some of the previous posts.

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