I've got IBS. For me it was pretty much random, although in retrospect I'm fairly sure that stress made it a *lot* worse (it was worst during my 2nd year at Pembroke, when I was depressed & there was course-switching trauma & the Nasty Operation & allsorts). When it got to the stage of my guts rebelling entirely in the middle of Sainsburys; and spending at least some of every given day curled up in an agonised ball around the hurty bits; I finally went to the doctor. I don't remember them testing. I think she just asked stuff, said "sounds like IBS", & prescribed me 3 months' worth of Colofac tablets. I think the theory was partly that if they worked, it was probably IBS. After 3 months I tried coming off them again, & it had settled down (apparently this is not uncommon), though since then I've had a couple of flareups during which I've gone back on the tablets. It's still a bit dodge occasionally, but rare enough not to need the drugs on a regular basis.
Aloe Vera tablets are also supposed to help, so you could try those if you can't face the doctor's.
Sympathy lots, though. It does sound rather like IBS to me, as well. And IBS is a very *variable* sort of thing (as in, different people have it to different levels & with different specific symptoms).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 06:19 am (UTC)Aloe Vera tablets are also supposed to help, so you could try those if you can't face the doctor's.
Sympathy lots, though. It does sound rather like IBS to me, as well. And IBS is a very *variable* sort of thing (as in, different people have it to different levels & with different specific symptoms).