Just got diagnosed and joined the fun
So, all my life I’ve heard stories from my parents about how everything made my stomach upset ever since i was a baby, my mom said she couldn’t even feed me breast milk or i’d have stomach issues, so she had to rely on formula and soy milk. I’ve always been lactose intolerant but it’s not something that used to bother me; it became something I had to live with and assumed it was normal. As soon as I got in my 20s it got to a point where i was eating and had to leave mid meal to go to the bathroom, so it made dating or going out with friends quite uncomfortable (still is). Fortunately it became a quirk of me and my friends just go along with me; I had to lose the fear and embarrasment of pooping in public restrooms even if they looked sketchy. Friends would be like “hey, are you seriously going to poop here? at the club?” and I’m like “yeah, they are obliged to have bathrooms so Im gonna use them, they’re not there for decoration” lol. So i’m known in my friends circle as the guy that has to go quite often and always takes his sweet time.
Bloating has always been something so normal for me (i never realized, until know it shouldnt be) and assumed lots of people went through that. I got invited to a friend’s, girlfriend’s, or a familiar’s house, etc. and i always had to hold the gas in, making my belly grow and grow and get really hard like an over inflated basketball. Every bowel movement would cause discomfort as i felt gas finding its way out, but by holding it, i could feel how it went back inside again causing some pain and bloating once again. Just recently, the sound it makes became unignorable and chaotic, silence became my worst enemy. I was always looking forward for the time to leave and release gas and poop at home, so my time at social gatherings was always short or at least I had to go to my car and pretend to look for something just to fart there and roll down the windows.
Whenever i met someone i liked and we went out to eat or just got invited over, I had to hold everything in, it’s been very embarrassing. Pooping at public restrooms is fine but at other people’s homes is a no no for me. It became a problem at work, someone told my boss I spent too much time at the bathroom and stuff like that and got called out for it. I always had my suspicions about having IBS but I assumed it was just because i kept eating bad things. I am a heavy guy (about 210lbs) and already in my early 30s. It hasn’t gotten any easier. I started having strange pain in my lower abdomen and even testicular pain. I went to the urologist and ask like whats going on right?. He used an ultrasound and checked me out, pee tests, kidney ultrasound, bladder, etc. He said it was all fine, but he said “your intestines are SO SWOLLEN”. So he basically said that lower parts of the abdomen share nerves with the genital area and that was causing the discomfort and was like “you gotta get a low fodmap diet, boy” and handed me over an info pamphlet on IBS and i was like… oh!… so this is why EVERYTHING makes me feel bloated all the time…
Fortunately, my actual girlfriend knows me very well, we’ve been together 8 years, so she knows everything there is to know about me and she’s also a doctor specialized in clinical nutrition for a number of diseases (not a regular nutritionist) and she’s been helping a lot with my diet and what i should and not should eat. Pain is going away and she says after these 2 weeks I am looking skinnier or at least that i look “less inflamed” lol. I’ve always had my suspicions on IBS but I guess this makes it official, and yes, I feel you all now, low fodmap diet SUCKS!, it’s definitely the worst diet i’ve had. I can’t even eat my favorite fruits and vegetables, what the hell man. But, tbh, I would exchange my favorite snacks and foods (junk included) for a better quality of life, like every time. I also got medication and pro+prebiotics (which also causes bloating lol) but at least i’ve been feeling better and a little more energic. Oddly enough, this low fodmap diet, which is the worst and most restrictive one, doesnt feel as bad because I LITERALLY need to eat this or i’ll feel bad, so it’s more like an obligation, like a religious commandment, so that at least makes it feel a little more bearable than other diets i’ve had where I could eat a sweet from time to time and would led to breaking the whole thing. This one is like “no no, you wanna feel bad for the next 2 days?”. According to my gf, this diet is closer (in a way) to the mediterranean one, which is usually prescribed for most issues. And about the type, it’s either mixed or unclassified.
Anyways, thanks for reading!