My Health...

[FletchCossie]

Mike R has asked about my health, so thought I would put up a complete new post to not hog other threads and so people who also suffer on here may wanna out forward their own experiences?

According to Doctors I suffer severe Irretable Bowel Syndrome caused by Anxiety. Which means I've constantly got pains in my stomach, trapped wind, diarrhoea, etc which can happen at anytime of the day. Due to this I suffer severe panic attacks, which makes me feel hot, weak, faint, panicky and just wanna get home.

For example I was on my way to collect my son a few weeks ago, had bad stomach pains and needed the toilet. Left after 20 odd mins, got 3 miles down the road and ended up in Sainsburys almost passing out due to the panic attacks and the fact I was dealing with this alone. Was a very scary experience and is one reason why I suffer panic attacks. Now I am having trouble trying to collect my son and I won't go alone as I'm afraid of the reoccurance. I went to get him tonight and was panicking all the way there and most the way home. I have this experience every time I go out.

I have been to see many Doctors and a few specialists. They cannot find anything wrong with my internals, so believe it's all triggered by my anxiety. I have tried everything they have suggested, but trying to get Doctors appointments are very difficult so I suffer for weeks without seeing a Doctor as all of them have no idea how to help me it seems.

I also seems to suffer problems with my sinuses, which is causing severe headaches, migraines, dizziness, etc. I asked 3 weeks ago to be refered to a head specialists, but heard nothing yet. A Doctor at my Surgery is a head specialist, so I'm trying to get an appointment with him, which is very difficult.

So, to sum it up I am suffering very badly and seems to be getting worse. My life seems very stressful, which doesn't help as hardly any of it is caused by myself, but I cannot lock myself away like I have been trying to years.

I do not go out very often, hence I play PS3 or sit on my PC all day, which is not good itself. That's why I post so much on here I try to do things and get ideas into my head to try encourage me to get out and about, but something always goes wrong and puts me back. Hence you see so many posts about ideas I come up with all the time

I am getting to the point where I cannot deal with things anymore as I was not seeing my son this weekend due to work commitments, need to take a few bits off my Esc cos and get some Tyres for the Skoda, but a few other things in the mix caused me to have a migraine yesterday, which I know was stress related.

I don't talk to my brother anymore as he is a big stress factor in my life (Stealing parts off my Esc Cos, causing problems with my Mum's neighbours, etc) and when asked to sort his stuff out so I can use our garage he says "They are fine there" got into an argument about it and yet again I've ended up sorting his shit out and throwing it into a cupboard. Just gotta finish it all off, which will take another few hours

I wanna turn my life around, but I don't have the money to give up work and sort myself out as that will cause more stress. I don't talk to anyone and have lost all my mates to try keeping stress levels low, but right now they are very high due to work, etc.

To be honest, I really dunno what to do anymore.......

[COZZFATHER]

try exercise+ a healthy diet

[warrenpenalver]

you seeing a shrink/psychotherapist??? if not you need to.

There are several drugs out there that can help reduce anxiety symptoms a bit, but like all psychiatric medicine it doesnt fix everything. Look at medication for nutty stuff as like a plaster for a cut - it dont fix it but it helps a bit.

did the IBS come first before the anxiety or was it feeling anxious then IBS and pains etc?? I suspect your now pretty much trapped in a cycle of anxiety. more you worry about it, more stressed you get and more likely you are to get pains/IBS and worse it will be, and then when you get the warning signs your anxiety goes through the roof and feeds the IBS/pain which then feeds the anxiety until you have a panic attack.....

then to make it worse you worry about the next time it might happen and modify your behaviour hence feeding the anxiety more and more.

hard as it might sound, to stop the psychological bit you need to break the cycle of anxiety, ie take the risk. maybe a bit of planning like being aware of where nearest public bog is or trying to squeeze one out before you go etc. but dont over plan or youll end up with an OCD type ritual you have to do before you go anywhere so its find a balance.

thing about IBS is it can be caused for no reason, caused by stress, made worse by stress etc etc so the anxiety certainly isnt helping and until you get in control of the anxiety then things wont get better. You may find the IBS improves as you get less anxious.

remember that biologically, Anxiety is a totally natural reaction to a percieved threat, the release of addrennaline, increased heart rate, shitting yourself, puking/stomach pains etc are all "life saving" physical reactions to help you escape from the threat. puking and shitting makes you lighter and means your body can shut down the digestive system thus conserving blood and energy for core functions and survival. So from a biology point of view its not surprising your IBS etc gets worse with anxiety. in simple terms anxiety is mans "fight or flight" mechanism designed for the good old days when we lived in caves and needed to escape from the sabre tooth tiger! The modern world isnt quite as dangerous anymore, but your instincts dont know any different as evolution takes thousands of years.

with panic attacks ask yourself this: Whats the worst thing that could possibly happen during one?
a panic attack cannot hurt you. you only have a limited supply of adrenaline so you cant stay in a panic attack stage forever. you WILL calm down naturally. the absolute worst thing that can ever happen with a panic attack is you pass out, but not many people do that, and even if you do it again is your bodys natural reaction to too much stress, switch you off and push the reset button so to speak!! ie its fixing itself in a primitive way!

the worst thing you can do in a panic attack is give in to the fear, be it running/going home etc as all that does is reinforce in your subconcious that your brain was right to be anxious. by not giving in you cannot make things worse but you can slowly train the brain to understand that maybe its anxious for no rational reason.

its taken a while to learn to be anxious so it will take you a while to unlearn being anxious.

[aaroncast]

since i moved from pf i feel a whole lot better- i dont wake up screaming at the walls at 2 in the morning wondering why they have the battery fitted the wrong way round and my roof ariel doesnt light up anymore and can finally dress myself unaided , big advancement for an ex p f member and the voices have gone-well nearly.
-just trying to lighten your load and put a smile on your mush m8
viva mancunians

[cosmo]

I know know nothing on this subject sorry Fletch.


But big up for Warren for taking the time to type all that out

[radiant rob]

I have sufferd from ibs and bad stomaches for years,as you the doctors can't find anything
wrong with me i have had tubes everywere.Loads of people call me a fat fuck and they are right, i am, but they don't know the problems i have had.
I can eat a meal and be fine,the next time i eat my stomach just bloats up and is painfull they have tested for food intolarince(spelling) but found nothing.
I had a fisher last year that i don't think has heald as i still bleed a little,i now try to eat more fruit, and i am changing jobs at work so i do feel a bit better.
Ibs can go 2 ways as it gives you the runs, or it makes your back end stuff harder depending on the amout of liquid secreted by the bowl.
Plus now i can just fly of the handel with rage and i have never been like that before & i am diabetic so that knackers me up.
Big up for Warren good points there.

[Kelv]

Jesus Steve, i knew none of this, i know youve hinted in the past about being a bit 'unwell' but didnt realise to what extreme's.

just as Cosmo, i dont have anything to offer in the way of advice on this subject, but i can be around if you need a hand with anything

see you tomorrow.... and have that kettle ready

[TEREX]

my wife had IBS some yrs ago, good news it it dont last forever so look forward to when it is gone

[wardycos]

my advise to you fletch is to keep smileling mate and take each day as it comes dont let the little things worry ya all the best pal

[tommi]

Don't eat foods that cause gas eg potatoes,cererals apples with skin on etc, Take a look at your diet (which is a huge factor) routine is also a very important as is excercise as it can relieve stress and it release's the fee good hormone that make's you feel great. Write yourself out a wee programme from when you get up in the morning till you hit the scratcher at night. Stay away from the computer and these for a while as these things can actually frustrate you if in that situation. I was that soilder that you are now thankfully retired now I am in top notch shape now (apart from my knee at the moment) in that respect and it is all down to what I have just talked about. Keep the pecker up now laddy look forward not back

[Simon T]

Fletch, you know what i've been through with the same anxiety issue, so has Neil. You are not alone and it affects more people than you think. I have been lucky in that as Warren mentioned that i've had help in many areas and have found medication (accompanied by a change of lifestyle) that has worked for me, although there is a good chance that I will be on medication for life - I have no issue with that, it is one tablet a day that means that I can do things that I couldn't 6 years ago (i've had social anxiety for a decade). We have even been away on holiday, and have booked next years already - I could not have done that before and i now don't get any issues going out socially. For years I avoided anything that I thought would cause me to be anxious, but I slowly started to do things that I didn't want to do, and found that they weren't too bad and after wondered what the fuss was about and why i'd got so worked up previously. I kind of reached a low point, couldn't get any worse then improved from there. I am lucky in that through out all of my illness I've not been depressed or suicidal (which normally goes hand in hand with anxiety), I was more just frustrated. If you every feel depressed or suicidal, promise that you'll speak to someone straight away - call me if need be, night or day.

No two people or cases will be the same, and on here we can only give advice and support from our own experiences - As i've said to you before, main support has to come from the ones closest to you, ie your family or partner, you can beat this without but I guess you will find it harder. They need to understand the pressure it is putting you under - as non sufferers they will NEVER understand how it makes you feel.

Chin up fella, it'll improve.

[richyx]

ive been out of work for 8 years becuase of ibs

it affects me really bad where i carnt even move sometimes, i also get the panic attacks as i fear im going to get ill any time when im out and would need to get home asap

when i had all the tests done, they also found out i had a hiatus hernia, so not only do i have to deal with ibs and im constantly feeling sick as i can feel my stomach acid up and down my throat as i have no way of stopping it bar strong tablets which only work for a couple of hrs, ive lost countless weight and i carnt seem to put it back on, tried different diets etc

im not just been refferred again to the hospital as im getting very bad the past couple of months, hence i have to do all my own work on cars as its at my parents so if i am ill someone is always around

i know what your going through mate and sometimes it gets easier someties its fucking shit

[warrenpenalver]

ritchy, wont they operate to repair the hernias?? I had haitus hernia when much younger and they operated to repair it. or are you not a priority as your an adult?

[richyx]

they wont do an operations as they think tablets will do it, when ive been to the docs almost every week asking to get refferred again lol

so now i have to wait to be seen for more tests, plus with the operation its a case of moving my stomach back into postion but i think its something they dont hardly do anymore aswell and not worth the risk

[warrenpenalver]

these days with non invasive surgery its not high risk. the old days when they had to cut your guts out to do it then yeah.....

so in thier eyes its better for you to suffer the rest of your life in agony rather than a laparoscopic fundoplication which will solve the problem, is low risk, quick recovery but expensive compared to drugs.....

From a finance point of view, if you were like 80 i could see why its not worth operating but your a young man and medication for the rest of your life will easily cost wayyyy more than surgery, not to mention if you cant work the drain on benefits system and the fact you cant pay tax.