My IBS experience

by Lori
(Memphis, TN)

If you are a female IBS sufferer whose bouts of diarrhea began with menstruation, take heart; they may end with menopause. Mine did. I now have a normal life, though I still do best if I don't eat out frequently, as restaurant food is still more likely to cause me problems than food prepared at home. Now I can eat ice cream without a run to the bathroom. What a treat after 35 years of resisting a single lick. However, now the bad news. Do not believe it if you are told that IBS is merely an inconvenience that will not have a negative effect on your health. Wrong! You are at risk for nutritional deficiencies that develop over the years eventually leading to a variety of serious health issues, like osteomalacia, and neuropathologies that mimic dementia. Despite relation to every doctor I saw over the years of my frequent, painful bowel problems and a broad range of weird ailments (sore tongue, double vision, confusion, hair loss to name a few) not once was I tested for nutritional deficiencies until I developed osteomalacia (adult rickets)which was visible on an x-ray. I now supplement vitamin D, B1, & B12 to address deficiencies (complain until someone will test you) and the difference in my health has been remarkable. Good Luck!