Update...and a taste of my future

Carrots are a no go. They didn't quite make me sick like my trigger foods would, but still...a no go. I'll leave it at that.

Today in class, I had a moment. I guess I should start from the beginning...I got to class and sat down. I was talking to my friend then she says, "Where were you? I tried calling you." I knew she wasn't talking to me, so I looked up. Her friend had just gotten to class and had apparently been at our Health Center. She had been studying earlier and felt sick, so she went to get something for it. While she was there, apparently she threw up. So now I have a person standing right in front of my desk that just threw up.

What do you think I did? My insides were screaming, "RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!" but I had to sit there. I had absolutely no good reason to leave, as our test was about to start. So I just sat there. I can't tell you how nervous it made me (and still makes me right now). But anyway, getting to my moment...a little bit later I was sitting with my group working on an assignment for our next class. I was paying attention to how I felt since I was worrying about getting whatever made this girl throw up, and I realized...wait for it...I felt GOOD. For the first time in who knows how long, I could talk with other people without getting a dull pain in my stomach. I didn't feel worn out or the least bit nauseous. I didn't have any gas or even any gurgling in my stomach. There was no headache or even the inkling of one. I was hungry. And I wasn't even having any cramps.

In that moment, I almost closed my eyes just to take advantage of it. To try to freeze it in time. If I could have sat there in that seat, feeling like that, for the rest of my life I might have just done that. Obviously, it didn't last for very long and I'm feeling a little cruddy after dinner. But still...I'm so grateful for that hour or two that I got today. It allowed me to flash back to how my life was before I had to start dealing with all of this nonsense. It also made me a bit sad because of how good that felt compared to how I feel day to day, but I'm not going to focus on that. I'm going to focus on getting back to having that feeling all day every day. I WILL GET BACK THERE. I just have to. It felt too good :)

Carrots

Me and carrots have a strange history. Someone told me (when this bout of IBS started up) that carrots were good to help stop the diarrhea. So I ate so many carrots that I'm almost certain I turned a slight color of orange. After about 2 weeks of eating carrots like a meal, it turned against me. Any time I would eat even one carrot I would be stuck in the bathroom all day/night.

So, why am I bringing this up? I got a craving for carrots while I was at the store today. I'll let you know how it turns out :)

I made the switch to Word Press

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet...I'll update ya'll if I switch back :)

http://ibsrachel.wordpress.com/

Nausea

Seems that a new symptom of my PMS is nausea. I don't know if this has something to do with my IBS or what...all I know is that it's horrible. It's also really strange- it's not the type of nausea that makes me feel like I'm going to actually throw up (THANK GOD!), but I just feel uber nauseous.

Luckily the nausea is only present the week before and the week during my period. I really wish that there was some type of anti-nausea I could take that has zero drowsiness. I took Dramamine last week (half the regular dose), and the drowsiness was unbearable. It was a good thing that I was ready for bed because it hit me hard & fast. It was like a blanket was being pulled over my eyes. It did wonders for the nausea, but I was absolutely worthless for like 30 minutes before I pretty much lost consciousness.

As someone who's deathly afraid of anything vomit-related, I can say that I almost prefer the nausea over that severe drowsiness. Almost.

Here's to hoping the next two weeks go by quickly!

Meds for IBS?

The only meds I've ever taken for IBS are mostly over the counter. I've used Pepto, loperamide, and GasX very regularly over the past few years. When this episode started they put me on Prevacid and that worked for about a week.

I got a prescription for hyoscyamine a couple of years ago, but never actually took it. Even though I'm a pharmacist-to-be, I still get scared when I read about side effects! I'd really like to try those now because the spasms have been my primary complaint lately. And spasms usually lead to diarrhea for me, so stopping those would be AWESOME.

What other meds have you been on that helped (or hurt) your IBS? Please leave me a comment or tweet @IBSRachel and let me know! Also let me know what kind of side effects you've experienced. If you don't wanna share all on here or on Twitter, you can send me an email: IBSRachel@gmail.com