Introduction to IBS.

My Hashimoto's Disease is now well and truly managed and controlled! I have not needed to resort to Thyroxin. My endocrologist have advised that my TSH levels are now in the normal range too :) 

Delighted!

But my IBS flares up ocassionally. And when it does. I want to punch my stomach and faint, so that I am unconscious and cannot feel the pain. Yep, it's that bad. Most times, I hide it. I think I do an okay job. It does affect my mood, so I haven't perfected it yet...

Anyhow. I thought to myself AGAIN: It's time to do something about it. 

It is one of my New Year's Resolution, that I do something about my diet to combat and minimise the symptoms of IBS. 

a) Low FODMAP diet

b) Meditation/ Yoga 

When the Low FODMAP diet proves ineffective I think I will pursue GAPS diet. 

Chris Kresser

I love this guy. He makes sense to me when most doctors don't. 

I like alternative/ integrative medicine practitioners. I know they are technically not medically trained of the Western tradition and most people think they are airy-fairy... But I like that they get down to the root causes of the problem, rather than prescribe a drug to treat/ manage or cure it (if it is curable) when it becomes a full-fledge medical problem. 

I used to work at a medical centre..and did develop respect for doctors. But over the years I have learnt that these doctors were not interested in hearing me whinge about my stomach problems. I was convinced I was gluten intolerant, only to hear my doctor tell me, the tests for coeliac disease came out as negative. 5 years later, I found out myself that there is NO such thing as a test for gluten intolerance, the sufferer him/her-self needs to identify it themselves because technically it's not a disease or allergy. It is merely an intolerance albeit an extremely punishing one. 

So when my doctors didn't know what to do with my whinging, they termed my medical condition as IBS - which is a catch all for digestive issues ranging from diarrhea, bloatess to constipation. 

Disclaimer: The following paragraph may not be suitable to people who are sensitive to detailed description of the gut and human wastes.

At my worst (this was spanned across different stages of my life), I burped for hours end thinking I was an alien and how I could possibly stomach that much gas within me (literally). Or the time when I was constipated for a whole week and my mum had to force soap (the kind you lather across your body) up my a-hole. I was fucked up. 

As a child, I had severe eczema. I think this has something to do with my gut too.

I shall devote a whole post to the gut at a later stage. It has affected me and my whole life after all, and I think it's only fair.