5/21/2023 0 Comments Find love or die trying scarlettI had a really bad week with my stomach, and I’m not sure whether he noticed or not. I immediately felt conscious and awkward. "Everyone could hear everything that went on in that bathroom and probably see as well. "There was a hole in the wall," she says. For a week, they shared a small house with a very un-private bathroom. Scarlett recalls a holiday vacation she took with that same high school boyfriend and his parents in Europe. And perhaps more surprising, it’s actually more common in younger than people than those over 45. adults have IBS, only 5 to 7 percent actually get diagnosed. In fact, according to the NIH, although an estimated 10 to 15 percent of U.S. You’re at that age when you’re embarrassed about a lot of things, and you don’t want to have to talk about your body and how it’s not functioning right." But there’s a stigma attached, especially for girls, and boys play on that. I’m sure he didn’t mean it in a negative way. "I thought if that’s what he thinks, if he only knew I had these problems with my stomach," says Scarlett. Scarlett remembers her high school boyfriend once making a joke in passing along the lines of, "girls don’t fart or go to the toilet." All of her friends were laughing, and it seemed like an innocent enough comment. "I have to have so many dress sizes in my wardrobe, because if I’m really bloated that way I don’t have to wear uncomfortable clothes." RELATED: 4 Women Share What It’s Like to Live with an ‘Invisible' Disease Dating with IBS "Sometimes I look five months pregnant," she says. Sometimes it knocks me out and I have to go home and lay down with hot water bottle."īloating-which Scarlett says feels like a giant basketball in her stomach-is another common, aggravating symptom. "It makes you feel really exhausted, and you don’t eat properly because you don’t feel like eating, and food can aggravate IBS," she says. Even when the pain does subside, a flare-up is still a downer. A really bad bout for Scarlett can last a few weeks, all day every day. People sometimes confuse IBS with other gastrointestinal issues, like food poisoning, says Scarlett-but it’s much more serious. "It’s a shame I kept my IBS in the dark for so long." It’s left me waking up in the middle of the night thinking I was dying because it was so painful." "It feels like something is stuck, like there’s a knife inside my stomach. "I get bad stomach cramps and pain," explains Scarlett. Yet it wasn’t until she was 14, following stressful exams, that she finally saw a doctor and got diagnosed.Īccording to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), IBS is what doctors call a "functional gastrointestinal disorder," or a collection of symptoms-including pain in your gut and changes in your bowel movements-that signify your bowels aren’t working correctly despite a lack of damage due to a disease. "I was in so much pain and crying," she says. Her first major IBS flare-up happened at 8 years old, when she was sent home from school on her birthday. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play
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