My IBS Story

Digestive health is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. Not only because I’m a dietitian, but because I’ve spent years dealing with my own tummy troubles. I was diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) ten years ago, and have been trying to solve the riddle ever since!

Living with digestive challenges like IBS or IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) can be incredibly challenging and lonely. Ignoring or dismissing symptoms is common, and it can be (so) awkward to talk about with family and friends.

That’s why we need each other! I hope that sharing my story will help destigmatize the topic and provide support and hope to others who need it. My journey with IBS is what motivated me to start this blog, and these experiences are a big part of who I am as a person and dietitian. Here is my story:

Where It Started

I first noticed my stomach acting strangely back in college. I was studying physiology at UCLA, and between my classes and demanding part-time job I didn’t have much of a work-life balance. I didn’t make enough time for socializing, cooking, or exercising, pretty much all my favorite things!

By the time I was a sophomore it caught up with me. I began to get horrible stomach aches a few weeks before finals. As my stress levels increased, I ended up with constant low-grade nausea and a complete loss of appetite that I couldn’t figure out. By the time finals were over I’d be completely exhausted, 5-10 pounds lighter and SO sick of toast. I mean, I love me some toast, but even I have my limit!

After finals my stomach would slowly return to normal, and I’d forget about it until finals came around again. This happened each quarter, each year, until graduation. I did go to the on-campus clinic once, hoping they would know what was going on. The doctor didn’t really know what to do with me, and I left the office feeling just as lost as I had before. Looking back now, these stress-induced “stomach aches” were probably the start of the gut dysfunction that’s become a part of my daily life today.

After college, my stomach issues improved…for a while. I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to attend graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill. I had decided to turn my passion for food, cooking, and health into a career as a dietitian. I knew getting my MPH/RD (Masters of Public Health + Registered Dietitian) was the right choice because I LOVED my classes and they never felt like work. I had plenty of time for hobbies and friends and even picked up running half marathons. I have never been much of a runner, so this was quite the accomplishment for me!

By the time my third year came around, between my internships, masters thesis and job search, things got a little more stressful. My stomach went back to that familiar pattern of low-grade nausea and loss of appetite. Except this time, I also developed a slowed-down digestive system and nighttime vomiting. If I ate a salad with dinner, I’d often wake up in the middle of the night with stomach pain and nausea, and the food would come right back up. Not surprisingly I stopped eating salads! Which was a sad day for me. Some of my favorite foods were the things that made me feel the worst.  I tried a higher-fiber diet, a lower-fiber diet, and even eliminated gluten to see if that would help. Nothing made a significant difference. I was SO sick of feeling sick, but hoped it would be temporary and lived with it.

A Diagnosis

After graduation my stomach continued to get worse. I moved to Florida (where my military boyfriend was newly stationed), and found the stress of the move and job search really exacerbated my symptoms. My digestive issues were impacting most aspects of my life. Eating out was risky, exercising was uncomfortable, and I couldn’t even remember what “normal” was. Nighttime stomach aches and vomiting became a regular thing, and sleeping through the night was a rare victory. I did find some relief from eating small meals and eliminating high-fiber and hard-to-digest foods, but my quality of life was nowhere near ideal.

I finally went to see a gastroenterologist, who ordered a gastric emptying study. He determined I had delayed gastric emptying and IBS. He told me I probably didn’t have anything structurally wrong with my digestive system, but that things weren’t functioning as they should. For an unknown reason. Maybe stress, maybe genes, maybe hormones? I found out that an unexplained onset of IBS was more common in young women my age than any other group. The main treatment (as he explained to me) was finding a way to deal with your symptoms, which I had already been trying to do unsuccessfully. I found myself in tears at the doctor’s office. I felt powerless and frustrated, I finally had a diagnosis and there were still no answers. But, at least I had a place to start.

Finding Balance

I threw myself into learning everything I could about IBS. As a dietitian I had a solid baseline knowledge of nutrition and the digestive system. But I went to a WHOLE new level of research. I scoured textbooks, scientific journal articles, and what felt like the entire internet. I dug into the gut-brain connection and figured out that stress had probably been the primary trigger for my digestive flare-ups all along. I was surprised that there aren’t as many proven IBS treatments as you’d think, and that science doesn’t yet fully understand IBS or food intolerances.

I tried a few prescriptions (neither of which worked, unfortunately), and overhauled my diet in an effort to get my gut bacteria and stomach motility back on track. The low-FODMAP diet worked wonders and noticeably reduced my post-meal bloating and stomach discomfort. Adjusting my insoluble and soluble fiber intake, adding several dietary supplements, and avoiding casein and alcohol helped too. I even gave up meat for a few weeks to see if it made a difference (it didn’t).

Through everything, I religiously tracked my food intake and symptoms to look for patterns. Which was ironically a stressful process in itself! It’s so easy to over-restrict your diet out of fear of triggering discomfort. But by slowly experimenting with my diet, exercising, and reducing stress, I was able to figure out what worked for me most of the time.

Don’t get me wrong- eating out, traveling, and big life changes were still challenging. My husband Chris and I got married in 2015 and had a big wedding celebration in 2016- two of the happiest days of my life! But, with wedding planning stress came a temporary reappearance of some of my old symptoms. My stomach wasn’t necessarily “fixed” or always perfect, but my new normal was SO much better than before.

Life Now

These days I am a new mom to a healthy baby boy, my husband is out of the military, and I’m still trying to fine tune my life/tummy balance on a daily basis. Being pregnant last year was one of the biggest digestive challenges I’ve faced (thanks pregnancy hormones, squished organs, and iron supplements!). I had to use every trick I knew to maintain good nutrient intake despite nine months of morning sickness, slowed GI motility, and a recurrence of my nighttime stomach aches and vomiting.

After Charlie was born I felt like a whole new person, mostly because I had forgotten what it was like NOT to have morning sickness all the time! I had all this extra space in my stomach, my hormones were (more or less) back to normal, and life was great. Ironically, not long afterwards we discovered that he is intolerant to the dairy, soy, and egg proteins in breast milk. So, I’m currently on a dairy, soy, and egg-free diet for the foreseeable future. I still have to be intentional about what I eat. But, no more nausea or vomiting, and I’ve just started eating salads again for the first time in years! I appreciate this every day, and plan to enjoy it as long as I can.

However frustrating it can be at times, I’ve realized that the foods that do and don’t work for me are going to continually change as my life and health evolves, and that’s okay! IBS can be tricky like that- there’s rarely a guarantee or a long-term fix, because keeping your gut balanced and healthy is dependent on so many factors (only some of which you can control). Chris likes to say that my stomach is just keeping me on my toes, and he’s right 🙂

I decided to start this blog to share what I’ve learned in my personal and professional life with others who are facing similar challenges. If I can make your gut health journey a little less stressful and a lot more tasty, I’ve accomplished my goal!

Thanks for reading! If you have a story you’d like to share, please reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you.