17 year Old with IBS

dmg24

I can see what sh1305 is saying. The OP *thinks* that they are not capable of college or work (or at least they are very limited in what they can do). Whilst sh1305 thinks that the OP would be better to work past their barriers and continue in education/ work, they have told the OP that they may apply for DLA and ESA if they wish to.

Person_one

KxMx wrote: »

Anyone who does have IBS/bowel issues should know how it varies, and can wildly, from person to person and that some find it easier to cope than others.

This is very important to remember.

I have asthma, it doesn't limit me at all apart from getting a little tight chested in cold weather and having a bit of a cough for a week or so after I have a bad cold. I can still run, swim, work a physically demanding job etc.

However, some of the people I see in my line of work have asthma so severe that they've nearly died of their attacks, they can barely walk 100 yards without wheezing and have had to sleep sitting up for years.

Just because my experience of an illness has been less damaging doesn't give me the right to tell other people with asthma to 'get a grip' or accuse them of not trying hard enough to deal with it. I don't get any prizes for having manageable asthma, I'm just lucky.

Edit. Also the OP is just 17! He hasn't had very long to learn to live with this and its not really surprising that most teenagers don't really have the same resilience and coping skills as adults yet. This is why so many diabetics struggle with the condition in their teenage years. I'm sure he'll learn them.

chris1973

Why are you comparing Diabetes and Asthma with IBS?. Without seeking proper treatment or in the case of a very severe attack you can DIE from both of those other conditions, where as i've yet to hear of anybody who has had a fatal attack of IBS, at least not as a result of it existing as a primary condition, with no other serious illnesses.

I know that some people will make light of IBS, and who don't understand it or who just treat it like a 24 hour outbreak of the s*its- (I meet and work with them everyday and have had more than two decades of jibes over it), but there is no need to place it in the same bracket as more life threatening conditions either. Its not a like for like comparison.

IBS is extremely nasty, and can be extremely debilitating, highly embarrassing and very distressing but it is not life threatening, as your comparison might infer.

However, some of the people I see in my line of work have asthma so severe that they've nearly died of their attacks

Exactly, but even at its most severe, you are not going to die from an attack of IBS, at times you may feel like you are, but in essence you wont, neither will you need to inject yourself with drugs etc.

I'm a member of various IBS discussion forums, and in the majority most people on them are able to lead an almost normal lifestyle, including studying, working for a living, raising a family, taking holidays, some level of socialising and pretty much all of the things that Non IBS sufferers do, even the ones with constant / severe symptoms, although sometimes you may have to push yourself to go out and do them.

If anything it gets HARDER to deal with the wave of the symptoms such as fatigue and despression, the older you get, so at 17, now is the best age to start to work on the coping mechanism. I was also still at Secondary School when my symptoms started, so you aren't exactly telling me anything I don't already know!. At what age did you develop IBS symptoms? or are you up there preaching from the pulpit of assumption?.

Equally at 17, and with only 2 or 3 years of suffering from IBS symptoms, there is no way of knowing whether / how his condition will improve in the longer term, or whether a medium term reprieve can be found in the form of drugs or even alternative therapy. So its a bit too early for him (or us) to be making kneejerk decisions, in relation to him chucking away a potential career or resigning him to a future on benefits is it?.

One side effect of IBS is depression, and sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, as opposed to getting out and socialising / meeting people / keeping occupied with some kind of lifestyle is a fast track way to kickstarting other symptoms. Again, i'm speaking from experience.

Since IBS typically begins in the Mid - Late teen years, i'm sure that the OP will find plenty of peers with the same condition, who are successfully completing their studies at college / university whilst also managing the symptoms, and he will probably be quite surprised at just how common the condition is amongst the general population, especially amongst the student body. There are even a few people studying full time with Crohn's - whose symptoms are about 20 times worse than IBS!

Some discussions which might also be of help to the OP in relation to IBS and attending college:-

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1332935

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1197623

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=447365

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=909498

GavB79

My experience is Colitis for 12 years. I'd rather have IBS thank you very much, but I am also glad it wasn't Crohns. There is always someone worse off.
My condition contributed to a perforated bowel this year leading to infection and a six month hospital stay. I urge anyone with abnormal symptoms to get themselves checked out! Please! It could be life-threatening, it is worth an uncomfortable investigation. If I hadn't gone to A&E with severe stomach pains, I would not be here today.
Having said that, I have always managed to hold down a job and am back to work full time after my nightmare earlier in the year. When I came out of hospital barely able to stand I applied for DLA to tide me over and was refused, so don't hold out hope just because you need regular toilet visits.
I do think a lot of the time a person's psychological state, especially with a new diagnosis, masks their physical capability and they just assume they can't do something.

Indie_Kid

GavB79 wrote: »

I applied for DLA to tide me over and was refused, so don't hold out hope just because you need regular toilet visits.

You would be expected to be able to deal with the toileting issues, unless you have a physical or mental disability which means you struggle.

chris1973

You would be expected to be able to deal with the toileting issues, unless you have a physical or mental disability which means you struggle.

Yes, I remember once being on the A64 - rest areas are few and far between on that stretch. I was so desperate to 'go' to the point where I was sweating cold buckets of sweat, so I screamed up on the nearest pub car park, abondoning the car right outside the pub entrance with the drivers door still open and dashing in to use their 'facilities'

Its a very close call with IBS sometimes...but yes, often you can 'deal' with it!. The worst feeling in the world is being sat on the toilet, wondering if you put the handbrake on the car before you left it.....

Oldernotwiser

Person_one wrote: »

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Edit. Also the OP is just 17! He hasn't had very long to learn to live with this and its not really surprising that most teenagers don't really have the same resilience and coping skills as adults yet. This is why so many diabetics struggle with the condition in their teenage years. I'm sure he'll learn them.

But he may never learn them if he gives up at this point and decides to go down the benefits route, particularly having had so little medical input on his condition..

arietta

sh1305 wrote: »

You would be expected to be able to deal with the toileting issues, unless you have a physical or mental disability which means you struggle.

That's totally true- and even then you won't always get anything.
I have colitis (7 yrs now) and am still in the process of getting tested (tests keep coming back inconclusive). I suffer from anxiety, panic attacks and social phobia, yet I've just been refused ESA as I seemed fine at the medical (even though no physical was carried out) and as i seemed fine at the time the examiner couldn't predict how my condition would change in the future so had to go by what they saw at the medical centre.

sunnyone

I was treated for IBs for 6 years and it was hellish and I now have piles and still have anal bleeds but it turned out I have a huge duodenal ulcer which means that acid is passed through my bowels regularly burning them giving the same symptoms as IBS. But I coped and it didnt change my life.

My husband has diviculitis (sp) and his whole bowel is inflamed and bleeding, he lives on the loo (we have more than one, I dont know how we would cope with one) but thank god that all the other test his gastro did are negative up to now, there are still some tests to come and they all still need to be compared to his last camera up the bum tests but as long as it is just diviculitis (sp) we will cope.

There are no benefits for the scitts and some bowel conditions are normal with age like my husbands, hes just unlucky.

Person_one

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But he may never learn them if he gives up at this point and decides to go down the benefits route, particularly having had so little medical input on his condition..

What the OP needs most of all at the moment is a decent GP who can refer him to a specialist to get his condition properly diagnosed and treated more effectively.

Telling him to 'get a grip' doesn't help anybody.