I know there’s been a lot of news about how mental health can affect the body. But I thought I’d share my personal experiences with it…
Rewind about 7 or 8 years when I was still with my ex-wife. Things were not good in the marriage back then. I was regularly stressed out and keeping it all bottled up with no one to talk to about any of it. I’ve always had regular headaches and even migraines, but they were certainly worse around this period. I rarely get sick though but I got this terribly painful cough. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics and that worked after a few days. We all know antibiotics can have an effect on your stomach. I actually started getting bad stomach pains quite regularly. It seemed to be pretty random and then one night the pain was so bad, I even passed out for a second. After numerous visits to doctors and surgical tests over the course of many months, they found nothing wrong. The doctor then said it could be IBS but since there’s no way to actually diagnose it, they couldn’t say for sure.
Around that time, I visited my family in Canada by myself as we couldn’t afford for the whole family to go. My ex made me feel extremely guilty for going without them and that made me even more anxious. So for most of the time I was in Canada, my stomach and bowel movements were horrible. I started to watch what I was eating and seeing what foods made me feel worse. I couldn’t find much of a pattern, apart from lactose products.
Then I saw a different doctor about getting a referral to a psychologist to talk about my anxiety, knowing full well it was making my headaches and IBS symptoms worse. This doctor told me about the FODMAP diet. I looked at this giant list of foods and drinks that should be avoided and suddenly it made sense. For example, I was having honey on my toast nearly every day. Honey was on the list, so I cut back on it and noticed a difference straight away. It still amazes me that no other doctors had mentioned this in the previous years. Onion and garlic were two foods to avoid completely if possible and once I started doing that, I was able to keep my gut problems under more control.
Back to present day. Having been separated for the past three years, that’s definitely eased some of my stresses. But the loneliness and financial issues haven’t helped. So I have my bad stretches, but in general it’s been a lot better. I’m more careful with what I eat and drink. While I was in Canada the past few weeks, my bowel movements were a lot worse. I know what it was. I love drinking Pepsi and unfortunately there’s a difference in how it’s made between North America and Australia. The Canadian version includes fructose, whereas the Australian one doesn’t. Fructose is the F in FODMAP! And already since I’m back, I’m feeling much better.
IBS is such an embarrassing thing to talk about, yet so many people suffer from it. I was reading that it’s estimated roughly 10-15% of the world’s population have IBS symptoms! I wake about three hours before work each morning just so I have extra time in case I don’t feel well. And I’ve been doing that for years. I’m embarrassed when I have to tell someone why I can’t eat something. But I feel like it’s better to just say it rather than them thinking I’m super picky.
There’s so much more to say about this, but this post is getting a bit like a novel! As weights get lifted off my shoulders, my physical health gets better every day. I plan on beating my headaches, as well as my IBS symptoms. On a side note, there’s not much choice for low FODMAP ready made meals in this country. Thinking about starting a business specializing in that. Thoughts?? Just remember, if you suffer from IBS, there are others out there like me to talk to.