Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Table Tennis in the Olympics

This isn't a usual IBS - Boy blog entry, but I feel like I need to get this out on the internet someway. For some of you who don't know, table tennis is my favorite sport in the entire world. Well, let's just say that I have been disgusted with the television organizers for not televising table tennis enough.

I made it very clear in this post.


              With the London Olympics in our midsts, many people will tune in to their televisions to watch events that they are probably not used to watching. Some crowd pleasures include: the javelin throw, weightlifting, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, and the discus throw. However, caught in the middle of the Olympiad madness is the sixth most popular sport in the world: table tennis.  

            “Table what?” you may say. The sport - commonly known as ping-pong – receives little to no accreditation that it is, in fact, a real athletic discipline. In America and most surrounding countries, table tennis is regarded as a recreational sport with little to no competitiveness involved. Even in the Olympic Games, people consider this sport a joke – including NBC, the channel responsible for televising the Games of the XXX Olympiad. I was mortified to find out that the men’s finals of table tennis were only televised for twenty minutes, whereas synchronized swimming was televised for two solid hours.

            Why is this? Do people truly not realize the validity behind the sport of table tennis? Do they construe the sport as a fun pastime, but nothing more than that? These posed questions will never be answered by the Olympic organizers; because I am sure they have a lot more important things to do. Like, for instance, watch two hours of synchronized swimming. 

            Although the above questions go unanswered, there are a few more I can still ask. What is it about the sport of table tennis that makes you consider it non athletic? Is it the men running up and down the gymnasium at rapid speed, flailing their arms in attempts to spike a ball fifty miles per hour in a court that is four feet wide and four feet long from thirty feet away while diving on the floor returning a smash? If that is the reason, you need to strongly reconsider your definition of “athletic.” Most sports, if not all sports televised during the Olympics, simply cannot rival the fierce and competitive nature that table tennis is. 

            Not to bring different race’s into the mix here, but isn’t it always stereotyped that Asians rise to the challenge and dominate everything they attempt to do in life? Well, if that is the case, then why aren’t we watching them dominate table tennis? Are we too proud a nation to concede defeat to the Asians in just this one discipline? But, let’s be honest, if there was an American male in the table tennis finals, we’d be watching a lot more of the sport on television. Would it make primetime? No; but it would be televised. It still probably wouldn’t be on the air as much as synchronized swimming, however. 

            In the end then, no one can dispute the claim that table tennis is athletic. If a person claims that table tennis requires no athletic ability, then I strongly suggest they pick up a paddle and try to play it themselves. They may be in for a shock.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Wisconsin Trip - Part 2 (Middle Three Days)


Note from the IBS - Boy: This is the second part of a three part series covering my trip to Wisconsin. In this particular edition I will discuss the three days of living in Wisconsin. Also, take a peek at part 1 so you feel more unified.    

Day 1: Nothing to Do
After waking up in a strange - but nice - bed at my friends' house, I began to notice something extremely abnormal: I was feeling well. How could this be? After all, I had just traveled two long grueling days in a car over 1,000 miles; I'm not supposed to be feeling well.

Usually this is the part of the post where I dash your dreams by telling you something like: "But, I began to get sick." Or..."My luck didn't last." This time, however, my health maintained for a long time. Believe it or not, I was feeling better than I usually do at my home. Maybe the Wisconsin fresh air is all I need! 

I quickly reminded myself that it was probably just wishful thinking and that I should come back to reality. Since I haven't been feeling well in the past couple of months, I decided that I should keep those thoughts to myself; I definitely didn't want to be jinxed.

For the first time in a while, the smell of bacon sizzling in a pan was heavenly - almost spiritual. My appetite began to come back to me, and I soon found myself gorging on scrambled eggs, cinnamon and pumpkin bread, deliciously crispy bacon, and a blueberry french toast casserole. It felt so good to eat normally again. I might pack on some excess weight if my appetite stays this way, however.


Most of the time from breakfast to lunch was spent watching the Games of the XXX Olympiad on NBC. With the intensity those athletes were putting into their respected events, my full stomach began feeling queasy. Maybe watching people row a boat for six minutes straight isn't such a good idea.


After watching the Games for three hours, it was finally time for lunch. Since I felt amazing, I decided to eat heavily. I know that it wasn't the best thing to do at the time, but what can I say? I felt perfect and I wanted to eat normally! 

Like breakfast, lunch treated my stomach and intestines very well. A tiny bit of burping followed my lunch binge, but that is to be expected when you eat 1,200 k.cal in one sitting. I was just hoping it wouldn't come back to bite my in the rear-end.

Fortunately, it didn't. Which was a good thing too, becasue I had a wedding to attend in three hours, and I had to feel perfect for this occasion. With all of the greasy food they were serving there, one slip up could cost me the whole vacation. Game face on.

The Wedding

Making it through the actual ceremony was not challenging at all. It was only a twenty minute service, so it didn't give me much time to think about any possible stomach issues. After all, pondering the plethora of things that could go wrong with you during a wedding service is not a very relaxing thing.  

The real challenge was the wedding reception where there was tons of unhealthy food, alcoholic drinks, sick people, and tons and tons of waiting - which is, indeed, the very thing I dread most. But, after two hours of waiting, our meal was served, and it actually looked quite good. 

After eating the entree with pleasure, I tried to resist the temptation of eating that wonderfully looking wedding cake. But, I succumbed to the temptation shortly after gazing upon the five tiered cake. Apparently my stomach spoke louder than my mind. 

Overall, the day went well – just like the day before. However, with a Sunday get together with some of my old friends looming, I was a little afraid my body wouldn’t respond well to the food I would be eating. Hopefully it could take just one last heavy meal. 

Day 2: Church and the Friend Get Together
I woke feeling great, yet again. What was happening? I wasn’t about to question my amazing health, however, so I walked downstairs into the kitchen expecting my poor appetite to be back. But, it wasn’t. In fact, it was even better than yesterday’s. 

Travelling back to my old church was a neat experience. I didn’t recognize too many people that attend the church anymore, but it was still fun to relieve the golden days – if you will. 

After the church service ended, my former friends and I went out to a burger joint to get some food and to discuss what has happened since I was last here. 

The whole time I was visiting with them, not once did I even think about being ill. Maybe it was the Wisconsin air that was making me feel so well. But, again, I told myself to shaddup and to start thinking realistically.  

When I returned to my friend’s house – the people who were housing me – I decided to go on a nice, long walk. It was the first time I had experienced my former neighborhood in four years, and I didn’t like the thought of returning to my current home; it was just too good here. Even though the walk was emotional, it did distract my mind from thinking about my illness. Then again, I wasn’t feeling bad at all, so I didn’t even know if I should’ve called it an illness at the time. 

In my usual synopsis of the day, I will say that it went very well. It was another day without pain which equated to another day with more gain. Let's hope tomorrow will treat me just as kindly...

Day 3: Absolutely Nothing to Do 
Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is one of the most fun things you can do. However, this was the type of nothing that lead to boredom and the questioning of your existence. At least my stomach felt well...

No, but seriously, there is nothing to write about on this day. All I did was say my goodbyes to people I wouldn't be seeing again and started preparing for the ride home the next day. 

The only thing I could hope for was a good night's rest without any interruptions from my stomach. If I could get that much, I would be absolutely fine for the return trip.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Wisconsin Trip - Part 1 (First Two Days)

Note from the IBS - Boy: This is the first part of a three part series covering my trip to Wisconsin. In this particular edition I will discuss the two days of travel at the begging of the journey. 

Day 1
The day finally arrived; it was time to leave for the Wisconsin trip. Fear and horror clouded my mind as I realized four of the seven day journey would be full of travel. I felt hopeless - like someone jabbed a knife into my side, and I couldn't break free.

Eight o'clock was my wake up call. My bags were all packed the night before, so I didn't have too much to worry about. However, an extreme spurt of anxiety took me by surprise and started to make my stomach churn. This was shaping up to be a lousy day.

For breakfast I indulged - reluctantly - a bran muffin and half a bagel. It wasn't the best thing to eat right before a long trip, but it was about the only thing I thought I could keep down.

I made a big mistake, though. Instead of drinking thirty minutes after my meal, I had a whole cup of tea before my meal. In other words, my stomach was nervous and it had a belly full of hot tea.

"Oh no," I thought. "I'm going to throw up before we even get on the road at this rate!"

Fortunately, I was able to hold back and fight off the nausea. It looked like I had dodged another bullet - at least for now.

By eleven o'clock, around two hours after departure, my family and I began getting hungry. For some reason sitting in a car for hours really works up an appetite. Of course, I didn't necessarily have the largest meal for breakfast. But, I was glad to have regained my appetite.

Realizing that McDonalds wasn't the best place to stop for food, we decided on a near by Chick-Fil-A. After all, chicken is easy on the stomach, and I needed something light.  

From noon until five o'clock post meridian, I felt perfect. What a blessing! Maybe this wasn't going to be a bad day after all.

When we arrived at the hotel, after nine hours of travel, I had an awful gas cramp that I needed to work off. But, it was nothing compared to what I've been going through in these past couple of months - especially when I've been trapped in a car for the majority of the day.

Overall, day one was very successful. I could only hope that day two would be just as nice, except without the morning anxiety. Maybe I was hoping for too much...

Day 2 
Unable to sleep in the hotel room's measly beds, I spent most of the night counting down the hours until I would feel miserable in the morning. I wasn't really enjoying this game too much.

When morning finally came and I walked down to the breakfast buffet, the smell of food nauseated me.

"No! It's going to be another one of those days! Darn you chocolate muffin."

Anyway, I managed to scarf down a plate of nasty hotel fruit, one whole wheat muffin, one bran muffin, and five little potatoes. It was only eight o'clock in the morning when this was taking place, so I knew that by noon I would be starved.

Like usual, a sudden bout of nausea (anxiety-ish) hit me right as we were departing. Although it was a rough morning, I managed to thwart the nausea yet again and make it to lunch with minimal pains.

After eating at a KFC restaurant in Indiana, we began to travel closer to Wisconsin. However, the traffic jam at Chicago was unmerciful. For two hours we sat in the car and did absolutely.....nothing. The license plate game didn't work since we were surrounded by the same cars the whole time. Plus, I had a strong urge to go to the restroom. Shaddup.

By five o'clock central time, we finally arrived in Wisconsin. Fifteen hours of sitting really starts to wear on you.  Fortunately, I would be sleeping in a much better bed than last night's.

So, a monosyllabic synopsis of day two would be this: not bad, but not great. At least it went better than the last trip.






Monday, July 23, 2012

Preparation

I'm going on a long vacation to my homeland on Thursday, and I won't be able to blog for a whole week. Please make sure you know that I'm not neglecting you. I simply have things to do, and I intend to start blogging as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I have to make some preparations for my trip. It is a two day, fifteen hour drive, so I'm sure I will be in complete and utter agony (like I was before).

Please pray that I will be at my best health during this trip, and that I can enjoy the journey for what it is. My family and I plan on doing some fun activities, and I would hate to be sidelined with this illness.

 I plan on returning home on August 2nd, so I will probably post my traumatic story on the third. In the meantime, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

I will see you shortly.



Saturday, July 21, 2012

Satire Saturday: An Open Letter to Non-IBS'ers

IBS'ers, have you ever wanted to scream aloud "I love having IBS" to everyone you saw? Oh, just me. Well, I guess I'm going solo on this one. Anyway, you should be proud of the fact that you have IBS. I'm sure many people sit in a corner and wish they had IBS. After all, it is a wonderful thing to experience.

The bloating, nausea, constipation/diarrhea, weakness, belching, acid reflux, and many others are just absolutely charming to everyone who experiences it. Why wouldn't you want it? Plus, it gives you a good excuse for your lack of participation in communal activities. 

This is when a thought hit me. "Why don't I compose an open letter to those non IBS sufferers for Satire Saturday?" Of course, I was serious when I said this. If I wasn't serious, it would ruin the point of the satire.

Please join with me as I express my feelings via open letter. Enjoy.

Open Letter to Non-IBS'ers 

Dear Non IBS Sufferers,

How dreaded your life must be. After all, Non-IBS'ers, you don't have to yield to daily struggles. You don't need to abstain from certain foods that may trigger your symptoms. You don't even need to use the toilet every hour. I bet you curse your own life! Living a NORMAL life with NORMAL regulations and restraints must be darned awful. How can you even live with yourself? Not going to the doctor's office or the Emergency Room multiple times a month is also a major turnoff, you sad souls.  

I bet you don't even think twice before ingesting a McDonald's hamburger, or before downing a whole 24 oz. bottle of extremely acidic soda. Honestly, I couldn't even imagine living a life like that. You have my uttermost pity and respect. The lack of pain you deal with on a daily basis is mind blowing. It's almost fathomless! 

Non-IBS'ers, it's not too late to join our side. If you join us, you will experience the most terrible pain you've ever felt in your life - daily!  It's the best thing I could imagine! Plus, there are even IBS conventions in which you attend with other sufferers. Could life get any better? 

I leave you with one last request. That request is me urgently begging you to turn over your NORMAL ways and to join us IBS'ers. You won't regret it! 


With love and Alka-Seltzer, 
The IBS-Boy




Thursday, July 19, 2012

Ice Cream: Our Love - Hate Relationship

Do you ever get extremely hungry for one particular food? Ok, I thought so. Just checking. Well, anyway, I always have a craving for ice cream at night.

The problem is this: ice cream is a dairy food; I'm not supposed to eat dairy products. To be honest, I'm not supposed to eat anything at night, let alone ice cream.

Every now and then, I succumb to the temptation before me and eat a bowl of wonderful, deliciously soft ice cream. However, ice cream doesn't always cause me problems. Sometimes I venture to say that it actually helps me feel better.

I know this goes against everything I say, but is there a fascinating nexus linking dairy products to better health and less heartburn? This is exactly what I have been pondering over the past couple of days. Maybe ice cream really does soothe the stomach.

So, as I usually do, I began to experiment and test my hypothesis. Yogurt and milkshakes never gave me heartburn and/or stomach pain while milk did.

"Why is this?" I thought. "Maybe I've developed an allergy to the type of milk?" I wasn't about to start making conclusions, but this seemed like the most logical.

I then, after much thought, realized that eating ice cream would be a great test in determining if I have, in fact, developed an intolerance to lactose.

Eating the Ice Cream

This was my favorite part of the experimentation. I could finally sit down and relax with a large bowl of ice cream. Plus, I could always use the "I'm just testing" excuse when anyone asked why I was eating dairy.

I consumed the ice cream, with rapid speed (my first mistake), and immediately felt better. Better? This seems to contradict all logic standards. Is this a paradox?

Let's not celebrate just yet. A mere twenty minutes of ingestion, I began to get a horrendous cramp in my upper stomach region. "Why did I just eat ice cream?" I said regretfully.

Of course, acid reflux and indigestion followed which kept me up half the night. I vowed never to have ice cream again!

Then a day later came. I was so hungry for some ice cream! Despite knowing it would cause me pain and agony with a side of defeat, I started to eat it.

If you're like me, once you start you can't stop. However, I managed to actually portion my treat instead of aggressively killing it like last time.

I began to feel worse. Once again I wondered why I had eaten the ice cream. What a brute!

Just as I was about to cross ice cream off the list of foods I could eat, I began having this weird sensation. My belly rumbled, gargled, and soon felt completely better.

"This is a miracle!" I exclaimed. "I feel completely better!"

Conclusion

Since then I have constructed many experiments. No matter how little, how much, how slowly, or how quickly I ate, sometimes I would get pain, and other times I wouldn't.

This is why I have a love-hate relationship with ice cream. Sometimes it is my friend, and other times it stabs my in the back.

Through all of this, I still can't resist the lure of ice cream. It is just too tempting and enticing for me.

After all, you know what they say. I dream of ice cream, and I want some right away.

BM Chart: 

July 18: None
July 19: None

No "magic moments" in the past couple of days. Hopefully my prune diet will change that!
 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

One Leaves, One Comes

With IBS there are many symptoms present as most people have more than one. I am one of those lucky people.

This entry is part good and part bad. I tend to say it is a little more good than bad, but you can be the judge of that.

When one symptom leaves, another one comes. There is not really a time when the symptoms begin to dissipate. This has been my problem recently. Right when it feels like I'm making a turn for the better, I get sick and develop a new problem.

For months on end, nausea has been the most debilitating of my symptoms. No matter what I eat, no matter what pills I take, and no matter how much I sleep, I just can't shake that annoying feeling from my stomach. This has changed in the recent days, however. The nausea seems to be leaving rather rapidly, but with its departure has yielded another problem: gas.

Lots of gas.

Burping, flatulence, belching, acidic belching, and many other uncomfortable means of passing gas. I decided, using my ingenious brain of course, to calculate the number of times I would burp and fart in one hour of sitting in comparison to standing and doing physical activities.

Over the course of sixty minutes while sitting, I burped thirty-four times and flatulated  (rather than saying farted) one nine separate occasions. In total, I expelled some sort of gas from my body forty-three times. That seems like a lot, but how am I supposed to know? After all, I don't randomly calculate other people's farts. 

That is when I decided to count my farts and burps while standing. "Maybe this will show different results," I thought.

So, I conducted the test and found that I only burped nineteen times compared to the thirty-four of before. "Wow," I said. "That seems like a major difference." However, the amount of times I flatulated (for the sake of a better word) was exactly the same as before.

I'm still not exactly sure what this means, but it's apparent to me that I pass more gas while sitting. This is a good thing, I believe, becasue I tend to sit a lot, and I need the gas to come out.

Struggling With Gas 

The struggle with gas is much easier than with nausea. With gas, you get a lot of cramp pain followed by the passing of gas, but it's not bad. At least the burps and farts make it feel better.

Whereas with nausea, there is no relief. Ant-acids help somewhat, but not enough to keep my mind off the pain.

All in all, I would trade in nausea for gas any day; so I'm happy. I wouldn't mind losing both altogether, though.

Also...

...the doctor says I have pubescent IBS. In other words, it will only be temporary as I continue to mature. It could leave in as soon as six months, and could stay for as long as two years. Anyway, at least I have something to look forward to.

BM Chart: 

At the end of each post, I will comprise a list of how many bowel moments I have had since my last post (if any).

July 14 - None
July 15 - None
July 16 - None
July 17 - Two!!!

In the past four days, I have had two bowel moments after a three day drought. How can I expect to get excess gas out if I can't poop on a regular occasion.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Satire Saturday: An Ode To Stretchable Underwear

I was thinking: "underwear plays a major part in my health." The stretchier the underwear, the less cramping I suffer. The tighter the underwear, the more pain I receive.

This is when I thought of a great idea. "How about an ode to stretchable underwear!"

Also, I decided that each Saturday would be called "Satire Saturday." This seemed like a good way to start the series off...

You can write and respond to this entry with a satire of your own. Make sure you say "thank you" when it's done. We have to know when you're finished with your marvelous writing.

With that said, I present to you the first Satire Saturday.

WARNING: It gets pretty emotional at times, so children under the age of ten should not read this. Thank you.

An Ode to Stretchable Underwear

Alas!
An underwear that is stretchable
Oh how I love stretchablitity!
Too bad that's not a word
'cause if it was
it would be the perfect adjective
to describe my feelings. 

The comfortable,
relaxing,
awestruck
wonder this particular type
of underwear give me
is more than
words can describe.
Unless,
of course,
you have a vast vocabulary,
and you just want
to be
pedantic. 

Was saying
pedantic
being too pedantic?
That's for you to decide.

But we're off
topic.
So let's get back on.
Shall we?

Alack!
The sorrow I receive when
a pair of
Fruit of the Loom
underwear appears.
After all,
they are the most
tight underwear ever invented.

Boxer creators!
They are geniuses!
Because of them
I have
freedom of stretch!
Without them
I would be lying on the floor
in agony
wishing to die
a more humane death. 

Thank you.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Surprise Trip Yields Disastrous Results: Part 2 (Last Three Days)

A Note from the IBS - Boy:  This is part 2 in my series talking about a surprise trip I took over the last week or so. Part 1 discussed the first day of travel and the first day of apartment shopping. This part will discuss the latter three days.

Tuesday: Still Not Feeling Well 

Tuesday, the second full day of my journey, didn't go well at all. I woke up with tons of phlegm in my throat, reflux no doubt, and I felt more backed up than a stuffed pig.

Without having a bowel movement in over fifty hours, I realized that I needed to eat lightly. Also the fact that I was extremely nauseous helped aid my decision.

For breakfast I ate a bowl of Oat Bran cereal, again, followed by a toasted English Muffin with Casablanca tea. I decided to skip the prunes this morning since I had a fair amount the night before. And that was, in fact, the first poor decision of the day.

Despite abstaining from the prunes, I began to feel a little bit better. I was letting some gas out, belch and flatulence, and I felt a few pounds lighter. Maybe I was getting better. Maybe this dreaded disease went to the back burner for this particular trip.

Not so. It went from good to bad in a nanosecond, and I found myself lying on a bed for practically the whole day.

The worst part about this day was the fact that I didn't bring the right sized jeans. I wear a 30 waist, and I brought a 26 and 28.

For dinner, I chocked down a small piece of chicken and rice. Even though I ate pretty well throughout the day, my stomach still didn't like it all too much. I took an Allka-Seltzer followed by a laxative (it was time to get it out) and attempted to go to bed.

Attempted. But failed. Apparently sleeping on a floor with no wedge is bad for acid reflux. Who knew?

After two hours of struggling to sleep, I finally dozed off.

Wednesday: The Move

We, as in my family, found a nice town house yesterday and signed the lease papers last night. So, today was the official move in day. I, however, still wasn't feeling well; not well enough to help move. You may even say that I was starting to feel worse.

After getting a U-Haul truck from a local rental, me and my family busily started to pack the truck. The only problem was the intense heat. Trying to pack a truck and a Tahoe full of things when it's 105 degrees outside is not fun. 

Finally, at 2:00 p.m. we finished packing my sister's things and went to get some Chinese food for sustenance. My stomach felt extremely queasy, and I wasn't sure if I could keep the food down.

I did, however, and the food actually tasted quite good. Maybe this would help push the gunk out me.

Soon after finishing the meal, we traveled to the new town house and started unpacking the truck at around 3:30 p.m.. Despite the blistering heat, we finished unloading in less than two hours. And I was feeling well! Maybe all I needed was a little movement after a nice, large meal.

I again had a light meal of wonton soup for dinner, and took a laxative, antacid, and Allka-Seltlzer to fend off the pain. After spurts of severe nausea, I went to bed at 1:00 am Thursday morning.

Overall, it wasn't an awful day. However, I was both awaiting and dreading the trip back home tomorrow. I really wanted to get home and back to my usual routine, but I didn't know if my body could take the long travel.


Thursday: Traveling Back Home


I woke up feeling... alright. Not great, but not too bad either. I wasn't sure how nine or so hours trapped in a car would help my case, though.


All in all, the trip back home went fairly well, except for the last hour or two. I began bloating and getting gas pains, which I blame for eating Mickey D's again.


Fortunately, I made it back in decent health. I couldn't stand up straight without sharp pains, but that's not bad considering the circumstances.


Up Next: An Ode to stretchable underwear.


Thursday, July 12, 2012

Surprise Trip Yields Disastrous Results: Part 1 (First Two Days)

I write this to you in pain. Not the usual type of pain I get on a daily basis with IBS, but rather a pain from sitting in a car for nine hours with only two rest stops while not having "evacuated" in around five days.

"Ouch," you might have said. But "ouch" doesn't really do this type of agony justice. You have to say something like:"OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Over exaggeration, maybe? But how would you know if you haven't experienced it?

Anyways, I will further discuss this awful surprise trip I took which lasted five days in total. This post is a little long as I talk about each day in a fair amount of detail, but bear with me if you will.

Sunday Morning: Departure 

This July 8th Sunday morning started as expected: woke up at six o'clock to watch a stage in The Tour de France and also ate my daily does of prunes. Next, I turned on the television to actually watch the stage. Midway through the program, I was interrupted by my mother who said, "time to go to" rather innocently.

"What are you talking about?" replied myself. "Where are we going? I hope we aren't going to go apartment searching again." 

"Unfortunately we are," retorted my mother. "And you're going whether you like it or not."

The problem with this trip is not the fact that I don't like car rides. As I mentioned in my introduction, car trips in itself are fun. The thought of having severe nausea/constipation/bloating/dyspepsia is not. And to top it all off, I have an eight hour date with the car before I arrive at my destination.

I couldn't imagine a better way to start the day! A surprise sojourn that would induce the worst pain in my life! FUN!

I'm not going to go into great detail about the car trip, becasue one word can sum it up: terrible; atrocious; horrendous. Ok, maybe I needed a little more than one word.

The trip itself started out marvelously. My stomach wasn't hurting, there was no excess gas buildup, and no indigestion of any kind. A picture perfect beginning in my opinion.

That's when the first mistake was made. About three hours into our trek, we decided to stop at a fast food restaurant for the sake of alleviating our hunger. The choice of restaurant was poor, however. Next time McDonald's is not on the list of places to eat...

Obviously Mickey D's is an awful place to eat anytime, especially while traveling. The amount of chemicals they use to keep their food "fresh" is almost equivalent to a light case of food poisoning. But, for me personally, it was the type of food that I ate which caused me later problems. Instead of getting one their chicken wraps, I settled on an Angus burger. And instead of just drinking water, I had two 16 oz. cups full of a dark soda.

Add fries to my meal, and it spells double trouble.

Well, two hours after that (five hours into our trip), I was bloated.


 Ok, maybe I was more than just a little bloated. I looked six months pregnant. Sitting in a car for hours on end didn't help my cause at all. (Getting up wasn't that great, either)

Three hours after this near-fatal meal, my family stopped at a Cracker Barrel about one hour from our destination. Apparently the gas trapped inside of my body for a third of the day finally got to me, and I became severely nauseous. Enough to make me run to toilet just in case...

Long story short, I walked the outskirts of the restaurant while my family ate inside. I got a takeout, so I could eat the food at a later time when I was feeling better.

I finished out the last hour of the journey fairly strong, managing to fight the nausea off and only get a little heartburn in return.

At around 8:00 p.m. I felt well enough to eat my takeout food. But, I was very tentative when I took the first couple of bites.

Soothing, relaxing Lipton decaffeinated green tea lulled me to sleep around 11:00 pm.

Twas the end of a physically and emotionally challenging day.

Monday: Wanting to Go Back Already 

But a mere twelve hours after arriving in the now former apartment complex, I had a strong desire to return home. Maybe it was the fact that I slept on the floor, or maybe it was the excess gas buildup I achieved during the ride that spurred this response.

The smell of breakfast - usually my favorite meal of the day - was enough to gag me. Fortunately, I managed to run into the kitchen, grab the prunes and Oat Bran cereal, and get out of there before inhaling too much of that deplorable stench.

After eating that "wonderful" meal of fiber, my parents and sister (the one who we were apartment shopping for) decided to browse some of the available listings via iPad on Craigslist. Long thought and careful discussion led to the conclusion that "checking out" a couple of the places was necessary before even considering the final move.

I decided to stay at the apartment for the greater majority of the day. You never know when things could take a turn for the worse...

My family and I decided to eat in in this even, seeing that my problems could increase at any time. Fortunately my stomach held together all right until bedtime in which I needed an Alla-Seltlzer to relieve my heartburn.  

After taking the ant-acid, I slept soundly like Rip Van Winkle.


Part 2 is coming tomorrow.
 

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Absolute No-No's While Struggling With IBS Part 2

Note from IBS Boy: This is the second part of the "Absolute No-No's..." series in which I talk about an assortment of things that you should not do if you have IBS. 

In part 1 of my series, I talked about the dietary problems I face daily with this dreaded disease. For today's post, I diverse from the food aspect and will focus on the physical activities - some of these being mandatory tasks, while others are optional. Although abstaining from certain foods is tough, I find it even harder to "shy away" from specific physical actives that I enjoy since I'm a teenage boy, after all.

Activities that I MUST stay away from: 
  • Biking - As much as I love bicycling, I unfortunately cannot ride my bike without feeling sicker than I was before. I hypothesize that the heat of summer correlating with the rapid leg motion it takes to turn the pedals on the bike make my sickness worse. It seems that constant pounding is not good for my stomach.
  • Lawn Mowing - Mowing the lawn is one of my least favorite around the house jobs; I'm not going to lie. Add an awful mix of nausea and weakness to that, and you will experience what I feel when I mow the lawn in the blazing heat. Unfortunately, someone has to mow the lawn, and it's me. 
  • Marathon Running - I've never been a long distance runner, so I'm not too mad about this activity being on the disabled list. Actually, it's been on the back burner for years now. I'm glad I finally have an excuse to not run.
  • Swimming - I enjoy swimming, a lot. So, this is one of those hard ones to give up. Believe it or not, I still swim about an hour per day even though it causes me pain. It's just too darn addicting to give up...
  • Weed Pulling - Seeing that weed pulling is my least favorite chore of all time, I can live with the fact that I have a reasonable reason for not doing it. After all, you wouldn't want the IBS Boy to feel bad when he works, now would you?

  There are some physical activities that cause my sickness to flare, but are not necessarily as bad as the ones listed above. Almost all physical events have some sort of affect on my body; some of them positive and some negative. Fortunately, IBS is not a disease that completely debilitates your body. It just debilitates and hinders things that you may or may not want hindered with.

The amazing, and great thing about IBS is the fact that you can live a virtually normal life with it. Most chronic diseases affect your daily life to the point of utter frustration. Not IBS. In fact, many celebrities have IBS and have managed to cope with it pretty well. 

Shannon Doherty, Marvin Bush (president's brother), Pres. Eisenhower, Pres. Kennedy, and Mary Ann Mobley all have/had IBS during the greater portion of their lives. President Kennedy was diagnosed with "the worst case of IBS ever recorded," and he still lived a normal life.



As you can tell, though, IBS does have a pretty significant and negative effect on the people who have it. And that is why I need your help. That is why I call you to my blog.





Friday, July 6, 2012

Absolute No-No's While Struggling With IBS Part 1

 Note from IBS Boy: This is the first part of my "Absolute No-No's While Struggling With IBS" series. In this series I will discuss and reveal which foods cause me problems and which foods help alleviate the pain. Feel free to comprsie your own list in the comment section below.

Chowing down on ice-cream seems like an innocent task before bedtime, right? Wrong. Actually, I realize that any dairy product I ingest will cause me problems - no matter the time eaten. Whether I am lactose intolerant, I do not know. I do know, however, that diary products are notorious for inducing stomach problems. So, though I love my dairy foods, I have to abstain from them almost completely.

This got me thinking: what other foods give me stomach problems? Some stand out as pretty obvious, but there are quite a few that are harder to catch. Please join me while I comprise a list of them. Unless, in fact, you have something else you'd rather be doing. (If you do, I can't blame you; I get bored reading my blog, too.)


Red Flag Foods

There are some foods that wave a red flag. In other words, stay away from them at all costs. Foods that fall under this category are: dairy products (obviously), rice, tomato products, select red meats, and any food containing lemon juice.

Unfortunately, I have found out all of these the hard way. Needless to say the rest...

Red flag Beverages
 
Since I am too young to drink, or even care to drink for that matter, I can't tell you which alcoholic beverages to avoid. However, I have a fairly good grasp on which non-alcoholic drinks you should avoid. These include: lemonade, hot chocolate, coffee, milk itself, soda, and sweet tea.

You may be thinking: what beverages can he drink? Well, it's a simple question really. While I have had to eliminate drinks I enjoy, I have found some really healthy, beneficial drinks that actually help my IBS. Usually these include hot tea, sport drinks, fruit juice, and smoothies. Some people say that hot tea makes there symptoms flare, but for me, I get immediate relief upon ingestion.  

PS: If you have heartburn with your IBS like I do, and your symptoms begin to flare, I find it best to take an Alka-Seltzer and drink a nice warm cup of tea. More often than not, you will start feeling better in less than an hour.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Introduction

My Story

Often times I feel like I'm in a battle, and no matter how well I fight, I can't win. This is not a spiritual or physical battle per se, although I am sure they are affected. It is rather a mental struggle that swallows my daily life with stomach acids far too acidic to control. My mind clouds and becomes foggy, which in turn causes my physical  problems to peak. It is a lose - lose situation. This is why I started this blog; this is why I need your help. Losing is not apart of my usual nature, which is why a victory is paramount.

Don't let the above paragraph fool you, however. I am a fairly healthy fifteen year old male who enjoys doing a plethora of physical activities. However, my irritable bowel syndrome has limited my "fun" in more ways than one can imagine.

For instance, I can't go on long car trips without feeling sick. Believe it or not, I used to enjoy car rides. I always viewed them as a nice, peaceful sabbatical from the mundanes of "regular life" (if you can call life regular). But now, I absolutely despise long trips. Quite frankly, I think I would rather break my own bones instead of going on those dreadful sojourns.

Also, I don't have as much physical or mental freedom than I had before my illness. You might not fully understand what I mean by this, and I honestly can't blame you. Sometimes even I don't fully grasp this thought. But, I will try to explain it in the most concise way possible, albeit feeble.

Who I am 

As mentioned earlier, I am a fifteen year old male who struggles from IBS. More specifically, I am not a lazy bum who sits around a computer all day. I thought I would make that clear since most people with this condition struggle with their weight. Actually, my body is built rather on the skinny side, so I am told.

But, you can't help me fight this dreaded disease without knowing  more about me. Table tennis is my favorite sport, and I am currently seeking to join a club locally. I believe that table tennis, or pingpong if you will, is a true sport - not a recreational activity like most people think (e.g. Americans). I would leave the sport of basketball any day to be apart of a table tennis club. Call me crazy, but it's just who I am...

What is IBS? 

Well, this question is a little too broad to answer in itself. We have to narrow it down to the specifics. There are five types of IBS: IBS - C (with constipation), IBS - D (diarrhea), IBS - A (alternating between the previous two), IBS - PS (post surgical), IBS - PI (post injury). Obviously I don't have all five of these, but I can further explain which one I do in fact have.

I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Constipation. Most doctors say it is the worst type of IBS, so I find myself pretty unfortunate. This is yet another reason why I need your help; all the odds are against me.

More Info

There is a lot more I can say about IBS, but this topic is never ending.  Watching the video embedded below might help you understand it a little better.



This blog will be an adventure that takes you through my life with IBS. I would really like if you could join me.