How many of you suffer for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?

About 12% of people in the United States have IBS. With a population of about 327 million people in the US, that means about 39.2 million Americans suffer from IBS. Numbers are not as high in many countries, but could be even higher in some.

Here are two additional facts about IBS you might find interesting:

1. Women are twice as likely to develop IBS than men.
2. IBS usually develops in people under the age of 50, but often continues for the rest of their lives.

Some of the factors that contribute to developing IBS are genetic, linked to a history of stress or difficult events in a person’s life such being abused as a child, and having a history of severe digestive tract infections.

I was diagnosed as having IBS when I was in my late 30s. I suddenly developed diarrhea that lasted for days. The doctor first said I had a parasitic infection and gave me medicine to kill the parasites. By the second day, the diarrhea was much worse and the doctor finally said it wasn’t a parasite and sent me to a proctologist (these days they are called gastroenterologists). He gave me my first colonoscopy and did it with any medication. It was an excruciating experience. That sadist determined my problem was over use of laxatives, which was a farce, because I had NEVER taken a laxative prior to the prep for the colonoscopy. Back to my regular doctor, he determined that I had IBS and said that it is caused by certain foods and stress and that I had to learn what not to eat. Took me a while, but I did. That was when I stopped drinking coffee, because that thin film of oil on the top of every cup was enough to put me in agony.

Over the years, I’ve pretty much managed to control my IBS by watching what I eat and doing my best to avoid getting too stressed about anything.

With IBS being so common, many people self-diagnose and then do their best to treat themselves and that’s what happened to one woman who was horrified that her IBS wasn’t IBS after all.

“Sarah Nicholson is a 26-year-old woman who lives in New Zealand. After the health troubles she’s suffered through in the past year, she has a message for all women: watch for changes in your normal routines, and get checked out if you notice changes.”

“The problems all started when she started experiencing unusual fatigue and changes in her normal eating and bathroom routines. She assumed — as many do — that she was dealing with Irritable Bowel Syndrome or something similar, and she waved it off.”

“But then she started to notice that her stomach was becoming bloated — not just a ‘food baby’ or gassy sort of bloat: she looked like she was actually pregnant.”

“And based on what she was carrying, there was a reason for that. Doctors discovered that there were 14 pounds of cancerous tumors growing in one of her ovaries.”

After finding out it was ovarian cancer, Nicholson commented:

“I had symptoms which could have been of things less serious like irritable bowel syndrome, but I had a round bloated stomach, which looked as if I was pregnant, and I knew it was just not right.”

As if hearing you have cancer isn’t frightening enough and to Nicholson, it was very frightening, the doctor gave her more bad news that her cancer was stage 3. She didn’t hesitate once to agree to having her ovaries removed. The decision of having children versus her life was a no brainer to young woman.

If you are female, know that you are twice as likely to develop IBS. However, your symptoms may be like those of IBS, that may not necessarily be the case, like Sarah Nicholson. It’s worth seeing your doctor and finding out for sure.