Tell me about IBS
Discussion
It's a very individual condition - different things set it off for different people.
People find that something works for a while, then all of a sudden doesn't.
Most people have trigger foods that they know to avoid
The symptoms your friend has could be construed as fairly easy going in IBS world...!
As an employer, it's just something you have to accept.
People find that something works for a while, then all of a sudden doesn't.
Most people have trigger foods that they know to avoid
The symptoms your friend has could be construed as fairly easy going in IBS world...!
As an employer, it's just something you have to accept.
Interestingly I think I have this. It started with blood, but has now come on all of a sudden and now i get cramps, wind and need the toilet 4-5 times a day. If I drink coffee or red wine or have coconut milk I seem to suffer worst. I have a Sigmoidoscopy next week to rule out the nasty stuff. When it hits I seem to have no energy.
Anyone else have IBS or similar to my problems?
Anyone else have IBS or similar to my problems?
DSLiverpool said:
I don't have it but one of my employees says they do and spends about 30 mins a day in the loo - say 6 visits of 5 mins or longer.
I think its unusual but I am not a doc - can anyone enlighten me and what can be done to make it less of an issue.
Sounds about right for a flare up - sounds like mine when it first kicked off. It comes and goes, good days and bad days. Her eating a load of muck isn't going to help and caffeine is a definite no-no as it just makes your bowels move faster, but there's not going to be anything you can do about it. I don't know if getting a doctors note would be a viable thing so at least you have some evidence, but genuinely if you have it, having someone breathing down your neck about it DOES NOT HELP. It can be very stress related, so go easy.I think its unusual but I am not a doc - can anyone enlighten me and what can be done to make it less of an issue.
Pizza usually does it for me. Within about 5 hours of eating one it'll feel like I've been kicked in the gut. Normally most foods would take about 24 hours to pass but not pizza!
I don't eat pizza anymore.
Some cheeses will also sometimes give me a bad gut, I try to avoid most of those. Crumbly cheese in moderation seems okay.
It can be very uncomfortable and toilet habits can be somewhat irregular. You can empty your bowels significantly as normal and think "well there can't possibly be any more of that" and then hours later you might suddenly feel the urge to go again.
But I agree with the above, the more stressed you are the worse it gets!
I don't eat pizza anymore.
Some cheeses will also sometimes give me a bad gut, I try to avoid most of those. Crumbly cheese in moderation seems okay.
It can be very uncomfortable and toilet habits can be somewhat irregular. You can empty your bowels significantly as normal and think "well there can't possibly be any more of that" and then hours later you might suddenly feel the urge to go again.
But I agree with the above, the more stressed you are the worse it gets!
Hate it with a vengeance - it can ruin a simple task quite happily like just going for a walk if it wants.
As per above everyone gets it differently.
I think if an employer raises it, its with severe caution - never been raised in all my career and I would find it odd being highlighted.
Signed off sick would be less productive.
As per above everyone gets it differently.
I think if an employer raises it, its with severe caution - never been raised in all my career and I would find it odd being highlighted.
Signed off sick would be less productive.
halo34 said:
Hate it with a vengeance - it can ruin a simple task quite happily like just going for a walk if it wants.
As per above everyone gets it differently.
I think if an employer raises it, its with severe caution - never been raised in all my career and I would find it odd being highlighted.
Signed off sick would be less productive.
Wouldn't a sufferer have a duty of care to oneself - drinking red bull and eating petrol station buttys cant help. As per above everyone gets it differently.
I think if an employer raises it, its with severe caution - never been raised in all my career and I would find it odd being highlighted.
Signed off sick would be less productive.
Sounds about right. Doesn't sound so bad at 5 minutes per visit. Could be 30 minutes per visit for those 5 or 6 visits. I was even worse than that at times.
Doesnt sound like she is helping herself but everyone is different. Everyone told me to eat loads of veg but when I saw the dietician avoiding veg was one of the things that helped most. It's down to the person to work out what makes it worse and how to manage it. Doctors seemed pretty useless as they simply don't know.
Doesnt sound like she is helping herself but everyone is different. Everyone told me to eat loads of veg but when I saw the dietician avoiding veg was one of the things that helped most. It's down to the person to work out what makes it worse and how to manage it. Doctors seemed pretty useless as they simply don't know.
DSLiverpool said:
Wouldn't a sufferer have a duty of care to oneself - drinking red bull and eating petrol station buttys cant help.
Erm, how can you say that those foods and drinks make his condition worse? As others have said its a very personal condition and different things are bad for different people. Either way I'm not sure posting info on your employees medical conditions online is the best way of approaching the issue with the person!
DSLiverpool said:
Wouldn't a sufferer have a duty of care to oneself - drinking red bull and eating petrol station buttys cant help.
You would have to prove beyond doubt it contributes I suspect - employers only have a certain degree of influence over what people do, quite rightly.For me it would step over the mark regardless of the type of illness involved and that's a manager not a sufferer.
This is definitely an HR area.
Interesting about avoiding veg as whenever I make the effort to eat healthy my suffering gets worse.
I was watching a doco the other day about how crap the western diet was and the presenter was in Mauritius, I think, and him and a local ate a tin of sweet corn in the evening.
The local's had all come out in the morning whilst the presenter reckoned it would be another day until he saw the corn again. Claimed that was bad and a result of our poor diet.
Weird thing is whatever I eat in the evening is out again by the morning. Must be why, even in my 50s I'm still reasonably trim
I was watching a doco the other day about how crap the western diet was and the presenter was in Mauritius, I think, and him and a local ate a tin of sweet corn in the evening.
The local's had all come out in the morning whilst the presenter reckoned it would be another day until he saw the corn again. Claimed that was bad and a result of our poor diet.
Weird thing is whatever I eat in the evening is out again by the morning. Must be why, even in my 50s I'm still reasonably trim
5/2 fasting had the biggest impact for me. It allows a system reset apparently - hard to do at times though.
Got back on that a month or two back and it made a difference very quickly.
Course part of it is a link back to stress levels, being conscious of it constantly adds to the stress!
Got back on that a month or two back and it made a difference very quickly.
Course part of it is a link back to stress levels, being conscious of it constantly adds to the stress!
I have it and it varies massively depending on factors that I am not aware of. Sometimes I feel 100% fine and sometimes I feel crap. About 4 years ago I had a pizza and one of my friends put some chilli oil on. The next day I had more frequent BM's, gut ache and felt generally bloated. This lasted for 6 months ish and then I took Yakult for 4 weeks.
Yakult made zilcho difference to my IBS symptoms but made me feel generally unwell. Stopped the Yakult and my body then pretty much returned to normal. As in 95% fine. Strange. It obviously had some effect somewhere. Currently i'm in a bad period, feel crap in the mornings but generally ok in the afternoon. Like another poster said it can ruin going for a walk, or a holiday, or a night out etc.
Lots of stuff i've been reading recently talks about the effect of parasites and how they can replicate IBS symptoms. Foreign travel etc can often give you this issue. My symptoms have been worse since i went on a stag to Magaluf. I should mention I got food poisoning there and was hospitalised for a week before they let me go home. I'm tempted to get myself tested for this once I find a decent UK clinic.
Anyway i'm going off topic but IBS is different for everyone and OP you may find that the employee has exactly the same symptoms no matter what he eats...
Yakult made zilcho difference to my IBS symptoms but made me feel generally unwell. Stopped the Yakult and my body then pretty much returned to normal. As in 95% fine. Strange. It obviously had some effect somewhere. Currently i'm in a bad period, feel crap in the mornings but generally ok in the afternoon. Like another poster said it can ruin going for a walk, or a holiday, or a night out etc.
Lots of stuff i've been reading recently talks about the effect of parasites and how they can replicate IBS symptoms. Foreign travel etc can often give you this issue. My symptoms have been worse since i went on a stag to Magaluf. I should mention I got food poisoning there and was hospitalised for a week before they let me go home. I'm tempted to get myself tested for this once I find a decent UK clinic.
Anyway i'm going off topic but IBS is different for everyone and OP you may find that the employee has exactly the same symptoms no matter what he eats...
croyde said:
Interesting about avoiding veg as whenever I make the effort to eat healthy my suffering gets worse.
I was watching a doco the other day about how crap the western diet was and the presenter was in Mauritius, I think, and him and a local ate a tin of sweet corn in the evening.
The local's had all come out in the morning whilst the presenter reckoned it would be another day until he saw the corn again. Claimed that was bad and a result of our poor diet.
Weird thing is whatever I eat in the evening is out again by the morning. Must be why, even in my 50s I'm still reasonably trim
Funnily enough sweetcorn is one of the things that make me rough as fI was watching a doco the other day about how crap the western diet was and the presenter was in Mauritius, I think, and him and a local ate a tin of sweet corn in the evening.
The local's had all come out in the morning whilst the presenter reckoned it would be another day until he saw the corn again. Claimed that was bad and a result of our poor diet.
Weird thing is whatever I eat in the evening is out again by the morning. Must be why, even in my 50s I'm still reasonably trim
k. I may as well have eaten a bag of gravel as that'd what it feels like in my system.Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff