We are going to research software, electronics, clothing, shoes and services. We will also research remedies for common aliments.

IBS stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. As I sit here today I am writing this at 41 years of age. Also I am in the minority, as I am male. I was diagnosed with this sick joke of a disease around 20 years old. Having IBS for more than 20 years, I have numerous stories that only other suffering with this understand. They are also stories that I would be to embarrassed to talk about in public away from the comfort of hiding behind my computer keyboard. Let me go deeper into IBS, I suffer from IBS-D. See true definition of IBS is alternating constipation and diarrhea with painful cramping. However a big group of people have one or the other known as IBS-D or IBS-C. Let me back up even further, around 18 to  19 years old I became lactose intolerant. That was worse than IBS I didn’t know what was going on. Only through process of elimination and some embarrassing and uncomfortable testing did I zero in on the lactose intolerance. Having either of these conditions you take on an incredible learning curve. Thankfully through government intervention companies are providing better ingredient labeling. Still to this day I find it hard to believe what products include milk, even pharmaceuticals use it as filler. You will notice my mind finds it self going from one point to the next and back, then off somewhere else just a warning. So the first solution that worked was staying away from milk and if I was going to have food with milk ,was to take the lactaid pills. Well it was good for the short time it lasted in between my own food mistakes. My new favorite snack became white corn chips and salsa. As time passed I started getting stomach cramps again, sweating and diarrhea. I would look back at the day to inventory through my brain “WHAT DID I EAT”. It was time for new doctor visits and new test I could not live like this. One doctor visit was to an allergist (side note I had been to one before). So in terms of food, I tested  positive to being allergic milk. The cure from lactaid pills was over because at this point I just can’t handle milk. The strongest allergic reaction I had was from corn (WHAT! My new favorite snack) explained the stomach problems even staying away from milk. So off to the dietitian to look for help. Not the best experience for me, she was stuck on carbs, calories, and protein instead of meals without what I was allergic to. My problems kept getting worse and I was being careful about my diet so I decided to try another doctor. With test results in hand, this doctor said you’re too young and all your testing shows your system is healthy. He straight told me “you have IBS”. Now at the time I had no clue what he was talking about. He also said I could eat everything because it wasn’t what I was eating. Wait a minute I know what you are thinking because I knew better. I still had to watch what I ate because I knew for a fact certain foods put me in pain I wanted to stay away from. However, his treatment for me was Citrucel which was great but confusing. First of all if I always have diarrhea, why in the world would I want to take what I thought made you go? Also, the part that was good is I did not want to be given some prescription to create new problems. He told be to take the Citrucel twice a day for six months and I would be fine because I was so young. WOW! Not to get to graphic but I immediately had formed stool, however six months went by and I wasn’t better. So I gave the doctor a call and he told me it was okay take it for six more months it was just taking a little longer. Now six more months went by and guess what it worked. I wasn’t without an occasional problem here or there but I wasn’t afraid to go out the front door without a mapping of the bathrooms on my route. That is a statement the people with IBS understand. It’s like living as a prisoner of your worst fear, an out of order bathroom or one that is in use. Clean bathrooms are great but at an IBS urgency you take what you can get. Back to where I was in the story, so life got again a little normal. I went a few years not thinking “OH where is the bathroom, Is anyone in there or is it available”. Luckily I am handy with construction, the first house I bought only had one bathroom, so I added one. Since than I have never bought a house without at least two bathrooms. A bad bit of stress came into my life and the IBS came back. Not just back, it was worse than ever. I have decided even behind the computer there are details to gross and embarrassing to talk about, but if you have IBS you know. That’s not even the worse part. My quality of life has SUCKED! I have two sons and they are the best part of my life. Do you know how many times I have left early from something we were doing as father and sons or worse yet, just said NO we can’t go at all. It’s extremely depressing what they have missed out on and what I have missed out on. I am the type of person who’s word is like Gold. So with IBS I come off as a flake because I just don’t make any promises because chances are I won’t be able to keep them. Think about the special events with massive crowds and not enough toilets. I could give example after example. I want you to know through the years I revisited Citrucel and I just didn’t work the same. Again a few years back I decided enough is enough I need to go back to the doctor. This also came about because Elizabeth Hasselbeck said a doctor told her she had IBS and she didn’t. She said that is like going to the doctor because your head hurts and the doctor says you have a headache. One thing earlier on that I left out (well I am sure many things) a test I had done sent me into the hospital for a couple days because of a bad reaction to the test. Needless to say I wasn’t excited to have the test done again. But Elizabeth has celiac disease and not IBS so I thought what if. She was thoughtful enough to educate the public on this disease and take it even further and provide a cook book. Which is great because with digestive disorders it is easy to tell someone what they can’t eat, but we need to know what we can eat. So after a night of prep, off to the doctor for another test. After a couple of days I went into the doctor’s office and he said no to celiac disease and no to everything else. Another doctor who said my system checked out A Okay, but he did say I had IBS. This doctor was different than the one years ago, he believed in prescriptions, so he wrote two. One relaxing pill to take at night and one antispasmodic to take three times a day. I already told you I am not a pill popper, so I didn’t get the prescriptions filled. That didn’t last long my quality of life just sucked I needed to take the doctors advice. One Friday night I started the medicine and WOW! I didn’t go, have to go or feel like I had to go all weekend long. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!! Than came Monday all bets were off. I continued to take the pills for a few months but with all the same symptoms without the pills, plus the symptoms because of the pills. The new symptoms were dry mouth, cotton mouth, thirst, weight gain and increased blood pressure. Trust me the weight gain was okay I am 5’10 and 135 pounds. Another side note, right when I started taking the medicine I had an appointment for a medical for life insurance. I told them the medicine I was taking which I only took for a few months at most and it raised my rates for the whole term policy. Well back to square one being a home body, scared to leave the house. One thing for sure from reading up on other peoples stories, what works for one doesn’t work for all. Things I know for sure as a big IBS-D NO NO:  Sugar, Caffeine, Diary, Fatty Food, Fried Food.

Now this tells me something about why Citrucel stopped working for me, it has a good amount of sugar. Proper diet is the main key besides stress free living which it is hard to be stress free with IBS so it is a never ending cycle. Because of others sharing, these two products are helping me right now but still don’t have me running out of the house not worried about where the next available bathroom is. But even if these products don’t cure you if they at least ease up the IBS a little I know it helps.

First L-Glutamine Powder  I take first thing in morning mixed with water on empty stomach and I don’t eat for 30 minutes. Start with a small amount and work your way up until you notice improvement. Check label for any warnings and also consult with your doctor.

Second Calcium Citrate I take this once or twice a day with lunch and/or dinner. Check label for warnings and also consult with your doctor.

There are so many important diseases out there so I feel bad for everyone that doesn’t live to their potential when it comes to quality of life, but I hope a researcher finds a cure for IBS.