Hi all,
Im so happy to have found this website. I apologise in advance for this long message, i've been very alone with this for 8 years now i've finally found people who understand what im going through! My story is that i was diagnosed with crohn's disease 10 years ago, i always thought the noises were associated with that but all my other symptoms have gone, i get little to no pain, diarrhoea,sickness etc etc. Im now left with these noises which are so socailly debilitating.
My stomach growls like crazy when im hungry, then after ive eaten it makes horrendous noises while my food digests and then in the afternoon and evening i get lots of gas, which if i hold in makes my bowels sound like they're about to errupt!
I've had to go part time in work as i couldn't cope with sitting in a silent office 8 hours a day, i swear i was on the way to a nervous breakdown.
I have some control over the noise and have found the following tricks work:
*20 mins on the toilet as soon as i wake up
*porridge for brekfast
*a further 30 minutes BM to be completely empty (you can imagine how frustrating this is as i have to do it every day, except weekends when im free from the quiet room torture!)
*i have a snack (usually cereal bar) mid morning to stop the hunger growls
*the only lunch i have found which keeps the noises down in the afternoon is oatcakes and cottage chese
*i found not eating wheat or junk food helps though this is very boring
That's it im afraid, i wish i had more to offer. The thought of having this for ever scares the hell out of me. Wierdly, i've never discussed it with my doctor, i just know he'll say 'it's normal' or it's part of my crohn's but i know for a fact it's not normal and i feel in myself that this isn't caused by inflammation. I know i must see my doctor but i can't face it, it's my last shread of hope that he'd have an answer for me and once that goes, i'll be left with nothing.
Sorry to sound so depressing. I have a wonderful life and im very blessed in many ways but im so limited in what i can do and i hate letting people down, lying to get out of things and just the constant mental drain of it. It's ALWAYS on my mind.
The ladies doing the paragone, i know you feel like you keep repeating yourself but im very interested to hear that this is helping you. Could you possible just tell me what your symptoms were again? Id be very grateful.
I can't imagine how much joy i would get from being able to go to the theatre or cinema or to a friends house for lunch, i did all that once and something must be causing this, it's just finding out what??xx