My Journey with IBS: Navigating Life's Ups and Downs Through Gut Health

It all started when I was 10, although I never quite thought anything of it because it was all I knew. To feel uncomfortable in my stomach as if there was constantly a hard rock inside for days to weeks of stool build up… gross? I know. The consequence? Brain fog and laziness.

Let’s break down the common types of IBS; IBS C- constipation & IBS D- diarrhea. In my case, IBS-C was not detected for a long time until years of uncomfortable experiences passed by.

When you’re a kid, you don’t care that you haven’t been to the bathroom for a week because all you want to do is play and hangout with your friends.

The earliest I remember having trouble with my gut was at age 10. Having to constantly sit on the toilet for 20 minutes waiting for stool to pass, however it never really did… not comfortably anyway.

Going into highschool, I cared about what I looked like- who didn’t? My reality is that I looked puffy. Not fat, but a bit puffy or slightly chubby. I now know that this was all water-weight and bloating. When you’re constipated, your body holds onto water to balance out the effects of a slow digestive system.

I held onto water consistently for up to 10 years. I started to realise that perhaps going to the bathroom 1-2 times a week was not normal. I started to hate exercise from the sheer fact that I felt like I was carrying the weight of the world in my stomach, constantly making me feel heavy and lazy.

Dramatic… I know. But when you’re supposed to be at the peak of your athletic age at 17 and instead, you’re feeling like you're carrying a shit baby in your stomach, it’s extremely uncomfortable.

This led to the experimentation of all different types of diets: keto, vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten-free, veganism, low FODMAP. None of which worked.

At this point, I had tried running and HIIT workouts, which I hated. If anything, it stressed me out because:

1. My situation didn’t improve.
2. Because it wasn’t improving, it stressed me out.

And if there’s one thing I've learned, it’s that stress is a massive culprit.

To this day, it’s not “solved”. But I can say that it has gotten a lot better. Take what you need, but what I've learnt is that increasing fiber more than needed to was not my answer, drinking a gallon of water was not my answer, and going vegan wasn’t my answer either.

What did help was eating wholefood diets that focused on high protein, eating meals instead of snacking, 3-4 liters a day, weightlifting 3-5 times a week, walking 30 minutes a day and keeping stress to minimum, and giving myself grace when there’s no bowel movements for a few days.

Although having IBS-C is not ideal, it’s not all bad. It taught me to take extra care of my health and taught me a lot about nutrition. Desperate times call for desperate measures and in my case, I despised exercise, however I found myself at the gym, lifting weights trying to reduce my IBS-C symptoms. Along the way, I found a love for weight lifting, which I wouldn't have eluded to hadn’t I tried to tackle IBS-C.

My water-weight is gone, my bloating is a lot less frequent, and I’ve gained great muscle mass. What more could a girl want? My IBS no longer controls me, but I control it.

- Ti’ama K.