IBS that improved, which I did not expect

Started 28 October 2025 · 23 replies · 201 hearts · read 1.7k times

BryherIsles of Scilly, UK · 28 October 2025

9 months ago

IBS that improved, which I did not expect Writing it down partly to work out what I actually think.

Squeamish subject, so I am going to be plain about it and get it over with.

I have written down what has actually happened, in order, because I find that more useful than my summary of it.

What I would find most useful is not advice. It is somebody describing what their version of this was, and how long it went on for.

Not looking for a plan. Just company and whatever anyone has found.

NoraDublin, IE

Please do not read the comments under news articles about this. I lost a fortnight to that.

TomásFacilitatorLisbon, Portugal

If any of this has landed close to home for you while reading, our support resources page lists the kinds of services worth finding. No obligation and no drama.

BrackenHexham, UK

the reply above said something I want to sit with for a second.

My experience was very boring, which I offer as data. Some of us just get a dull time of it.

BramberSteyning, UK

What helped was lowering my own expectations of the week rather than trying to hold the week together.

GethinMerthyr Tydfil, UK

Yes. All of this. I had the same in my third month and I remember thinking there was something specifically wrong with me, which there was not.

AleksLjubljana, SI

What the reply above described happened to me too, in a slightly different order.

Mine lasted about seven weeks and then lifted over a few days. I cannot tell you why. I can tell you it lifted.

BettinaGraz, AT

Similar here, and mine turned out to be a completely unrelated deficiency picked up on bloods.

EphraimBrooklyn, NY

I have been in this circle a year and this question comes round every few months. It is not a silly question. It is the question.

9me too 5

ÖzlemIzmir, TR

Different experience here, for balance. Mine did not improve and in the end I stopped, and that was the right call for me. Both outcomes exist.

PosyChichester, UK

#10

Building on what the reply above wrote rather than answering the original question.

The phrase that unlocked my appointment was asking what specifically she wanted me to watch for. It moved us from reassurance to a plan in about thirty seconds.

6me too 8

NyalaAddis Ababa, ET

#11

For what it is worth, the trial data on this is thinner than the confidence of the internet would suggest. Worth knowing when you read the posts.

BryherIsles of Scilly, UK

#12

It got worse before it got better for me, which I wish someone had said. About ten days of worse.

NoraDublin, IE

#13

The thing that changed it for me was going slower, agreed with my prescriber. I am not suggesting you do that. I am saying the conversation exists.

10me too 5

BibiRabat, MA

#14

Gently disagreeing with the reply above, or rather adding the other half of it.

Have you got anyone who can be with you when you do it? It made an enormous difference to me and I felt silly asking.

BrackenHexham, UK

#15

Practical, boring answer: write the three questions down before you go in. I have never once remembered them otherwise.

BramberSteyning, UK

#16

the reply above — yes, and the bit that took me longest to accept was the next part.

I did exactly the same and felt terrible about it. You have not done anything wrong.

GethinMerthyr Tydfil, UK

#17

What the reply above described happened to me too, in a slightly different order.

I am the person who had the frightening version of this. I went in, it was investigated, and it was not what anyone feared. Going in is the whole of my advice.

AleksLjubljana, SI

#18

Coming back to this a fortnight later to say it settled. Leaving the update because I hate reading threads that stop.

BettinaGraz, AT

#19

Building on what the reply above wrote rather than answering the original question.

No advice, just recognition. That sounds exhausting and I am sorry you are in it.

EphraimBrooklyn, NY

#20

I keep a two-line diary and it is the only reason I could answer this question about myself. Worth starting even now.

11me too 7

ÖzlemIzmir, TR

#21

Can I gently push back on one thing? Not the substance, just the framing — you have written twice that you should be coping better. Who told you that?

TomásFacilitatorLisbon, Portugal

#22

Before anyone offers a remedy: what has been described here is on the list of things that need a clinician today rather than a thread. I am going to be firm about that, kindly.

11me too 2

NyalaAddis Ababa, ET

#23

the reply above said something I want to sit with for a second.

I am about four months behind you and I have been dreading exactly this, so thank you for writing it down before I got there.