People who have illnesses such as IBS have a great deal to cope with: from first experiencing confusing and embarrassing symptoms, to struggling to gain a diagnosis and then perhaps a lengthy journey to find effective treatments. In all of the invisible illnesses that we have studied over the years, we’ve found common threads. These are not necessarily to do with the symptoms themselves, but rather the impact on a person’s life. By having an illness that no one can see, it can be difficult to gain the support and understanding that is needed to deal with it; not just the illness, but life in general. Chronic, non-life-threatening conditions, where the symptoms are experienced by most people at some point in their life (for instance with the occasional infection or virus) can also be trivialised by others: ‘Oh yes, I get a dippy tummy too at times and isn’t it awful, dear, but nothing to worry about really is it?’ These factors can leave you feeling angry, hurt, frustrated and isolated, not knowing where to turn for general support or for specific advice to manage symptoms. Whilst we know that this book isn’t a magic pill that can rid you of your IBS symptoms in one fell swoop, we hope that it has provided you with enough information to seek out the appropriate diagnosis and treatment, as well as some ideas on how you can integrate dietary changes, stress-reduction techniques and other hints and tips to limit the impact of this most distressing condition on your life.
We’d like to end with this message from a fellow person with IBS:
‘Don’t let IBS be something that stops you from living your life. Try to figure out what causes your IBS to flare up and work with it.’
Kwilole