Introduction
Does the fear of a sudden diarrhoea attack keep you from enjoying life outside your home?
I often hear from clients that have seen their confidence in going out suffer because of their gut symptoms. Particularly where diarrhoea strikes with little warning it can be scary to leave the house, let alone go out and enjoy dinner or an evening at the cinema!
There can be little worse that the fear that sweeps over you when you’re away from home and you’re suddenly need a bathroom. Now! You may feel anxious, embarrassed or demoralised, leaving you feeling that you’re better to stay at home. The need for frequent visits to the loo is physically exhausting as well as socially limiting.
If this sounds familiar, this post is for you. With a little detective work you can regain control of our life and find the confidence to go out and enjoy yourself as much as you want to.
Who Does this Affect?
Many people are diagnosed with IBS-D. This is a sub-type of Irritable Bowel Syndrome where Diarrhoea (urgent or frequent bowel movements) is the dominant symptom (as opposed to IBS-C or IBS-M – IBS-constipation and IBS-mixed, respectively). The unpredictable nature of episodes impacts hugely on sufferers and triggers high anxiety around leaving the house or going out socially.
What you can do if this is your life
Identifying the triggers is the first step in finding more confidence and regaining your social life. Some of the most likely causes that need to be investigated include:
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis involve chronic inflammation of the digestive tract, often leading to diarrhoea. These are serious conditions that need diagnosis by your primary medical practitioner (GP).
Food Intolerances and Sensitivities: Many people find that diarrhoea strikes after eating certain foods. This can be related to an inability to digest the food (eg lactose, gluten, or high-FODMAP foods), but can also be due to IgG-mediated food sensitivities where the immune system is involved. Identifying individual triggers can be tricky – but is essential to resolution of symptoms.
Other Food Triggers: Sensitive guts can be particularly responsive to certain foods – caffeine, and alcohol are common foods that aggravate the gut, and chemical triggers from Ultra-Processed or Packaged foods can also be part of the problem. Keeping a food diary with a symptom rating can help to identify changes that will help to calm your gut.
Gut Infections: Recurring or persistent infections, such as those caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites, can result in prolonged diarrhoea that interferes with daily activities, including social engagements.
Chronic Stress and Anxiety: Stress can play a big role in digestive issues, often worsening symptoms like diarrhoea. In fact, the brain-gut connection is strong, and high stress can exacerbate gut symptoms, making people feel uncertain about social outings. And it’s a vicious cycle: Stress may trigger the symptoms, but experiencing symptoms triggers more stress. So again, paying attention to your stress triggers and dealing with them where possible may have huge benefits.
Take into account the environmental factors that can affect anxiety or stress levels: travel, changes in routine or visiting somewhere unfamiliar, or even temperature can have an adverse effect on symptoms.
Follow these Practical Steps to Manage and Reduce Symptoms
Dietary Changes: Using a food diary to try to identify the most likely culprits can be time consuming but it’s worth following a process to help improve symptoms quickly. There are some common culprits that you can try excluding to see if it helps. Try excluding the high FODMAP foods lactose and gluten as a starting point. If this doesn’t resolve the problem you may need to delve deeper, and working with a professional will help you to approach things systematically.
Also, ensure that you’re eating enough fibre. Many people think that’s the last thing they need but fibre will help to give bulk to your stool which can help slow transit time through the gut.
Stay hydrated: Ongoing diarrhoea can leave you dehydrated as you lose water too quickly from the body. Ensure that you have plenty of water each day to help your body function properly. You may also need to consider additional electrolytes.
Identify gut pathogens: Think back to when your symptoms started. Did you take a trip somewhere exotic, or did you have a bout of food poisoning? It’s possible that you’re playing host to some nasty in your gut that needs to be identified and removed. Your friendly neighbourhood Nutritional Therapist can help you with that!
Probiotics and Gut-Supportive Supplements: You may not have a pathogen presence, but stress is going to imbalance your gut flora which means boosting your friendly bacteria can help. There are specific strains that have been studied in relation to their impact on diarrhoea. Look for a product containing Saccharomyces Boulardii. This is a friendly, probiotic yeast that can be really useful where diarrhoea is concerned.
Address your stress: Try to work on some stress-management techniques to calm your gut via the gut-brain axis. Deep breathing, yoga, or meditation are also very useful practices.
This type of practice can incorporate reprogramming of your thought processes. Seek out help to develop positive thinking – repositioning your mindset to create a positive mindset around social situations can help to reduce stress.
Plan Ahead for Peace of Mind
Until you are able to resolve the triggers and eliminate the issue for good, here are some steps to help you gain more confidence when you’re planning to go out.
Ensure you’re familiar with your destination and route: map out where the bathrooms are and what facilities you’ll have available during your trip. Also if you’re eating out, check out the menu online ahead of time.
Carry a “safety kit” – ensuring that you have precautionary items with you will lessen your fear and stress, should you encounter an attack while out. Include items like clean clothes, wipes, and a water bottle.
Conclusion
I really want you to know that this problem is resolvable. Yes, it can take time to identify the triggers and address them, but with work and persistence you will be able to get out and about and enjoy your life fully and without fear! It should be stated, however, that if you have an ongoing issue, talking to your GP to rule out anything ‘sinister’ should be your first port of call. That said, if you are still struggling and would like some support please reach out and we can have a ‘commitment-free’ Discovery chat to see if I can help you.