I have tried so hard, and I have gotten nowhere. Depressed and disheartened.

Hey there awesome on the quitting drinking...IBS can be a pain in the arse....have you been diagnosed.....I'm just asking because I thought for a long time it was just IBS but found that I had gastritis....what are you eating....I've noticed that it's not the spicy foods that knock me down but dairy like milk and ice cream....foods with a lot if fiber in them also upset it very much and citrus like oranges and lemons can put me down....also stress is directly tied to digestion...sounds like your stress about it is probably making it worse....I've been able to control mine with exercise and not eating cereal, ice cream and oranges...still have the flat stool and irregular bowel movements but I don't have the pain.....if you haven't gone to the Dr I would go and see if there is another issue like gastritis or something similiar.....I don't know if you're spiritual bit I would also pray about it....just some thoughts

Ever considered a naturopathic nutritionist for natural treatments rather than medications which often make things worse? There would be some cost but it could help.

I am having all the same problems as you. I feel like giving up. Had lots of scans bloods, colonoscopy twice, colonic irrigation 3 times for constipation which was horrific. Been on low fodmap diet still same. Doc says just ibs. No one is interested if I cut out anymore foods not be eating much. I do not have gluten or wheat my choice, dairy free soya free egg free lemon free. I going back to doc tomorrow to ask about gastritis. I can sympathise with you it is not good to deal with, but keep pushing for answers life's short and we all deserve to have a decent quality of life. Try some relax cds or going for a walk with a friend, sometimes helps me.I am hoping to go abroad this year not been in 3 yrs because of stomach issue's. I hope you get sorted and get your life back as I hope for myself. Take care.

Congratulations on quitting the alcohol that must have been hard.  I often think that they put the IBS umbrella up to cover a multitude of things!  The things that I was told to eat often made me worse- the more fibre I pumped in and the more water I drank the worse I was.  Cutting out potatoes and bread certainly helped the gas.  I only eat a small amount of sourdough bread now.  I get my fibre from plenty of veg.  I was told by the gastroenterologist that I was eating too much fruit causing fructose malabsorption.  She said to eat no more than  three pieces a day. I must admit this did help a lot.

I used to get dreadful 'attacks'  which started off like Sinis and ended up like the 'flu and I would ache and it would knock me off my feet sometimes it would last for three days .  I just have to give into it as i was useless.

As you are not getting any sleep can't help . A good night's sleep is important.

Sometimes I think that people don't have any concept of how this horrible thing affects people's lives.

Hope  you get some help

Something that's helped me lately is squatting at the toilet, just using a small box in front of the toilet to put your feet on. It's a simple thing, but has actually helped relieved some of the pain I've been having.

Since IBS is very stress related, anything that helps reduce the stress is worth trying out.

Anxiety is a major cause of IBS. It`s good to cut out stimulants, smoking, caffeine, sugar etc etc if you are prone to anxiety. Cannabis can cause anxiety, rather than calmness in some individuals, as well as paranoia and psychosis. Alcohol can cause depression as well as digestive problems. Anxiety and depression can follow each other. So, well done, a good start and do not return to them ever. I suggest the drinking and weed was making you more anxious and if they worked liked you hoped, then they would be a magic pill, but they obviously don't help. You probably have to give your body some time to adjust back to normality.

You need to start looking at your life. What is making you anxious? The anxious tension in your body is making your stomach spasm. I call them panic attacks for the stomach. It is a known flight or flight response to a fearful situation. We have all these body responses set up for when a predatory animal would attack us in our caveman days but these responses have come with us to the 21st century when there are no dangerous animals present. Emptying our bowels makes us run away faster or fight better! We react to our subconscious fears in the same way.

I had bad IBS when my mother was dying which I hated and couldn't control the situation. I had a stressful relationship at the same time. The body keeps the score. After some time when these situations improved my IBS stopped. I am a nervous, anxious person so any stress seems to affect my stomach/digestion.

So, where you can make some positive life changes. Be around people who are positive. If your crowd are weed smokers and you don't smoke weed now, then change the crowd. The point is, analyze your life, make changes and rid it of the negatives where possible. Happiness is based on not what you do for yourself but what you do for others to bring happiness.

Anxiety can cause poor sleep and that in turn can cause IBS. You need to address the sleep issues. After a day at work and healthy exercise (16 hours) you should be ready for a good nights sleep. You have to get a good 8 hours at least. Find a place where you can relax alone, the beach, the forest, natural sounds.

When IBS is very bad, most foods can trigger an episode, so regardless of the diet, nothing seems to help. I have been there too. Even tap water can cause discomfort. I found the antispasmodic drugs helped, like Colofac or Buscopan to reduce symptoms. Otherwise, you get in a cycle of apprehension each time you eat and you fear the IBS, which makes you more anxious. These tablets can reduce that.

Eating little and often helps too. Stick to a FODMAP diet. I eat lots of Kale and Spinach vegetables which help produce good gut bacteria. I also found oats to be calming but only with water, not milk. Avoid milk and that may help. As your IBS improves you can introduce more foods but do not eat fast food or processed foods.

For now I would cut out all the supplements, except L Glutamine.

If you feel the problems could be psychological based, childhood issues, poor self image etc etc then talk to your doctor about seeing a counselor or therapist to help you.

https://www.theibsnetwork.org/have-i-got-ibs/