I’m not sure if it’s IBS?

I can't drink water on its own without throwing up so I add juice with no sweeteners in. Choose one with red fruits in. Sainsburys does a summer fruits one. I just have it weak. Eat ginger biscuits regularly first thing before getting up and after tea. I would also log your worse symptoms and see if it's also hormonal. I have the depo contraceptive to stop hormonal changes. Also add oats to your diet. I have an breakfast oat biscuit in the morning which helps.

This is a long shot, but I had similar symptoms for more than six months at the end of last year, and was finally diagnosed with something a bit unusual, which has only recently started being talked about.

For some reason, this site doesn't support the name of the condition - I had two posts deleted for trying to mention it a while back. The usual reason for doing this is that someone has been using the site to publicise a book on the condition, though I haven't seen any evidence of this on here.

I'll therefore paraphrase it. It's when the normal bacteria that live in your colon get into your small intestine. Although they're your own bugs, they can cause havoc once they get in the wrong place. The main symptom in my case was industrial quantities of gas. Although my abdomen wasn't distended, I felt totally bloated all day - as if I was full right up to my neck. Some days I could barely swallow anything, and started worrying that the problem was in my throat or oesophagus. It was even worse during the night, when I'd regularly be woken by severe gas pains around 2am, which would then keep me awake the rest of the night.

I felt so bloated I could hardly eat anything. It was as if I was revolted by food - especially meat, which I couldn't swallow at all. I'm usually a quite greedy person who hates to waste food, but I'd often cook a meal then throw it straight in the bin before even plating up. Even if I got it to the table, I'd only be able to eat a few mouthfuls before I started retching. In the course of six months I lost 12kg/26lb. (Fortunately, I had it to lose!)

I also had another weird symptom, which was the clincher for my GP. Early on, I started to notice a faint smell of ammonia in my stools (not my urine). I thought I was going crazy at first - I'm a former nurse and I know bowel movements can't smell of ammonia! However, as it got gradually stronger, I realised I wasn't mistaken.

When I finally went to see my GP I was quite hesitant about mentioning the ammonia smell as I thought he'd say I was imagining it. However, that was the thing he jumped on, as he said it was a distinctive sign of the condition. He didn't bother with any tests - which I gather are unreliable anyway - but just put me straight on an eight-day course of an exotic antibiotic normally used for tropical diseases. He said that if that worked, it would prove I'd had the condition.

The upshot was that the gas symptoms disappeared completely by the end of the course, and my appetite returned to normal. However, the doctor warned me that this tends to be a long-term thing, and it was likely to return from time to time. I was lucky in that I tolerated the antibiotic very well - though I gather from other forums that not everybody does. This at least means that if - or probably when - it comes back, I can be treated again.

If you'd like me to, I can send you a private message via this site, giving the four-letter acronym by which the condition is known in the English-speaking world, so you can look it up elsewhere.

hi Megan, i think this sounds like gastritis, you need to find out what it is then other gastritis sufferers may be able to help you to cope. i saw something similar on a doctor's programme and after medication the sufferers symptoms eased off. you could try antacids in the meantime!

Update the pain is so excruciating at night 3-6am I’ve taken laxatives just in the past hour I’m on the verge of getting nauseated and wanting to to throw up I have a heat bag it’s not helping to much my appointment is in two weeks but Monday I’m calling to see if there are cancellations! My stomach keeps distending by the inches! I’m 5’0 with an 42 inch waist and I look so pregnant to some!:\ I’ve been drinking water when I can so i don’t get sick right away! The pain is also all over my left side!!!

Another Update: I went into the ER this morning with more abdominal pains I was vomiting last night to and that seemed to relieve the abdominal pain for a about an hour! They did a CT scan this morning and checked my blood results and everything is normal? I feel stupid for going in so many times in the past month to find nothing wrong with me even though there clearly is?! Are they not checking my results thoroughly am i just too young so they think ill bounce back because I'm only 23?! I feel like I'm going crazy!

Results are normal still hurting here and there! I’m seeing my GI on Monday hopefully I’ll get answers!!! I’m still as confused as to why I’m not passing stools as much as I’ve been eating without a bowel obstruction in sight! I’ve passed a decent size stool today after about 8 days of not going!