Recent flare up

Hi all,

So I was first diagnosed with IBS when I was a child but I never really understood how it affected me. I've assumed I've always gone through life without it! Until recently.

Last weekend, I became unwell a couple of hours after eating a roast dinner I had cooked. I started with horrendous cramps, very very bloated and gassy, couldn't go to the toilet for days, no appetite, just feeling generally run down and wasn't sleeping because of the pain. I immediately knew it was IBS. The cramps are just the worst, I can deal with the other symptoms but the pain is awful.

So I'm on my 4th-5th day of this flare up and can tell it's easing away (thank god!). But during the last few days recovering, I've been thinking about what it could be that triggered it and other related incidents that I never considered before.

Initially - I was dead set it was the cauliflower I made. Cauliflower, cabbage and sprouts give me such bad gas for days after. That's always been the case for years and years and I eat a lot of veg with my food. But usually that's just the extent of it, I don't get anything as severe as I've had this week. So I couldn't help but think it was something else. I thought back to the meat I cooked - I made lamb but usually when I get lamb, I buy a leg and cook it fresh - this time, my partner brought home one of those tray bake ones from the supermarket that you cook from frozen to try. When I cook meat, I do it (usually accidentally!) so it's cooked throughout with no pink. But this time, it was a little bit pink and my partner was happy with it.

I thought back then to just a couple of months ago - we went to a meat restaurant for our anniversary (with a large selection of cut meats) and literally within 10 minutes of leaving, I got this awful cramp in my stomach and as soon as I got home, I had violent diarrhea and was convinced it was food poisoning. I had eaten a cut of meat my partner hadn't and so put it down to that. But now that I think about it, some of the meat we were having was more pink/rare than I would usually have it cooked if I were to be asked. So I think it was IBS for definite now.

So I'm going to have to be careful with the cooking of meats from now on as I don't want another spell like this week. It's really drained me! I feel for those who have chronic IBS and are very sensitive to a lot of foods.

Just wondering if anybody else has similar triggers? I know I'm really sensitive to dishes like curry, certain vegetables and now clearly, red meat! It's not something I've linked together before so would be good to hear from other sufferers that might help me identify if your triggers also trigger mine.

So good to be able to speak to others too. x

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