Coping with IBS at home and leisure

Back to my series about coping with IBS, or not. Today I am going to post about how I have coped, or not, with IBS at home and leisure time.

First, at home. I am talking about when I am at home and about to go out shopping. For quite a while, earlier this year, I would have breakfast, get ready, then go shopping with my mum to get the weekly food shopping. Mistake. As I've said in my previous post, it is a good idea to sit and rest for 20 mins or so after eating because your food won't digest properly. I know this now from experience. When I did this, and started walking round the store, half an hour in shopping I'd say to my mum that I had a stomach upset and needed to go somewhere. Feeling that I was spoiling the shopping trip, made me anxious and made my stomach feel worse. I hated this happening. Not only because it spoiled our experience shopping, but due to having Asperger's Syndrome I'd get anxious about not finding my mum when I came out. (That is another post about coping with AS). Thankfully, this hasn't happened for ages, and I intend it not to happen again. If it does, my mum and I have a strategy to meet up.

Secondly, leisure time. I am talking about when you are going out to meet friends. I often go out and meet writer friends for talks, or brunches and lunches. There was one occasion recently when the weather was v hot (in the 30s) and I was going to be meeting friends for brunch and had to sit outside. I got really anxious about this and ended up with a stomach upset from IBS. I didn't go in the end, with the excuse that sitting in the heat was bad for me and my heart (I have a hole in it, and was said that people with heart problems shouldn't stay in the heat), and wasn't well. I get nervous about going to talks in general, but try to stay calm and relaxed before hand. I think in that instance, it was a case of going into the unknown as well as going to a place I'd not been to before that set it off.

So, if you have IBS, how many times has it stopped you enjoying pleasant experiences such as shopping and meeting friends? With me, lots of times.