Have you ever had IBS wake you up?

[SamanthaAU]

This morning about 2am and 6.30am I woke up with really bad wind pains. I 'think' I have IBS - all the symptoms I get fit.

BUT, I know I have read before that if it wakes you up of a night time that it may NOT be IBS but something more sinister.

Of course, I may have just had an upset tummy - but now I am a little concerned.

Has anyone else with IBS had this happen and it has been nothing?

[mumble]

I've had IBS during the night. One time I just woke up with quite bad D... not sure why. Not had that since - think it was food that irritated it. Wind can build up over night. a few times now I've woken up with a heavy feeling kinda like I need to "go" as such, normally about an hour before I am due to get up, I've learnt to ignore it as it ends up being nothing - fall asleep, wake up and normally feel ready to eat breakfast, etc.

[Baggie]

Hi Sam

I've experienced something similar. I woke with a 'whooshing' , watery sensation in my guts last summer and it happened in the early hours of the morning. At the time, I was going through a bit of a stresful period with a lot on my mind. The next time I saw my GP, I mentioned it to her and she didn't seem overly concerned, said it sounded like my gut was in spasm. I'm being investigated for possible IBS at the moment as I've been troubled on /off with painful wind and a bit of bloating. Haven't experienced probs through the night since last year and these days find that the symptoms are confined to first thing in the morning when I get up.

Perhaps you could run it by your GP next time you see them, just to put your mind at rest. Hope you get on ok. Take care.:) x

[MightyPC]

Sam, from Jan this year until March I was waking at 1am, and 3 - 4am every morning with bad stomach pains and the runs often streaked with blood. I was convinced I had bowel cancer, my stomach made terrible noises, I had constant wind and I was constantly bloated. I had a colonoscopy in March and all was clear apart from small diverticulitis. Since then, the pain and waking early hours to go to toilet have gone. I still go 4 - 5 times a day and the drs have put it down to IBS.

[Alabasterlyn]

I have a friend who has exactly the same problem. For 4yrs she has got up so often during the night to use the toilet that it was driving her mad and she was having a lot of pain too.

Eventually her GP sent her for a colonoscopy as my friend was convinced it was something sinister as she had never heard of IBS waking you up in the night. Her result was negative and she was diagnosed with IBS. Even though my friend doesn't have anxiety just the reassurance that her symptoms were due to IBS and nothing more serious has actually reduced her symptoms dramatically.

[SamanthaAU]

Thank you all for the reassurance!

[redphoenix]

I get stomach problems whenever I get anxiety and I found that it was worrying that something was wrong with me that made it worse. Anytime I had a test it came back clear I still thought they'd missed something. In reality it was all just the panic attacks that was causing it. I found this guy helped me realize that my thinking was causing me to get stomach problems in the first place:

http://www.youtube.com/user/davecarbonell

Now if only I could convince myself of this when I get my night time panic.

:hugs:

[Megan73]

Hi

I also read that you should never be woken by IBS and when I had a bad spell of it last year it always woke me at about 2 to 4 in the morning and would continue through the night. My gp wasn't at all concerned about it and just said the pains were spasms and gave me medication which was a bit hit and miss if I be honest.

So hope you are feeling better soon and if it doesn't settle I'd go to your gp for reassurance and possibly medication.

[redphoenix]

I think with panic disorder all the rules are out the window with illness. The fight or flight can be such a strong thing that if can wake you up if you are not calm before you go to sleep and cause havoc on your body.

It could also be that if you are in a general state of anxiety before you sleep, say for the whole day or whole week that your bowels will be easily disturbed. Any anxiety I get certainly seems to stimulate my bowels with pain and a feeling like I'm going to run to the bathroom. Check with your GP if you are concerned and tell them that if you are worried it's something more. If they clear you and you find nothing physically wrong other than the IBS then when you feel this way try spending some time mentally reassuring yourself that you are uncomfortable physically but not in any danger. I know it's hard but it's usually the truth. Most of the time we try to fight against the symptoms but we need to do the opposite which is try to and calm ourselves.

Hope you feel better soon. x