# Everytime I eat I have to go..



## fade2black (Sep 7, 2009)

Since I saw a couple other people on here talk about their stomach problems I decided to ask my extremely embarrassing question. Well, it's embarrassing to me. It's always been an issue I've struggled with. I go to the bathroom pretty much right after I eat all the time. Once in a while my system will slow down and I won't have to go right away and sometimes if I'm lucky I become constipated but this is once in a blue moon. I'm actually terrified to eat out in public because I end up having to make a run for the bathroom halfway through or right after I finish. Makes it look like the food wasn't any good. :b But I am in constant fight against myself not to eat before or when I'm out in public. Add this to SA, plus the nervousness I have about it, and you've got one messed up girl. Plus being a girl makes me feel like it's unlady like. I'm afraid someone in the bathroom will tell jokes about the girl who was stinking up the ladies room. I've been like this for as long as I could remember. In school it was a total nightmare. I pretty much stopped eating lunch for fear I'd have to go and you know how cruel high school kids can be.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you cope with it? Is there some medicine I can pick up over the counter? I don't want to go to the doctor about this. I'm not too thrilled when they put their hand up my shirt behind my back to hear my lungs. I really would rather not have a little camera going up there! heh It can't be deadly. I've had this problem since I was a kid. I'm still alive. My father is kind of the same way except I go more often then he does. When I feel like I'm going to have to go I start sweating, feeling nervous, nauseated, and dizzy. I think most of that is fear and fear of being made fun at because bathroom humor is funny to some.


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## finster (Jul 5, 2007)

I can't relate directly to your problem but I have an aquaintance who has severe OCD and refuses to use many public restrooms. At college football games he would take Imodium in the morning before the game and would have absolutely no urge to go no. 2 for the rest of the day no matter what. It apparently stops the urge but as far as side effects like constipation I have no idea.


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## fade2black (Sep 7, 2009)

finster said:


> I can't relate directly to your problem but I have an aquaintance who has severe OCD and refuses to use many public restrooms. At college football games he would take Imodium in the morning before the game and would have absolutely no urge to go no. 2 for the rest of the day no matter what. It apparently stops the urge but as far as side effects like constipation I have no idea.


I don't have much of a problem going no. 1 in a public bathroom. Even though I do hate how much public restrooms are dirty. I've even seen some where people have actually left pee on the seat. Gross! I may try that and see how it works out. Do you know if Imodium is expensive?


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## finster (Jul 5, 2007)

It shouldn't be too expensive because it's sold over the counter. Check around for a good price.


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## finster (Jul 5, 2007)

BTW, I have heard of this problem before so do an internet search and see what you can find out. Good luck.


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## ecotec83 (Sep 7, 2009)

Be careful with immodium though it can throw your system out of whack, i used to suffer from IBS and had a public bathroom phobia at the same time. I found when i took immodium for several weeks and stopped i had use the bathroom a lot more frequently than normal.


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## weebeastiebaby (May 15, 2009)

You probably have IBS. I had it all throughout high school and it definitely didn't help with my social anxiety. Instead of having diarrhea though, I felt as if I was always constipated (IBS-C). I had a horrible stomach ache almost everyday and when I'd finally go there would usually be blood. I also tried to avoid food before/during social situations because I would get gassy and sick afterward. When I went on independent study, my stomach problems magically got significantly better, but I was still left with a worse case of social anxiety. I know that everyone with stomach problems has different sensitivities, but cutting almost all fiber from my diet (especially the fiber found in most fruits and vegetables) has helped me tremendously.


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## locsaf (Sep 3, 2009)

,


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## ecotec83 (Sep 7, 2009)

Actually when my IBS was really bad it went to see a specialist and he told me to take Metamucil. It worked quite well and is cheaper than immodium. Might be worth a try.


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## Anxiety75 (Feb 10, 2004)

I think this happens to a lot of us from time to time. It's normal and I am pretty sure it is healthy.


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## meyaj (Sep 5, 2009)

Sounds like the Gastrocolic Reflex, which is normal

Maybe yours is just in overdrive.


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## complex (Apr 22, 2009)

I know what your going threw and completely understand! I have been fighting this since maybe age 10 if not earlier and have just found my answer but it may be very different from yours. I have IBSD and have had it for so long and so severe that I was put on a very powerful drug called Lotronex they will never give it to you without a full work up and if you get constipated this is a big NO NO. I was addicted to immodium for years and I was told by a doctor and pharmacist that I had to stop taking it. It can actually make your bowels stop working all together its a great somewhat cheap short time fix but DO NOT take it every day it can cause liver damage and worse. I would suggest even though I also hate doctors to see one asap as you may have had it your entire life but it could be worse like Colitis and that can turn to cancer. If you have any questions feel free to PM me anytime!


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## WineKitty (Nov 26, 2004)

I have had IBS for a while now. It sucks. Its not normal; but there isnt much your doc can do for it. Its can be controlled by figuring out what your "trigger" foods are and staying away from them.


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## fade2black (Sep 7, 2009)

Thanks for all the suggestions. A while back I did look it up and came across IBS. I figured maybe that was what it is, but wasn't sure. The problem is it doesn't matter exactly what I eat. Everything tends to make me go. Even cheese doesn't bound me up very much. On occasion if I go crazy and eat half of one of those small cheese bars you can buy then I'll get constipated from it. But I have to eat a lot of that to bound myself up. And LaRibbon, bananas make me go just as much. I honestly don't think it's what I'm eating. I can eat almost anything and I'll still run to the bathroom right afterward. I like to think I eat healthy for the most part. I eat my vegetables and fruits and such. Once in a while I'll eat some sweets but I don't go overboard on those kinds of things.

I did a little bit of reading about both Imodium and Metamucil and some people say that it has helped a great deal and other says they become addicted to Imodium (even though the website says it's non-addictive). With my luck the Metamucil will make me go more instead of doing the opposite so I'm a little afraid to try that one. I guess I'll try the Imodium but not take it on a daily basis. I wasn't planning on doing that anyway. Right now I'm more concerned with going to the bathroom in public than I am at home. At home I can deal with it for the most part. 

Oh and it doesn't matter if I'm in public or not. I go whenever I eat so I can be home doing whatever and if I eat I'll have to get up and go. I've tried positive thinking and it doesn't stop number two from a flowing so to speak. I usually am nervous and stressed out a lot but as of right now there's no hope of controlling that. That's mostly due to family problems though. I've had this problem my entire life. The only thing I remember is that my mom said when I was a baby I always had trouble going. Like I would strain even in diapers. As I got older maybe about the time I first enter school I then started going every time I ate. That's pretty much all I know about it.

I did once tell my regular doctor about the constant pains in my abdomen which I'm assuming are from the IBS. And that I do go to the bathroom every time I ate but he shrugged it off and didn't say much about it. He pressed on my sides and all, but they didn't hurt that day so I suppose thats why he shrugged it off. I told him about it years ago.


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## contranigma (Jun 24, 2009)

weebeastiebaby said:


> You probably have IBS. I had it all throughout high school and it definitely didn't help with my social anxiety. Instead of having diarrhea though, I felt as if I was always constipated (IBS-C). I had a horrible stomach ache almost everyday and when I'd finally go there would usually be blood. I also tried to avoid food before/during social situations because I would get gassy and sick afterward. When I went on independent study, my stomach problems magically got significantly better, but I was still left with a worse case of social anxiety. I know that everyone with stomach problems has different sensitivities, but cutting almost all fiber from my diet (especially the fiber found in most fruits and vegetables) has helped me tremendously.


that is weird that eliminating fiber would help constipation, I definitely see it as the other way around. It's best if I eat a real high fiber diet.


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## meyaj (Sep 5, 2009)

fade2black said:


> I did a little bit of reading about both Imodium and Metamucil and some people say that it has helped a great deal and other says they become addicted to Imodium (even though the website says it's non-addictive).


It's not surprising that people are addicted to Imodium. It's an opiate narcotic, like morphine or heroin. The only difference is that it's unable to cross over into the brain in any significant amounts.


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## ecotec83 (Sep 7, 2009)

I almost laughed at the doctor when he prescribed metamucil, i had been told to eat branflakes and extra fiber from fruits and vegetables in the past and it only made my diarrhea worse. For some reason metamucil seems to work for both constipation and diarrhea, think it has something to do with the type of fiber.


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## John_in_SF (Mar 1, 2009)

meyaj said:


> It's not surprising that people are addicted to Imodium. It's an opiate narcotic, like morphine or heroin. The only difference is that it's unable to cross over into the brain in any significant amounts.


So you think addiction occurs in the intestine? That's an interesting, and plausible, hypothesis. How then would you define "intestinal addiction"? Is the brain left out of that mechanism?


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## meyaj (Sep 5, 2009)

John_in_SF said:


> So you think addiction occurs in the intestine? That's an interesting, and plausible, hypothesis. How then would you define "intestinal addiction"? Is the brain left out of that mechanism?


Okay well, it's technically dependence, not addiction. And yes, it causes the same opioid receptor downregulation that most opioids also cause in the brain. This means that withdrawal symptoms are not going to be very CNS-related, but mostly explosive diarrhea :b

But, although I said it doesn't cross into the brain in significant amounts, it still does a bit. Enough for people to get an opiate high by taking dozens of pills (which I really don't recommend.) So it's not unreasonable to expect much milder opiate CNS withdrawal symptoms, but whether or not it would even be noticeable for most people, I have no idea.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

ecotec83 said:


> Be careful with immodium though it can throw your system out of whack, i used to suffer from IBS and had a public bathroom phobia at the same time. I found when i took immodium for several weeks and stopped i had use the bathroom a lot more frequently than normal.


 I had kind of the same experience with it. It works really well for doing what it's supposed to do but I found that when it wore off, I paid the price for it by having to go to the bathroom even more than if I hadn't taken it at all.

I've found that anything that has chocolate in it will make me go like crazy. I'm not really sure why. I'm relatively sensitive to soda too but I refuse to completely give that up. If I were the OP, I would be looking for stuff in my meals that is known to be irritating to the stomach/digestive tract. It sounds like to me that their system just doesn't like whatever they're eating.


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## meyaj (Sep 5, 2009)

Don't forget that IBS definitely has a link to psychiatric disorders, and is most likely psychological in origin, as weird as it sounds. This study found that up to 94% of people with IBS have a comorbid psychiatric disorder, so it's no surprise anybody here is having these complaints. I seriously doubt it's the food you're eating.

Personally my bowels movements are far from normal, often being watery but sometimes being constipated. And it's ridiculous because sometimes I feel the urgency of diarrhea and feel like I'm constipated, while other times it's very, uh... liquidy but I still find it very hard to go.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has actually been demonstrated to be beneficial in treating IBS! [Sources 1, 2]

As for Imodium... it's really helpful and I do use it but only if it's feeling like one of those days and I'm going to be somewhere where I won't have quick access to a bathroom.


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## rachelynn (Sep 12, 2008)

fade2black said:


> But I am in constant fight against myself not to eat before or when I'm out in public. Add this to SA, plus the nervousness I have about it, and you've got one messed up girl.


I've had a digestive disorder for more than 2 years now and it controls my life completely. For me its a bit different, but I do experience what you do sometimes. There are many foods I can not eat and I end up spending alot of time in the bathroom. I can't really do anything outside of my house because of it. I rarely to never eat out in public. Before I go somewhere, I can only have 1-2 peices of white bread or I eat nothing. This is bad because I get very hungry quickly and it effects me a lot...I get hot, sickly feeling, so weak, lightheaded, ache all over. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't think I'll ever find out either because I don't want to do an endoscopy or something like that, like doctors have suggested. I know my problem isn't anxiety related, but it sure has added a lot more anxiety into my life. :um


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## locsaf (Sep 3, 2009)

,


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## fade2black (Sep 7, 2009)

I went to the store today and got the equate version of imodium because the imodium was almost seven dollars. It costs a lot to keep yourself from exploding! :b I'm a little hesitant on trying it though because it says it can cause tiredness, drowsiness, or dizziness. I constantly feel fatigued as it is. I don't need to add anymore on top of it. I'm probably just stalling, but then again I just started my monthly so I don't know if I'm up for actually trying it yet. (I'm slow with everything by the way.)


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## nubly (Nov 2, 2006)

fade2black said:


> I'm afraid someone in the bathroom will tell jokes about the girl who was stinking up the ladies room.


ive worked in a field that is mainly women since Dec 1999. women stink up the bathroom just as bad as men do. the trick of it is to flush as soon as it drops. dont sit there and wait for everything to drop and then flush because it'll give it time to build up smell


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## meyaj (Sep 5, 2009)

nubly said:


> ive worked in a field that is mainly women since Dec 1999. women stink up the bathroom just as bad as men do. the trick of it is to flush as soon as it drops. dont sit there and wait for everything to drop and then flush because it'll give it time to build up smell


AKA a "courtesy flush"


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## fade2black (Sep 7, 2009)

I've done the courtesy flush before. It's hard though with the automatic flushers. I still can't figure out how to turn them on by hand. :b


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