After months with only minor digestive issues, I had one of my nightmare IBS attacks last night. These attacks became common when my fibro first became bad, but have been under control for over a year. Last night’s attack was extremely intense and painful, triggering a vasovagal syncope. Even though that was nearly 12 hours ago, I’m still recovering from a residual migraine and widespread weakness.
My digestive system has been acting up since the new year. Until last night most of it was relatively minor, occasional minor IBS attacks and other minor tummy troubles. This pattern of last night’s attack was nothing new; digestion would appear to slow or stop, I would become bloated, start to feel weak and fatigued, eventual malaise, and then comes rumbling and cramps, you can feel the intestines contorting.
I took yesterday afternoon off from work to rest. I blamed it on having trouble getting reliable suppliers for some of my supplements and medicines since the move. I’ve recently had to switch to online for most, plus one of my vitamin supplements is no longer being produced. As I was winding down for bed I noticed that things didn’t seem to be digesting, I felt ill and extremely thirsty. I didn’t need to drink much water before I could feel it sloshing inside of me. That started the rumbling and stomach cramps. The first round felt like I was extremely constipated, my muscles grew weak and my head become light. I had trouble keeping myself upright and the pain was increasing tenfold.
After the found round of cramps subsided I started to feel very warm, but also very tired, I wanted to lay down and sleep. There were more rounds of cramps and bowel half movements. After another round had subsided I tried to grab my phone from the bedroom, incase something bad happened. The pain was intense and I was extremely dizzy, it seemed like the world was swirling around my head. I had to hold onto the walls and furniture to keep myself from collapsing on the ground. I managed to grab my phone right as the next wave of cramps began. This was almost too much for me, I stumbled back to the bathroom as darkness started to encompass me. I was no longer warm, now covered in sweat, I had started to experience the vasovagal syncope.
The last time I recall experiencing a vasovagal syncope was spring 2016, it wasn’t this intense. As I stumbled back to the toilet my sight was mostly blocked by darkness closing in on me. I managed to swing my arm around and drop my phone onto the windowsill. Thoughts swirled in my head as did what little I could see. I wanted to scream from the pain, but my mouth was too dry. Sweat poured down my skin, soaking the floor as I finally lost consciousness.
I don’t believe I was blacked out for long, most likely only for a few seconds. The constipation was gone and my body was now emptying itself. My entire digestive system felt empty and I needed water. I was still soaked from the sweat, head spinning, but recovering. I returned to my bedroom and tried taking a few sips of water, sending me straight back to the bathroom. I was exhausted, I needed sleep, but I needed to be able retain water first. I would repeat this trip back and forth a few more times.
The digestive system didn’t fully recover before bed, but I was able to sip enough water to not feel completely dehydrated. I didn’t sleep well as my stomach ached and I had to use the bathroom multiple times throughout the night. Eventually morning arrived, bringing a less upset stomach, a splitting headache, and minor weakness. Unless I flare up again, it’ll be another day or two before I completely recover.
There was a time where I was having attacks like these regularly, mostly in 2012-2015 when the fibro was at its worst, but I’ve had them as far back as middle school. I’ve never been able to identify triggers and only identified a couple of patterns that may trigger an attack. I started taking betaine hcl and digestive enzyme supplements in 2015, dropping the frequency and intensity of IBS attacks dropped from multiple a month to none most months. That’s why this attack and its severity caught me off guard. I’m sure my body isn’t happy about having to readjust to the new supplements, but I’m pretty certain this latest attack was old leftovers that didn’t agree with me. I need to be more careful when reheating leftovers, I can only assume it was some bad rice.