Let's Talk About IBS

Campaign launched to break the taboo when talking about IBS

  • NQ today officially launched its Let's Talk About IBS #breakthepootaboo campaign
  • Led by our reporter, Morgan Turner, the campaign looks to put IBS on the NHS agenda with hopes that it will be taken more seriously and there will be more education on the subject for health professionals

 

“Oh, nothing to worry about, it’s only IBS.” Sound familiar? In the UK, IBS will affect 10-20% of people.

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) is the term that is currently used by health professionals to explain symptoms such as searing abdominal pain, diarrhoea, consipitation, and swelling of the stomach.

The reason the Northern Quota is launching this campaign is so sufferers can be treated with suitable and adequate treatment. To not simply shoot down and belittle the condition, identifying it as ‘only IBS’.

The NHS needs more options for people who have been diagnosed with IBS. Not to be told to just ‘change their diet’.

On the surface of IBS, it is easy to see why care professionals will just tell patients to ‘shake it off’. But IBS is stressful, isolating and incredibly lonely.

Poo is a taboo; we’re not supposed to talk about it. One cannot explain to someone they do not know why they are hunched over in pain 24/7, why they need to know where the nearest toilet it as all times and why they simply cannot have that glass of wine.

Vocal isolation leads to physical isolation, which can lead to worse. People who suffer from IBS are twice as likely to suffer from some sort of anxiety disorder within their lifetime. 

The cycle of IBS is ruthless. The symptoms of IBS can cause stress and anxiety and IBS can be triggered by both of these. More often than not, people who suffer from IBS, suffer with anxiety and depression.

Sign the petition to help:

  • NHS have more options from the NHS, including reference to IBS Self Care Programme provided by the IBS network.
  • Better education for healthcare professionals to pass on to patients who have been diagnosed
  • A consideration for the patient in that it is incredibly likely that their mental health may be affected in some way
  • To make it okay to talk about IBS #breakthepootaboo

Use #breakthepootaboo to support the change on Twitter

Follow the campaign on Facebook.

For details go to Let’s talk about IBS go to the website here.