Why this Blog?

I'm 26, but at 21 years of age I took a cough medication that completely screwed up my gastrointestinal system.
It was codeine- a drug in every common pharmacy available for anyone who has an irritating cough.
How was I to know?
How was I to know that 2 hours after my taking codeine, my intestines would spasm uncontrollably for 8 hours after that. I could not stand.
I was admitted into hospital, after which doctors agonised over the cause of my pain.
At midnight, I was about to be wheeled into the operating theatre because they thought the pain was coming from my appendix, but just then, a senior doctor stopped the procedure. He said the pain was due to my intestines- simply because there was too much shit in me.
I was having a severe form of chronic constipation- of which (as I found out in the weeks after) there was no cure.

What followed was 2 excruiating years of pills and anemas and doctors and X-rays- all just to find out that what I had was something that medical science could not cure.

I possibly had to live with it for the rest of my life. The pain, the flatulence, the constipation, the discomfort, the cramps. And I was all but 21 years old.

What happened to me in 2002 impacted me like no other experience could. Today I am free from chronic constipation and serious symptoms of IBS- but yes, I am extra careful of what I eat, and I still do have a sensitive disposition.

It's because of my period of pain in 2002, and finding out that there are so many other women out there like me- that this blog was created.

For IBS sufferers to speak- freely.