what it feels like: living with ibs is 'living life on eggshells'
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ryan chatterjee standing with the waterfall that changed his life, and waiting for treatment in slovakia that changed it once again.
ryan chatterjee
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before ryan chatterjee was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (ibs), he didn’t think twice about what he was putting into his body. he ate healthily, but he never had to consider the after-effects of his meals.
he was able to cook using a variety of foods and ingredients, go out with friends to dinner without having to plan everything first, establish a career, and travel to far-off places without a care in the world.
in november 2019, when ryan was celebrating his 26th birthday, he decided to head to puerto rico to explore. he loves to travel, so when he arrived, he treated it like any other trip. during that trip, he went to see a waterfall, and that is where his journey with ibs began.
“just the tip of my fingers, on my hands in a lake or a waterfall, completely changed my life,” he said, describing the moment as a pivotal point in his health journey.
afterward, he went to eat lunch at a mini restaurant in the rainforest that lacked facilities adequate enough to wash up after touching potentially germ-filled waters, and he ate, not thinking that just the tips of his fingers in a cascading waterfall could bring on a chronic health disorder he would spend years trying to figure out.
he contracted the parasite giardia while in puerto rico, and on his return, he also got norovirus and e.coli infections. he needed antibiotic treatments, and the three pathogens, alongside the medicine designed to treat them, created the perfect storm in ryan’s gut that led to developing ibs.
“i was on antibiotics three times in that three-month time, and that just wiped all the good bacteria out. it just destroyed my whole microbiome,” he said.
it wasn’t until he made a pasta dish for lunch before heading out to work—a dish that had never affected him in the past—that he realized the issues he faced because of his infections weren’t temporary. something was really wrong.
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“all of a sudden, it (my stomach) was like a big whale, bloated, like a big huge balloon,” he said. “i was like, ‘whoa, why is this happening?’ this is really weird.”
fighting for relief
when the symptoms of ryan’s ibs continued to plague his life, he went to medical providers to see what was wrong. he was living in the united states at the time, and the gastroenterologists he saw “weren’t the most compassionate doctors.”
he was put through all the tests, all of which came back without any answers. they told him to try a low fodmap diet (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols), take more antibiotics, and try a prescription drug. none of it worked.
he continued to try everything he could get his hands on and everything his doctors suggested, all to no avail.
“i was spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on these supplements over the counter. probiotics didn’t work. other things they would see on the market for gut supplements, all of that didn’t work.”
when he moved back to canada, he decided to see a new gastroenterologist who he says was “pretty good.” after all the tests he had done and the treatment avenues he had tried, ryan was told there wasn’t much left. his gastroenterologist then referred him to the tummy clinic, a holistic treatment clinic assisting people living with ibs and functional gastrointestinal issues.
settling into a new normal
ryan’s daily life continued to be a struggle between feeling the symptoms, avoiding trigger foods and taking a mountain of supplements to keep pain and bloating to a minimum.
“i’ve been bloated for five years. and then eating food, stomach pains, all that kind of stuff,” said ryan when speaking about the two primary symptoms he had.
the pain and bloating were consistent, and when he went to the tummy clinic, they were able to help figure out what foods were more triggering than others and what supplements may help more than the ones he had already tried.
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“that helped mitigate the symptoms more … but then i was still getting frustrated because it’s like, look, i’m still taking a lot of supplements, and it feels like a part-time job.”
his entire life revolved around his ibs. he had to plan everything down to the last letter while cooking or eating out. he had to research menus and focus all of his outings on whether or not he could eat this or that and what it would do to his body. his ability to socialize with others even took a hit.
“you’re thinking about it while you’re eating, having a conversation with your friend that you’re out with,” he said. “(it’s) really difficult to deal with all that planning, reading labels, all the time.”
eventually, the consistent pain and bloating affected him psychologically.
“the worst thing is the body image with the bloating,” he said. “you’re always worried about how it looks. do you look awful? does it feel uncomfortable? even the uncomfortableness of the feeling, that’s the biggest thing because people, the doctors, dismiss it as a small problem but they don’t understand the psychological impact of it.”
ryan was stuck in a cycle of having to eat to fuel his body and worrying about the effects that food would have. leisure activities, such as going to the beach, also required a level of mental effort that he couldn’t ignore because he would feel self-conscious about his appearance.
when his efforts to control his symptoms failed to give him the relief he desired, he went back to square one—google—and learned that there was one potential treatment that could change everything.
finding the treatment that works
ryan began researching upcoming treatments for ibs and looking for various clinical trials in canada to proactively change his situation. he finally stumbled upon fecal microbiota transplants (fmt), a relatively new treatment. it’s available in canada, but only for c. difficile—a bacterium that causes an infection in the colon.
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he found that the results of fmt were generally mixed, but the transplant did provide some solace for those living with ibs, so he weighed his options, figured out his financials, and decided to use his emergency savings to invest in his health.
he searched throughout europe and found that many clinics were out of his price range until one popped up in slovakia—the institute of predictive personalized medicine. he read through the reviews, many of which were glowing, and saw that some people experienced complete remission for as many as two years following the transplant. he decided to go for it.
“i’m like, ‘well, if i can at least go two years without this or longer, that’d be pretty good, and then i’ll save up again and go again.”
he emailed the clinic, got his money ready, and flew to slovakia to try the only therapy he was unable to access in canada or the united states.
he went through ten treatments, and by the sixth day, he was already starting to feel better. when he returned home, the symptoms hadn’t entirely disappeared, so he opted for a second round of treatment after being serendipitously laid off from work, giving him the time to fly across the world again.
after his second round of treatment, he was given a much-needed break from the bloating and pain he was forced to contend with for so many years.
“the bloating’s a lot smaller when i eat now,” he said. “i’ve been able to increase my tolerance for a lot of food.”
now, ryan can enjoy foods that cause him severe pain and bloating, including broccoli, garlic, onions, and wheat flours. this allows him to fuel his body with whole foods without the same level of worry he was forced to deal with prior to his fmt treatment.
“it’s been great. it’s totally life-changing,” he said.
the physical impact ibs has had on ryan has improved drastically, but he continues to seek care for the psychological damage he was subject to because “there’s still some leftover thoughts in my head” regarding anxiety, worry and body image issues.
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ryan admits that he’s not “completely out of the woods,” but the fecal transplant he received has given him some of his life back. he is grateful that he had the means and opportunity to participate in a treatment that isn’t available on this side of the atlantic.
he’s also realized firsthand how difficult it can be to live with gastrointestinal issues, such as ibs, making him more compassionate towards others.
“i’m just more sympathetic to other people who have it,” he said.
as for others with ibs, ryan hopes that one day, this life-changing treatment won’t be so hard to access.
“i’m hopeful one day they’ll approve it here because … it’s worth it,” he said, later continuing, “i went from living a life on eggshells all the time to living a life of normality again.”
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