Irritable Bowel Syndrome is more common than we know or think. Having IBS and writing about it helps me, I also hope it will benefit others too.

As a child, I had no idea that I would be dealing with Irritable Bowel, but looking back it makes complete sense. Living with cerebral palsy, made me more prone to constipation and being constipated made me more susceptible to IBS.

It's not always easy to equate the symptoms with a condition. Unless we're familiar with the term, or know someone who has it, we assume it's what we deal with, but rarely equate it back to a diagnosis, or know what the symptoms or the diagnosis is. I always assumed that it was something I was eating.

With Irritable Bowel, it is easy to struggle with the usual abdominal pain and bloating of the abdomen and although depression, headaches, poor concentration and chronic fatigue may all be synonymous with IBS, luckily I didn't have those.

It doesn’t always follow that if a family member has it, we will inherit it. Some of the symptoms linked to IBS can be avoided, just by us leading a healthy lifestyle.