After 11 years of suffering, I think I’ve finally found the answers to my problem. I’ve had this noisy, embarrassing, gurgly, gassy, bloated stomach, and nothing I have tried has helped enough to where I think I’m “normal” again. The prescriptions, homeopathy, hypnotism, nutritional supplements and special diets didn’t help. Or rather, they helped but not satisfactorily.

When stress levels get high, my symptoms get worse. My stomach gets gurgly, I get bloated and gassy, and I’m tired and easily irritated. The worst part is that I’ve had these symptoms for 12 years. They started a few months after getting married. The start could’ve been the result of me getting out of grad school with a degree in Music and wondering, “What now?” Or they could’ve started because my gut knew that my new marriage was wrong, but I didn’t listen to my gut. Because I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I thought I was a freak and that my stomach problems were all in my head. I thought my body acted irrationally, and I didn’t know how to feel “normal” again.

I’m going through a lot right now. I’m overwhelmed. I feel defeated emotionally. I’ve been cheating on my diet. I was eating so well before, and now I’m trying to get back on track. I’m going through a divorce, am a single mom who’s about to go back to school in a couple weeks, moved this past weekend to a new city (my old hometown) after 18 years by the ocean, and I’m trying to do my freelance web design before my son wakes up in the morning since he no longer naps.