How to calm down IBS stomach pain?

20 years old w/ abdominal pain, migraines. possible ulcer/lyme disease/ibs?

• short version: vegetarian with severe debilitating upper-middle abdominal pain, sometimes including some numbness and fever symptoms (with no change in thermometer reading), that occurs several times a month and worsens with movement and stress. have bled after taking advil on one isolated incident. has been occurring regularly for approximately 1 year. possible causes from research-- ulcer, chron's(no family history), ibs/severe lactose intolerance, gastroenteritis, deferred pain form nerve damage, lyme disease, or something else that i haven't found yet) as many details as i can think of: --- -20 years old -severe upper-middle abdominal ain -scale of 1-10 pain ranges from a 7-9 (had two severe mandible fractures after getting jumped, would say the jaw was a 9, but had painkillers) -time of day has minimal effect if any -pain is similar to having been punched in the stomach(have not been recently) -first possible occurrence was probably 4 years ago after a concert. isolated incident that i asked a doctor about and mentioned that i might've been kicked in the stomach in the pit, but no issues for 2+ years after that -bad enough to force me into bed for at least a day, often longer -randomly bloating(lots) -one isolated incident of blood in stool after taking advil/energy drink though it may have been muscle tearing as i had pushed some core work past my limits -advil/nsaid's is/are not a part of my routine, maybe 3 days a month i'll take two for migranes -usually feels better after a bowel movement (though not completely gone and is back within an hour). -bowel movements regular (lately constipated) and often accompanied by headaches -sometimes accompanied by gas -family history of lactose intolerance/reflux -occasionally numbness/tingling in my stomach-- maybe alcohol related, but not a regular drinker been months -i don't eat extremely healthy or poorly. -drank energy drinks daily for probably upwards of 10 months scattered through several years -caffeine hypersensitivity -no nausea -experienced one incident of isolated chest pain approximately one year ago -sometimes antacids seem to help, but not always -staying stationary lessens the pain until i move -pain lasts for several days at a time -nerve damage in the chin from jaw injury (maybe deferred pain?) -i exercise pretty frequently; however, i've had shin splints and occasionally take months off -i drink a lot of fluids sometimes. possibly severe dehydration?? -i might have a detached retina (according to an opt. that i explain some eye symptoms to, but he didn't see anything) -i sweat a lot, even in cool temperature. i suppose it could be severe dehydration too -don't smoke(maybe once a year i'll have a cigarillo/dutch at a party. i dabbled with weed a few years back to deal with the nerve damage in my chin, but haven't smoked in over a year or two), rarely drink(though i've binged on 2-3 occasions in a year or two) -when i had surgery for my jaw i was put on morphine and was constipated/had minimal bowel movements for a few weeks -during jaw surgery had allergic reaction to ammoxaxillin(just caused a rash) -i may have concussion symptoms (either from the jaw injury(got jumped) or childhood(sensitivity to light, migraines somewhat constantly, bouts of lethargy, inability to concentrate(was previously 4.0 student), those symptoms worsen after pushing self in physical activity)) -i'm not hygienic enough -i have had black widows/brown recluse in the house and thought that i may have had a spider bite after the pain about a week ago (teeth marks and large rash/swollen area on leg), but this happened often -some bone pain/joint pain/muscle pain. specifically lower-body -insomnia since ~13, probably as long as i can remember there has been some form -i am a vegetarian (still drink dairy/eat cheese--i suppose it could be a lactose thing though i don't eat much of it and the pain lasts for days(and i eat yogurt before dairy/after dairy usually) -i take vitamins regularly and recently started taking antihistamines for oak allergies (which may actually have reduced symptoms--or may be completely unrelated) -i longboard(skateboard) regularly... i suppose the bouncing could have to do with it, but i am doubtful -i have had a tick bite cause a rash (not bulls-eye), and spent a lot of time in the woods in the past -increasingly poor vision -- i'm unemployed and i don't have the money to go to a doctor unless it's an absolute emergency, so please don't suggest that. if i could afford it then i would've already gone.

• Answer:

  Since you can't afford a doctor then there's probably no point getting a pseudo-diagnosis from people here of lyme's since you wouldn't then be able to get antibiotics for treatment. Actually there's no real point in getting a pseudo diagnosis from anyone here at al - we're not professionals and we can't prescribe for you... even if you could afford to get the prescriptions filled. If you want to go the no/low cost route the only thing that makes sense to me is to assume that you have some kind of disorder focused on your digestive tract and therefore experiment with what you put into your body in order to see what makes it feel better and what makes it feel worse. Try something like an exclusion duiet to see if there is any particular food that brings this on and then try excluding gluten products/casein and milk products/ oxylates/salicylates all those kinds of things that some people have problems with. These tatics would be a natural health approach to any of the possible culprits of chrohns, ibs etc that you mentioned. If you have these kinds of problems then as a result you often have accompanying nutritional defficiencies. In particular, migraine with numbness and pain could be linked to low magnesium levels. As a first quicjk and dirty fix I'd try out a magnesium supplement and see if it helped. But you'd have to go a lot deeper to really sort this out. Good luck!