Tim Phelan : Romance, Riches, and Restrooms

• Home
• About the Author
• About the Book
• Buy the Book
• Tim’s Blog
• IBS Resources

PHILADELPHIA, Penn., July 2008—Think of Tim Phelan as the Bob Dole of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, except a lot funnier.

Phelan does not resemble Dole in the senatorial sense, but rather in the spokesman-for-the-taboo-bodily-function sense. In his laugh-out-loud memoir, Romance, Riches, and Restrooms: A Cautious Tale of Ambitious Dreams and Irritable Bowels, Phelan shines light on IBS, a seriously debilitating illness that impacts an estimated 58 million Americans.

Writing in crisp, smart prose, Phelan recounts how he navigated – professionally and romantically – through his 20s and 30s while dealing with IBS. Despite (or because of) the subject matter, Romance, Riches, and Restrooms manages to be enormously appealing and entertaining all the while educating the reader about this very real disorder. Phelan’s self-depricating tone and offbeat look at IBS help take the embarrassment and stigma out of this surprisingly common, yet often ignored, medical syndrome.

While one of Phelan’s goals is to entertain, equally important is his goal to raise public awareness about the day-to-day impact and challenges of living with IBS. Luckily for the reader, Romance, Riches, and Restrooms succeeds in doing both.

To obtain a review copy of Romance, Riches, and Restrooms, a 2008 Independent Publishers IPPY Award bronze medal winner, or to schedule an interview with Tim Phelan, call 610/420-5011 or send an email to timcphelan@yahoo.com. For more information about the book, visit www.romancerichesrestrooms.com.

Tim Phelan is a good-looking, successful guy. But like Ben Stiller’s memorable character in the movie “Along Came Polly,” he has an issue: Close proximity to a bathroom at all times is imperative.

In what is likely the most unique book ever published on the subject of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Phelan’s offbeat and surprisingly entertaining memoir, Romance, Riches, and Restrooms, is an amazingly honest, often comical look at a subject most people tend to avoid. Unlike Stiller’s character, Phelan presents a much more accurate picture of the IBS Sufferer. But even non-sufferers will enjoy this comic take… as virtually all of us have had an “uh-oh” moment at a most inopportune time, when a sprint to the nearest bathroom seems like a matter of life and death.

Welcome to Tim Phelan’s world.

“Embarrassment and stupidity kept me from talking to a doctor about the perplexing symptoms that had been destroying my quality of life for 15 years,” says Phelan. “I was convinced I was the only person in the world whose fear of not always being near a toilet had taken over nearly every aspect of his life.”

According to Dr. Douglas Drosman, a physician at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Center for Functional Gastrointestinal and Motility Disorders, the nature of IBS symptoms make it very difficult for sufferers to talk about “Awareness is essential to further support research and improved care. Although IBS is very common, few people ever seek treatment for their symptoms.”

In reality, 58 million Americans suffer from IBS, and like Phelan, don’t realize it or don’t want to realize it. Yet suffer they do and miss work. IBS is the second leading cause of workplace absenteeism each year, second to the common cold.

Using a blend of humor, personal drama and education, Phelan aims to entertain but also spread the word to the millions of people with IBS that they are not alone, there is a way to lead a normal life, and to avoid the mistakes he made which affected his professional and personal lives.

In Romance, Riches and Restrooms, Tim Phelan, a good-looking college graduate, with a dual French and Economics major, is poised and ready to live life in the fast lane…getting on the fast track to luxury-home ownership and country-club living. But his digestive tract had other plans which threatened to derail his train ride to success. Set amid the rigid expectations of a polite society where mentioning bodily functions is taboo, Phelan’s book reads like a hilarious comic novel complete with Phelan’s narrative on uncomfortable dating situations and landing jobs; his sarcastic views on the “movers and shakers” in the executive world and his experimentation with IBS treatments such as hydrocolonic therapy, hypnosis, building “dams” and “avalanche blasting.”

“Writing about my ordeal in a sarcastic humorous manner turned out to be a great way for me to cope with what at times felt like an unbearable and isolating existence,” Phelan stated.

Phelan’s easy writing style immediately captures the reader’s attention and has them eagerly following the offbeat odyssey of this buttoned-down bachelor as he struggles to navigate the high-pressure world of investment banking and the San Francisco Dating scene while struggling with IBS.

Some 58 million Americans suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. They live life based on bathroom proximity. They lose jobs, girlfriends, boyfriends, and lovers and traveling can be a precarious proposition. Tim Phelan, author of Romance, Riches, and Restrooms, a one-of-a-kind book on the subject of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), provides a unique take on this malady. He’s willing to talk about it; laugh about it, and get help for those who suffer from it.

“Embarrassment and stupidity kept me from talking to a doctor about the perplexing symptoms that had been destroying my quality of life for 15 years,” says Phelan. “I was convinced I was the only person in the world whose fear of not always being near a toilet had taken over nearly every aspect of his life.”

Phelan, a handsome executive who studied stand-up comedy, uses his unique background to entertain and educate. Phelan can discuss:

• How IBS really affected his life and why people wait so long to talk to a doctor about this condition.
• The challenges of dating and working with IBS – his advice to others.
• The surprising cost of IBS; it is the 2nd leading cause of work loss in the U.S.
• His most embarrassing moments with IBS
• The unorthodox treatments – the dumbest he tried, the best, and the craziest.

• IBS really messed up your life. Why did you wait so long to talk to a doctor about your symptoms?
• After being too embarrassed to discuss your mysterious symptoms with anybody else (family, friends, doctors), what possessed you to tell the world about your experience by writing a memoir about it?
• Who did you write this book for?
• What are the challenges of dating with IBS?
• What are the challenges of working with IBS?
• What are some of your most embarrassing moments with IBS?
• You’ve experimented with some pretty unorthodox treatment methods (cognitive-behavioral therapy, hypnosis, hydrocolonic therapy, over-the-counter treatments, etc). What’s the craziest thing you tried? How about the dumbest?
• IBS sufferers are often told, “It’s all in your head.” What did the experts tell you about the role of anxiety and psychological stress on your digestive tract?
• Although it’s embarrassing to discuss with others, you recommend coming clean and getting the fact that you have IBS out in the open as soon as possible. Why?
• There are 40 or so IBS self-help books on the market. Why did you decide to write a memoir on the subject?
• You’d been suffering for 12 years before you first heard the words irritable, bowel, and syndrome used in the same sentence. How did you feel when you found out that you were not the only person in the world with these particular symptoms?
• Are you now cured from IBS?
• What advice would you give to somebody who is suffering from IBS symptoms?
• Where can people go to learn more about IBS?