IBS?? or something else??

Hey there Mish.  Good to hear you have a colonoscopy scheduled - that should give you some answers.  Your symptoms of gas, bloating, pain, and diarrhea are hallmark symptoms of IBS, but they can also be attributed to other disorders.  Where exactly is your pain?  How often are you having diarrhea?  You can be as descriptive as you want...we've heard it ALL before.

And congratulations on your decision to embark on recovery for your eating disorder.  That's a huge thing!  Can I ask what kind of eating disorder you've been dealing with?  That could give some clues about what's going on in your digestive system.  I assume your weight loss was purposeful, and if you had the help of a nutritionist, it was probably done healthfully. 

There are some great peeps on this board who can give you loads of info.  Some advice you might hear: start keeping a meticulous food and symptoms diary.  Also list any medications that you take and the effects they have.  This will be very beneficial for your GI doc.

Diagnosing GI problems can take a LOT of time and can be a frustrating process...we sympathize completely.

 

Hi Sarita,

Thank you on the congrats! I am trying so hard to put my ed behind me and become healthy. I have mostly been bulimic, but compulsive over eater and anorexic also. The pain usually comes on with the gas and bloating and is my whole lower stomach. And a weird feeling when i release by bowels also. I go about 5-10 times a day. It is either diarrhea or very soft and thin.

I have been working with a nutritionist to get my weight down a healthy way. Last year i took a medicationthat put 25 lbs on me in 2 months and caused me to relapse. So i have a whole team working with me to get me healthy and lose my extra weight the right way. Since Oct.I have lost 20-25 lbs.and i feel healthier except for this stomach issue. Oh and i have not purges since oct 21st!!

I kept the food diary, dropped the lactose, then the wheat, then the soy... and it still happened. So we figured it was none of that. Then i was taking some kind of primadophilis?? vitamin that i stopped taking.. and it wasnt that either.

I am glad my colonoscopy is soon, just a couple more weeks.

Thanks for your help

nerves can trigger IBS. IBS is not a physical problem with the intestines it is a functional so it is not something they find when they do tests. It is a rule out proceedure. It sounds to me since the Prevacid worked that it could also be acid reflux. Have you had an endoscopy as you may very well have a bacteria in the stomach like h. pylori. When they do an endo they check for different kinds of bacteria and gastritis, etc. You might talk with the Doctors about this as it may be something an endo would show. Good luck. Let us know what they say. Yeah, the prep is the pits. Test is easier or should be.

Hey Guys,   What is the prep for the endo..  I had one and don't remember a prep..  I think I need another one..  I have always had lower abd pain now I wake up in the middle of the night with bad middle of the tummy pain..  Burning and aching pain..  Nothing helps..  I feel really hungry sometimes..  I don't get heartburn..  What could this be??  Maybe hpylrori??  Has anyone had the small bowel endoscopy??  With the little camera??  I might ask for that test..  It is bad enough with the IBS now this crap!!!!  Any help would be great..  Thanks...

I'm new to this site but asked to be checked for c diff (clostridium difficile) specially since you were on antibiotics prior to this. I was given Clindamycin (a big time antibiotic) within 2 weeks i got extremely crampy, gassy, diarrhea and chills. I had to battle c diff for 2 months, the sooner you take care of it the less the damage. It has left me with mild IBS but i'm always wary that c diff will return (20% people diagnosed with c diff will keep relapsing) but i hope it's nothing major going on with you, good luck!

if it persists ask about having a stool test done for c diff although it usually shows in the colonoscopy. Good luck, no two doctors will agree on the same thing so if any questions, get a second opinion.

The ingredients of what you take? Do you mean the chemical composition of prescription medicines? You should be able to get that from a pharmacist or even a book like The Drug Guide or Physican's Desk Reference to Drugs (can't remember the title(s) exactly, but you probably can find one at the drug store).

No, there is no test because IBS isn't a disease; it's a term used to describe a condition with, generally, no known cause. Basically they test you for everything else first and if you look to be perfectly healthy, they say, oh, you have IBS and then shoo you out the door.

If you think you have a bad bacteria, such as C. difficile, or a parasite, then you can get a stool sample tested. There is also a new test where you breathe into a machine and it analyzes your breath to see if you have a bacteira overgrowth. Both of these are treated with antibiotics, and, if your doctor doesn't have his head in the sand, some probiotics as well. If you have bowel problems after having your gall bladder removed, you can be put on Questran or Welchol for excess bile (diarrhea) or you can get some bile salts if you are constipated. If you are prone to vaginal yeast infections or thrush (yeast infection of the mouth) or even urinary tract infections, then you may have a yeast overgrowth of the intestinal tract too. I don't know if they can find that out by the breath test or not, but I think yeast overgrowth is also treated with antibiotics (and hopefully probiotics).

Then there are the people who have no known cause for their bowel problems, so the theory is that they have some sort of muscles or nerve issues at play in their intestinal tract--usually referred to as a motility issue. Either your intestines push things through too fast or they do it too slow. There are some strong prescription drugs for both problems, but they have a lot of side affects and are only employed for really bad cases. Everyone else just tries to make do with Imodiums or laxatives. There are some new anti-depressant drugs out now, though, that are supposed to help some people with their bowel function; something about the anti-depressant affects the motility of the bowel and makes it function better. I don't know if anyone here is on one of those drugs, but back when I first got on, there were some people trying them. Maybe they got cured and left the forum (one can hope!).