Is this IBS? Advice needed

[supergolden88]

Very briefly as am at work and supposedly busy... Following a very stressful January I started having the following symptoms. Straight or soon after eating lunch at work I would have moderate to sometimes severe stomach pain usually on left side. Pain would come and go and I would also suffer from terrible bloating, gassiness (sorry TMI) etc. I looked up the symptoms and they seem to be consistent with IBS. Does not happen every day but it happens a lot and is making me rather miserable.

Went to the GP and was told to wait a few weeks before investigating further.

Any IBS sufferers out there? Does this sound likely to you?

edited to add I know this is not strictly a family issue rather a personal one but not sure I feel comfortable sharing with rest of the forum!

[Saffron]

Pain usu on the left side after eating... and your GP doesn't want to investigate for an ulcer? It sounds like symptoms of an upper GI ulcer. It could also be irritation in the spleen, or just even just something as simple as a food tolerance. I'd go back and see a GP again, and push for further investigation.

Because the pain you describe is severe, I would think the least a GP should do is ask for an H-Pylori test, FoB, and full blood count... just off the top of my head, though I'm not a GP, but these are very basic tests.

Also, even if H-pylori test is negative, it doesn't nec mean that there isn't an ulcer. It just means that if there is an ulcer, it's not associated with the common bacteria H-pylori. In which case you might still find a PPI like omeprazole to help your symptoms.

On the hand, if it is the early stages of IBS, or even just an acutely irritated bowl (not nec IBS), Colpermin should help. The drawback is that if it's an ulcer, Colpermin can irritate the ulcer, so you'd want to rule that out first, in my experience. xx

[supergolden88]

Thanks for the feedback and some very nice PMs.

I am going back to the GP soon - I have had too many days off due to illness (and baby illness) recently so I don't want to push my luck too much as I have been in this new job less than a month.

To be fair to the doctor she asked me to wait because I was experiencing a lot of other issues (was mugged and had hurt my spine; had a terrible cold and was generally unwell). But it doesn't look like this is something that will resolve itself.

For those of you with IBS any tips welcome. Dont want to go on an exclusion diet yet but will if GP advises it... Am taking Colpermin though not consistently enough probably

[Saffron]

If the problem/pain occurs, mainly on work days, what's different about work than home?

If you have a job where you are seated much of the time, your posture in the chair could be affecting your digestion. Even if your posture appears fairly good, there may be something very subtle about the postitioning of your chair, desk, ect that is not great for the GI system.

What do you eat or drink at work that's different from home? It might be something as simple as drinking coffee at work versus drinking tea at home.

Of course a new job and other issues are going to cause you stress, but if there is an underlying medical condition that should be treated, then this is another source of stress in itself. My personal feeling is that all she may have been well-intentioned, the GP did you great disserve by sending you away without any clinical investigations, b/c now the 'not knowing' seems to be a source of stress for you too.

There are so many things that can be quickly checked by haematology. Are your white cells up? Is your iron low? Could you be vit D deficient? Is there a thyroid imbalance?

I think it's unfair to patients to ascribe symptoms simply to 'stress' w/o investigating any clinical parameters. Practitioners have a duty of care to patients who come to them in good faith. Not investigating means missing an opportunity potentially to diagnose and treat a medical condition, IMHO.

[catherinearnoldyoga]

Hello

I am training to be a nutritional therapist and this is exactly the sort of thing you can treat successfully through diet. Stress and the gut is also inextricably linked so something to consider. I also teach yoga should you want to tackle this side of things ;)

I would highly recommend going to see a nutritional therapist and if you can't afford it then I can also highly recommend a consultation at my college (college of naturopathic medicine) which is just ?25. Pm me if you would like more details. I hope you find some relief soon.