Hello folks, sorry for the very vague title! I wanted to ask you all for a bit of help. I am currently in my second year of a Masters in Communication (Business). As my life revolves around IBS and Anxiety i thought i might as well complete my thesis on the said topic lol. Im looking for some ideas on what i could do though. An example might be to research Attitudes of employers on staff with IBS.
Any ideas will be welcomed
It would be interesting to know the statistics for how many people are diagnosed with IBS, who later find they actually have something else such as Coeliacs disease, or bowel or ovarian cancer?
I think this especially applies to older people who don't generally develop IBS once past a certain age. For example I recall hearing an elderly woman in the bed next to mine, while in hospital, saying that she had been told her symptoms were IBS for a few years - and now doctors were telling her she actually had a malignant tumor.
I'm not sure about attitudes in the work place because I'm self employed and only have symptoms of IBS - not yet diagnosed. The first GP told me my symptoms (constipation and white bits in stool) were all "just" health related anxiety so I've delayed mentioning it to another doctor by several months. I now have a great GP who is saying IBS should only be a diagnosis of exclusion in anyone over 40.
But I think attitudes of GPs can be a dismissive where anxiety and IBS are concerned - and this then sets a precedent for other sectors of society. For myself it took a lot of courage to mention it at all - only to be dismissed as a hypochondriac. I did make a formal complaint and received an apology from the practice manager. So I'd be tempted to research this first?
Ps and by telling GPs you are researching this for your Masters you might help some doctors brush up on their communication skills re IBS too?
Thanks Twitchytoes. Ive had IBS from my late teens and i am now 34. Ive often felt I've been fobbed off with an IBS diagnosis. I was thinking of going private but I'm sick of going private for things. So far I've gone private for my eye care (lazer), my foot (football injury), hypnosis and cbt for ibs/anxiety and currently myself and my wife are going private for pregnancy help! We are on no big wages so are out a fortune. Its either that or wait years for any help.
Anyway I'm getting away from the subject lol. I have to keep it business/community related but the idea of looking in to GP's attitudes towards ibs was definitely one i was thinking of. After all GP's are the heart of the community and are businesses really.
Yes - and I'm suggestimg this as a person with two small businesses which have been directly and indirectly affected by poor NHS attitudes and treatment to date. And also as a lay inspector for the NHS! I think using primary care as your focus would be excellent and should tick your boxes too. Good luck!
Hi twitchy toes Denvajade here you might like to read my posts to IBTired today. Finally I have been diagnosed, thought it might be your problem.
Thanks - I just looked this up on NHS choices and read this paragraph
"People tend to underestimate how serious their symptoms are and that’s frustrating for doctors as we often see patients with gastrointestinal conditions later than we’d like, sometimes only when they’ve had their symptoms for years. If we could see them earlier we could, with treatment, improve their quality of life immensely," he said.
He advised anyone who has taken a pharmacy remedy for a digestive problem for two weeks with no improvement to consult their GP.
He also highlighted five "hardcore" symptoms, which mean you should see a doctor without delay. These symptoms may be an alarm warning of a serious digestive illness:
a sudden, persistent change in the pattern of how your bowels work
bleeding from the back passage
increasing heartburn, indigestion or other stomach pain
losing weight unexpectedly
difficulty swallowing"
So if you see a GP with most of these symptoms as the NHS suggests - you might be lucky enough to get a doctor who takes you seriously. But I believe you are equally likely to find your symptoms dismissed as anxiety related. Certainly this has been my experience to date and I've had some pretty serious gastrointestinal problems. My new GP is great though and is a credit to her profession - but I've seen umpteen before I found her. So I did go to GPs with tummy problems and have done everything they've suggested but never before have I been referred to a gastroenterologist!
i asked to see a dietician and the doctor said there was no need and printed off a FODMAP guide from the internet! Couldn't look at him and just left.
Personally i would say many employers are intolerant of any illness within the workplace, especially if it becomes longterm and they still have to fund your paypacket even if you arent available to work. I have a friend with longterm type 1 diabetes which took a big turn for the worse, forcing much time out of the workplace and he had a lot of hassle about it.
A potential problem being most of us see ibs not as a real diagnosis but a label letting everyone know that the medical profession hasnt got a clue whats really wrong with us.
Take a look at @layali_Alkhalid's Tweet: twitter.com/layali_Alkhalid...
you might want to look at the link above ..and you can relate to what i want to say about how the food / vitamin companies need more sick people inorder for their business to florish and expand ..the sicker the people ..the better for them obviously .Personally , i receive so many emails with links to special programs and food supplements claiming that they are the key / the basis / the magic pill ..etc name it !! for the treatment of ibs or other related illnesses.
If i don't reply or subscribe or purchase their products , they keep on pushing and pushing and i hate people who want to take advantage and make a living upon other people who are vulnerable, weak, desperate due to their chronic illnesses !! This is just so cruel 
So ..maybe ..you can write about this subject as it involves both business and chronic disease such as ibs .
Best of luck 
Look up , I have been soooo I'll for four years looking nine months pregnant and no doctor diagnosing it till I moved countries. Doctors telling me to lose weight, go on a rice diet ( interesting the worse thing to do as its greatly effected by carbs) also told IBS and have to put up with it. It is fermentation in the gut and small bowel causing infection.
Just me again, I had symptoms where doctors thought I had liver cancer, then ovarian cancer, then maybe pancreas and so it went on. I was soo huge!
Sorry I said look up then missed out the condition Dysobisis. Ferment ion of the gut then getting infected.
Hi IBTired - I was 'diagnosed' by my doctor with IBS back in 1996 following a bout Salmonella (all I did was eat a spoonful of yogurt!). To try and cut a long story short:
- I had a Colonoscopy and Endoscopy and was then 'diagnosed' with the IBS
- I was offered Colofac which didn't work (I told the doctor this) so I looked at trying my own thing. I read an article about Multibionta multivitamins. This chap had also been diagnosed with supposed IBS and then started taking these and it changed his life. I have been taking them ever since I read the article and although nothing like as bad when I was first diagnosed am still suffering to which it has been getting worse of late
- I was eventually referred to a dietician after pushing a locum doctor (he is now actually my permanent doctor); was told that I would be put on the FODMAPs diet; would take six months to train a person but to ring if I hadn't heard within 6 months; rang after 7 months and told that the funding had been removed so I would no longer be treated! You can probably imagine I was not impressed as that was the end of it, I was then left to cope on my own
- Recently read about H pylori; spoke to my Nurse Practitioner about this and she suggested a stool sample - unfortunately all came back as negative so back to square 1
All in all doctors just diagnose this condition without even knowing what's wrong with you and if affects people's lives so much that they are restricted in what they do. I love powerwalking and have taken part in 6 charity marathons but couldn't do one this year as I suffered so much last year with IBS - it took about a week to recover!
My suggestion, therefore, is that doctors' attitudes need changing and more should be available on the NHS - how much money do people that have been diagnosed with this spend, money which a lot cannot afford! Doctors' attitudes need changing and this is where I feel it would be helpful carrying out the research.
By the way I am 57 and diagnosed 21 years ago this Summer.
Best of luck
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