ABOMINAL AND WONDERING!

[lYNNETT]

WHY WOULD A DOCTOR TELL YOU HE BELIEVES IT IS IBS. TOLD HIM HOW MY ABOMINAL HURTS MOSTLY ALL THE TIME. EVEN IF I HAVE GOOD BOWEL MOVEMENTS. I KNOW I WORRY ALOT BECAUSE BY MYSELF AFTER MY MOTHER PASSED AWAY. I TAKE CARE OF HER CATS AND THEY DO LOVE ME BACK. AND I HAVE 1 MYSELF. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS. BUT YOU KNOW THE PAIN STARTED AFTER I TOOK A PROBOTIC FOR COLON. JUST WONDERING....

[Ekky]

Perhaps it's stress after losing your mum,try to keep calm join a tai chi club to help relieve stress in your life,try to get out for a walk every day even if it's just to the end of your road, you'll feel so much better ,and drink a glass of water with your medication

[fodmap-er]

Sorry to hear about your mother's death. It can be devastating and for me marked a permanent change in my life. Re your guts: some people can get an overgrowth of intestinal flora in the gut called SIBO. I had to stop taking pro-biotic about a year ago because of this. Just eat lots of fresh leafy veg and other veg (maybe not cauli) and cut out meat and ALL animal products esp dairy, cut out all grains and legumes as I do and things should gradually improve. And Like Ekky said, get outside every day, do some walking, go somewhere nice like park etc. And give all those cats a cuddle for me x

[Iesgobdafydd]

IBS is reasonably common, but there are a number of other serious conditions with similar symptoms that they should rule out before they give you the "garbage can" diagnosis of IBS - in other words, there's no test for IBS, it's what they call anything with recurring abdominal symptoms after they eliminate things they can do scientific tests to diagnose. If your doctor hasn't asked you for blood tests and stool samples, he's not done those other tests he should be doing before he concludes it's IBS. There are also breath tests for SIBO which fodmap-er mentioned, which are considered unreliable by some doctors but you may be able to pay to have them done privately if your doctor won't offer you them and you want them. The fact that your problems started after taking probiotics could possibly indicate SIBO - some people say it can get worse after taking probiotics - but probiotics are also used in treating SIBO, and perhaps it could be a coincidence that you got sick just then. My doctor says I've got IBS, and my bowel movements are mostly fine, and that puzzled me for a long time because when you start reading about IBS one of the main things people talk about is diarrhoea and constipation. Reading the book Irritable Bowel Solutions by John Hunter, and a lot of experimenting with my diet helped me understand better how the doctor could say that - IBS is really a cover-all name for any long-term gut problems that they can't discover by tests to be something else, it doesn't even have to have any diarrhoea or constipation it can be just bloating and pain. What John Hunter explains as well is that if your IBS responds to foods you eat then it's normally IBS-D, so since mine did seem to get worse if I ate certain foods I figured I probably fell in that category, although the worse mine tended to get was slightly loose stools once a day and discomfort until I went and used the toilet, and as we all know, real diarrhoea is a whole lot worse than that. As far as I can figure out, they don't really understand the causes of IBS although they know that stress can be one cause, but IBS may really be more than one illness and have different causes in different people. I strongly recommend the book - your library may well have it - and make sure your doctor's tested you to rule out other problems. There are a million and one different special diets, medications, nutritional supplements, herbal remedies, exercises, &c out there that people with IBS have found helpful, but the same ones don't work for everyone so you have to try things and see for yourself what works. The two treatments that have had good proven success rates in clinical trials are a low-FODMAP diet, and hypnotherapy.

[Rozzy46]

Have you asked your doctor for proper tests such as a colonoscopy, just to set your mind at rest? Sometimes just worrying about our abdomens causes more tension, more cramps and more pain. The previous suggestion of doing tai chi or yoga or whatever helps you de-stress would also be very helpful for you. I also find Colpermin peppermint oil capsules helps the pain and relaxes cut muscles.