Private clinics

Hi, I´m in this group on behalf of my boyfriend who has been suffering with IBS on and off since he was 13. He doesn´t trust any doctors any more and he thinks it´s him who is the best expert on it although he suffers with a lot of pain every day and doesn´t know how to stop it.

So I´m investigating on my own now - I´ve found a few specialists around UK who deal with this sort of problem but they´re private and charge a lot of money. Is there a reasonable chance that treatment at a place like this will actually help?

[Linley]

How caring of you to do this-I am sure there will be members of this lovely community who will be able to give you some helpful suggestions. Firstly, has your boyfriend actually had a diagnosis of IBS after his GP has done all the usual exclusion tests?

Moving onto the NHS (I take it you are in the Uk) versus Private-our NHS is wonderful but I feel that resources has not been forthcoming compared to the growth in the population therefore I know from friends experiences that a wait to see a specialist is quite long especially if you are referred as a non urgent case and are in constant pain it can be very distressing and raises anxiety levels. Private clinics I would try to avoid but Private hospitals say Spire/BUPA or BMI run GP and specialists surgeries that have fixed fees. In a private appointment your boyfriend will have the time to talk about his concerns and hopefully get an answer. Hope I have not gone on too much. Good luck and let us know how you get on

[YellowSubmarine1878]

Hi, firstly i can emphaphise with how your boyfreind and you are affected by this. Biggest respect to you for supporting him, luckily my girlfreind is the same. For me the best way to get rid of the pain is yoga diet and supplements. Going to someone in private care can be costly but if nothing else is working it may be something that is a neccesity and no amount of money is worth your own sanity and pain reduction. In terms of diet what has helped me conquer and fight this ailment is cutting out sugar and keeping a regular schedule of eating as well as a food diary. Yoga for me worked far more effectively than any amount of buscopan (although it does help) and in terms of supplements CBD capsuels have helped my stress and anxeity. If you or your boyfreind need any support i am more than happy to help.

Best wishes

[Liz1234ty]

After a while I hit a brick wall with the NHS as once they had ruled out serious and obvious conditions through the standard basic tests then gave a diagnosis of functional gut disorder and booked me an appointment with a dietitian that was that. No more help possible. So assuming that your boyfriend has undergone the standard tests recently (they have improved in accuracy etc in recent years and more are available) then I would recommend seeing a private specialist.

It was only through paying privately that i was diagnosed with SIBO and am now being treated for that so for me it has been an essential piece of the puzzle. I discovered that private tests are way more comprehensive. For example you can get to do a 3 day stool test to check for parasites and various gut/bacteria imbalances that is not available on the NHS to anything like this level of detail so can easily miss things. I am seeing a Nutritional Therapist who charges £75 for a 30 minute consultation (I have had two so far) and of course the tests are extra. it has been challenging paying for all this when it should be freely available on the NHS but my husband and I decided to put aside our annual holiday money for it as our health and happiness is the most important thing so i would urge you both to consider this if you have the spare income but do see an IBS specialist rather than a general GI consultant (assuming that you have already seen a general GI consultant on the NHS who has not been much help). They rarely bother much with IBS cases as it is so difficult to treat and so often never get to the bottom of what is causing your symptoms.

I have found it beneficial to use the twin track approach of both NHS and private and keep both informed e.g. NHS dietitian and private testing for SIBO. That is one way of keeping costs down.

[JohnS63]

My experience thus far with the NHS hasn't been good either. It seems that they would rather 'play down' your symptoms and not provide any treatment or take an ice age to take any action. For instance,I waited five months for a lactose intolerance test and that was just the test, so heaven knows how long before I see a consultant to discuss where to go now based on the test result!

I'm planning on going private as soon as my funds allow this.

John

[Hidden]

It's lovely of you to be helping your boyfriend with this. Personally, I just found people who could diagnose and give labels to a condition they did not really master. I got tired of talking to specialists who were giving me their best advice but who didn't really know. When I looked at the private root I didn't find any specialists who themselves had had IBS.

Since then I have fully recovered from IBS, so it is possible. By that I mean that I no longer have symptoms, can eat and do what I like - because I took out the root causes. I spent a long time researching my IBS, experimenting and choosing to work with people who mastered particular methods not usually used for IBS.

I don't know the specifics of his IBS, but you/he might find some useful information on my website: sickofibs.com/ibs-triggers/...

Hope this helps,

Alison

[auntyjean]

Well I wanted a comprehensive stool test but it is not available on the NHS so I searched for somewhere to do it privately. I found Kate Arnold and had a Skype consultation as it is not possible to have the test without referral. The test found I had two parasites and virtually no friendly bacteria. I had been taking probiotics advised by the hospital but they were only 3 billion parts. I am now on 20 billion and that will have to go up to 450 billion. The parasites are hard to deal with. I could have a specific antibiotic but Kate did not recommend it in view of the poor state of my gut but said it was up to me. I decided to try Chinese medicine to speed up the process to get rid of the parasites. The fodmap diet made me worse. I start the herbs this week.