Gurgling Guts!

[Paul1066]

Hi there, just thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone has any suggestions, I've had what I suspect is IBS for over three years now (flare ups of bloating, fatigue, flatulence, some diarrhoea) and my GP has finally referred me to a hospital specialist, I've been waiting for an appointment for over half a year now and have no idea when I'll actually be seen. I've never been diagnosed with any condition although had tests for various things all of which have come back OK. It occurs to me that a possible sign that I'm going to have a flare up is when I eat something I have quite significant gurling in my intestines say 1/2 hour after eating, no one food seems to set this off, and seems to me this can't have anything to do with my large intestine as there is no way the food could have reached my large intestine 1/2 hour after eating it. I usually take Mebeverine before eating. Anyone experience this as well? Thanks Paul

[Maureen1958]

They can't diagnose you with IBS, only check it isn't anything they can check for, ie Celiac, Chrons, Colitis or Cancer, so if you haven't got those you have IBS!

Regards the rate your food goes through you. Some years back when my IBS was more runny, I often found if I had tomatoes at lunchtime, I would get pain straight away and would rush to wash-up the dishes, then make a hot drink and go to toilet and tomatoes pips would come out. Bearing in mind that I hadn't had tomatoes for several days, it had to be what I had just eaten as I went several times a day!

[Paul1066 in reply to Maureen1958]

Thanks for that, I've long suspected IBS is the label you're given if they haven't a clue what's wrong with you, my brother was told he had IBS and endured the misery of it for 10 years before they finally did some exploratory tests and found out it wasn't!

[Maureen1958 in reply to Paul1066]

So what did your brother have if you don't mind me asking?

[Paul1066 in reply to Maureen1958]

A fistula between his bladder and colon

[Maureen1958]

That doesn't sound very nice, is he okay now?!

Regards my comment above, I would just like to add that it wasn't the tomatoes that caused the IBS, I have had IBS everyday for years. It was just at that time, I was trying to keep to a regime of only going three times a day and after lunch was my last trip to the loo for that day. So, I always went at that time (with some urgency) it was just easy to tell it was what I had just eaten due to the pips. If it had been in my system for several days the pips would not have been visible, they would have been lost in the noise, so to speak!

[Paul1066 in reply to Maureen1958]

Yea he’s fine but still needs to be careful what he eats and he’s been giving me a steady supply of “quack” remedies to try haha

[Liz1234ty]

Hi Paul,I have very similar symptoms. This can be caused by an issue with the small intestine as well as the large hence you notice it earlier after eating. For some people it can be caused by SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth). The bacteria cause gas as a byproduct which causes the bloating and gurgling. There is a test for this but mainly available privately through nutritionists. Also, this is a disputed field of research. My own gastro does not bother testing but instead gives 2 weeks of an antibiotic called Rifaximin and if that works he thinks it is SIBO and cured and if not then more likely to be IBS.

[Paul1066 in reply to Liz1234ty]

Thank you for that, that is very helpful