IBS Symptoms?

[Carterusm49]

Hi, I started with acid reflux and upset stomach around five months ago, which has steadily persisted. Doctor gave me omeprazole which gave me migraines and sickness followed by esomeprazole which wasn’t any better - despite helping the acid, it gave me awful diarrhoea.

Fast forward to now and I’m not on any medication and waiting for a gastroscopy in a few weeks time.

I am struggling more with my stomach/intestines now. Every time I have a bowel movement, I end up with throbbing intestines, burning aches down my right side and lower abdomen, and then nausea and finally reflux which goes on for several hours afterwards.

It’s as though a bowel movement sets off a chain of events and makes me feel so I’ll.

I’m really stressed about this and struggling to get help from the doctor. I’ve cut out dairy, sweet things, cakes, and am drinking lots of water, switched to decaf tea etc.

Has anyone had similar symptoms? My abdomen is literally pulsating and I’m worried :-(.

[Carterusm49]

Also my stomach in my upper abdomen feels as though it’s knotting and twisting. Please could anyone tell me if this is classic signs of irritable bowel syndrome? This is all new to me and very scary. I’m taking paracetamol and the chemist gave me Buscopan.

[MrsYellow in reply to Carterusm49]

Hi, unfortunately I can't give you any answers however I too experience the knotting, twisting feeling in my upper abdomen. I have had an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, CT scan and numerous blood tests. Everything has been clear and I am told by the medical professionals that it's due to anxiety. I find it very hard to believe that anxiety could be causing so much discomfort. I hope you get some answers soon. Take care

[Suecoo66]

It might be worth trying a course of Enterosgel as that really helped me with acid reflux and D. I no longer need to take the acid reflux meds!

[pgiese]

Hello, you're not alone. I have similar symptoms and have been diagnosed with GERD as well as IBS. My GERD is fairly well controlled with lansoprazole, but occasionally I eat or drink something mass-produced (usually cheap bread/pasta but last time it was a cider) and my whole upper digestive (including the esophagus) almost shuts down, making it difficult to swallow. On the other end of the GI tract, the wrong food/spice or anxiety will throw my colon into somersaults of pain. My best suggest was using the FODMAP diet to identify which foods trigger me. For me, this is dairy, soy, mass-produced wheat products, and fruit in excess. I also use the herb damiana as a tea and fluid extract to calm down the system once the anxiety kicks in. There is a big link between anxiety and IBS: they feed on each other. I also find kava tea and St. Johns Wort to help when the anxiety-IBS cycle kicks in.

[Risita]

HiYou should request a referral for Endoscopy, seriously is your body

Must insist.

But if the doctor denied? Get a second opinion, the is they prescribe you the same , just push for endoscopy

[Frasina]

I suffer with both IBS (25 years approx) and past few months IBD. What I will say is that you ned to have ideally both a gastroscopy and colonoscopy ( so both ends!) and this can be done at the same time. You may well just have an upper GI tract disorder but no harm in ruling out an issue with you colon etc. In your shoes I would push for these tests as your anxiety is without doubt playing a role in how you feel; you tell yourself that anxiety cannot possibly be responsible for these symptoms yet the more you think this, the worse your symptoms can be - I am saying this from experience and I am sure many on this site will say the same. If you can afford to see a gastroenterologist private, that could be the way forward as the wait on the NHS is many many months still. I did this last October and it was money well spent as I found out about my IBD when my GP refused to refer me to see anyone!

One last thing... we are all different, and what works for one may not work for another. FODMAP can work yes, but others may say it did not help. It is so very difficult to find out what to do, but I hope you find answers sooner rather than later.

[Pearlite]

Hi all fellow sufferers. I have come to the conclusion there are no miracle cures and in 99% of cases it seems the gastroscopy and endoscopy investigation fail to find any reason for our problems. I see many videos and adverts for miracle cures. The videos may be an hour long always from US then you have to buy the product at an exorbitant cost or pay for a dvd to show you what to do. If these so called medical people have identified a possible cure that would help millions of people world wide and worked with pharmacists to develop a wonder drug why haven't these pharmaceutical companies.panies done the same? They would make millions as so many people are afflicted by IBS which can ruin a person's quality of life. We should be pushing for more research into this condition which must cost the NHS and other providers billions with no positive outcome.

[Pumpkin2009 in reply to Pearlite]

Well said. These conditions affect out lives and are not taken seriously. I have lupus and truly believe it is my immune system at the bottom of my problems possibly, but if is not in my rheumatologist's box to investigate. When I saw a gastro, he was not interested in the why or any consideration of immune causes as that is not in his box.

Thank you for your post.

Healing hugs.

[Wizzysister]

Hallo. Ask your doc about lansoprazole, look into FODMAP diet, cut out wheat, onions and garlic and then see how your gut feels.