Age for ibs

[MichaelJ8]

i want to know what the age of most ibs patient is

[Mosey1702]

IBS can start at any age. There have not been that many studies about IBS, so there is no known average age unless you have hereditary fructose or lactose malabsorption. In these cases it is present from birth. Fructose or lactose malabsorption is the reason for 20% of IBS cases. Personally it started when I was 55.

[Weezie99]

I was 48 the first episode.

[Bishbashbosh23]

I started with mine in my early 20s, and still have it 35 years later.My daughter also has it, and started having pains in primary school and was often sent home because of stomach cramps. Then developed it fully in her early 20s. My mum also had it and often paced the house at night, but she would call it indigestion, definitely hereditary

[Will1234]

I was 21/22 when it started . Personally I think there could have been two reasons . 1) I had a lot of stressful things going on then . 2) I had suffered a bad bout of a gastroenteritis bug. Now aged 76 . It has changed a bit over the years but still there . In stressful situations it gets worse . When not in any stress it often occurs after meals . Lastly, I tend to think a flare up could be caused by something I had eaten , then next time same meal seems to be tolerated fine . I doubt if age has much effect on this ,other than once it kicks off , it does not go away .

Hope all this info is helpful to you , it is of course , just my personal experience.

Will 1234

[Luisa22 in reply to Will1234]

I get the same thing re: foods. I can eat certain foods one day fine with nothing happening, and another time I get a flare up eating exactly the same foods and no added stress etc.

[JT1992]

I was 20 at Uni, and still have it now at 32. When I think back I have had good spells where I went years without even thinking about it, but from the age of 28 onwards I have struggled to get it under control. I think I had a bug and managed to get it under control eventually, but then at age 30 I had covid and it all went down hill again

[Sparrow58]

I was 23 yrs old when diagnosed now 59yrs old and still have it. But I think it can come on at any age

[Icanchangethislater]

It really varies. I had signs as a child and remember hearing that I had a spastic colon (old term). When I got anxious I remember having to rush to the toilet. Things calmed down in my teens and 20s, then in my 30s I started having symptoms again. After tests to rule out certain conditions, I was diagnosed with IBS. I’m now in my 70s, so I’ve had it a long time.

[Luisa22]

It seems IBS can happen at any age. Even children get it.

I'd never had gut trouble in my life except for occasional constipation usually caused by stress but the kind that was gone the next day. I had 2 widely spaced small gut upsets in 2017 that I didn't think much of. I was 63 -64 then. Before that my gut had been perfect, and my diet couldn't have been better for many years. Then I got a sudden bout of it (IBS D) in early 2018 for 1 week but it went away for 2 years. It really came on properly in Spring 2020. I was 67 then.

[Jadiegirl]

72

[angelwings52]

My IBS started when I was 28 - I was going through a particularly stressful time and was dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which was the initial cause, but it took almost a year of tests to get diagnosed. I had my gall bladder removed about 6 months after being diagnosed.

[Kariss]

I can recall my first really bad bout of IBS when I was 15. I was on holiday and had a bad attack of nerves which triggered it and my Dad had to get me a bottle of good old kaolin and morphine - (a tablespoon 4 times a day) from Boots. I don’t think you can get it now but it did the trick! I’m now 68 and IBS is still on-going and flares up whenever I get stressed or anxious or eat the wrong foods etc. My medical records state ‘chronic bowel problems.’ After all this time it’s just become part of my life and I’ve had to learn to manage it!