IBS? but with no bowel symptoms

[Hayhead]

I have stomach pain (across lower abdomen) roughly every 2 weeks (on average) ... I have been keeping a diary and have not found any obvious triggers. This has been for around 1.5 years. I am a 'senior'..60s.

I have been trying to cut out foods one by one from the FODMAP list to see if any difference is noticeable.

I do not have noticeable diarrhoea or constipation.

When I have pain it varies from a grumble and low pain .. to severe where I cannot sleep or sit comfortably. It goes through to my lower back. I lose my appetite and feel nauseous .. and very tired. Then after about 24/48 hours it goes away again .. until next time. I have had scans (ultra sound, colonoscopy, endoscopy) and the doctors now put it down to IBS.

Anyone have similar?

Thanks.

[Nothingimpossible]

Hi Hayhead. Have you had blood tests and a urine sample test? Might be a UTI. Wish you better.

[Henkeeper]

I am similar, but my stomach pain is all the time, every day since 15th December 2021. No real problems at all before that, but I have always had a slight tendency to be constipated.

I had a gastroscopy, FIT tests, calprotectin test, and several blood tests. I am taking Mebeverine and Colpermin peppermint oil tablets, which reduce the pain to a discomfort. I sometimes even forget about it when I’m busy.

I haven’t found any food triggers.

Good luck with your IBS journey.

[edwangy]

You may have ultra sensitive nerves in your colon. Or maybe a build up of gas?

[xjrs]

I agree with edwangy . It could be functional abdominal pain (visceral hypersensitivity). There is information about it here:

iffgd.org/lower-gi-disorder...

There is also the possibility of trapped gas. You can try Rennie Deflatine which turns large gas bubbles into smaller ones making them easier to pass to see if that helps.

[winfong in reply to xjrs]

Anything with simethicone in it should work

[Hayhead]

Thank you for the responses..very helpful.

[Frasina]

It is very likely to be IBS and something I have had for 25 years with intermittent abdominal pain radiating to lower back. I was not offered any tests as my FIT came back negative but in 2021 when I suddenly dropped a stone in weight in under a month, had a lot of diarrhoea and pains, I got a colonoscopy and found out I have patchy pancolitis (IBD) too. All under control now and flares are in my case linked more to IBS! What is interesting, is that stress has been a trigger much more than any foods (like you, I cannot think of a food group that is problematic). You have had the tests and nothing untoward is showing up. Try looking at whether stress is triggering when the pains get worse.

[Hayhead in reply to Frasina]

Thank you for the reply. It is reassuring to hear people have similar. (The worry is always that it is something more sinister.)

[Frasina in reply to Hayhead]

We all think this but if tests do not show anything untoward, you have to acknowledge it is IBS which affects people in many different ways!

[pwllmawr2]

Hello, Hayhead, I have very similar symptoms however my lower abdominal pain hardly ever goes away and as I'm getting older it's getting worse, to the stage now the pian keeps me awake at night. Been having a lot of trapped wind recently visited GP again who prescribed me Fibregell. Been taking the sachets for about two months now still the same. I expressed my concern to the GP regarding the pain to which she replied you've had all the tests it's IBS, I m trying to learn to live with it buts it's really getting me down can't offer any advise sorry as I've tried everything nothing seems to work

[Hayhead in reply to pwllmawr2]

Thank you. I was at the doctor this morning and have now been given Mebeverine to try...

[Iesgobdafydd]

I had a somewhat similar pattern with the onset of my IBS. Like you I had no noticeable diarrhoea or constipation, what I had was periodic onsets of fatigue with lack of appetite, gas and mild indigestion which I took to be viral because they usually lasted around 48 hours with some variation; they certainly weren't as frequently as every two weeks to begin with, but they were frequent enough that I went to my GP only to be told it's perfectly normal to get ill frequently. The episodes gradually got more frequent and worse till there were no days I was feeling completely well. I tried various things including a low FODMAP diet and cutting out particular foods, but while there are clearly foods that are somewhat harder on my digestion than others, there was no obvious dietary trigger and no diet that solved my problems.

I eventually worked out that the root cause of my health issues was TMJD (temporomandibular joint disorder) resulting from past dental injury, which (probably because I also have mildly hypermobile joints) seems to have affected the connective tissue all around my body instead of staying confined to my jaw/head/neck area as is typical. The distorted connective tissue causes abnormal internal pressure in many places in my body, interfering with normal circulation of fluids &c. I think tension in my jaw that didn't easily dissipate with relaxation or massage was one of the early warning signs of it that I didn't realize was significant.

If you think you might have something similar there's lots more I can tell you, but there are a range of possible causes of IBS and yours might be quite different.

[Hayhead in reply to Iesgobdafydd]

Thank you! I don't think I have any jaw problems. Thanks for the reply, I appreciate any info

[Hayhead in reply to Hayhead]

Thanks for the reply. So many stomach issues around !!

[lucas_santanals]

I have some of these symptoms, but in my case is caused by a lot a gas. I have it for a lot of years ago and have no idea that can be. Like @Henkeeper I discover a medicine (CoreBiome) that reduces the pain to disconfort, but yet, disconfort keeps day by day and a lot of gas.