advice/treatment?

[blue9482]

My doctor has recently told me she thinks I have IBS. My main symptoms are sharp pains, especially lower LHS, cramping pain, bloating and gas. After I eat now I get incredibly loud and uncomfortable digestive noises. I know digestive noise is normal to an extent, but this is very loud and accompanied by discomfort. My intestines feel like they are bubbling all the time, as they would if you were to have an upset stomach. I don't really often suffer from diarrhoea or constipation but my digestion feels very uncomfortable and unhappy. I also experience belching after eating and I hiccup a lot. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what could help these symptoms as the discomfort and volume of the bowel sounds don't seem normal to me and worry me. I was thinking of trying an anti-acid but then elsewhere it says to take apple cider vinegar which is the opposite so I am a bit lost with what to try- any advice would be really appreciated.

[Wallace-s]

Not being a medical practitioner can only offer advice on the routes I’ve taken = which is many.

Perhaps a good place to start is diet: look into the ‘Fodmap’ diet and be consistent with your trial and error………keep good notes for yourself and hopefully a pattern may appear.

For me, mindfulness……meditation, has helped significantly- learning how to calm yourself and subsequently your body, your nervous system, as i found I was actually inducing some episodes of IBS discomfort for just along thinking “am I going to suffer today”

Then the actual medical route, I have paid for numerous scans privately to try and ascertain what the issue’s are etc…..

IBS is such a generic term, and the actual diagnosis or root cause can take time to find - you are your best advisor and overtime hopefully learn what the triggers are.

Best of luck

[Alpinelover]

Sorry to hear about your symptoms; they sound very distressing. Has your doctor given you blood/stool tests for possible causes? If not you should insist that they do.

I have had IBS-D for many years and similar symptoms to yours. I have found using the low FODMAP diet along with active charcoal tablets and yoga has helped me. I also recently started taking a probiotic called Ferrocalm which has definitely reduced symptoms as well. Good luck and hope you feel better soon

[Mrdd]

left hand side pain could be diverticular disease

[Frasina]

The problem is that usually GP's say someone has IBS when they are certain other issues (like IBD) can be ruled out. In your case, you are not suffering with some of the things more associated with IBD which is why your GP has not suggested further testing (yet). My IBS has been around for 30 years and I do also have IBD (the past 5 years). In my case, I did try the FODMAP but found it not helpful. Perhaps you need to keep a food diary for one month to begin with and eliminate acidic foods plus foods that produce more gas; there are lists available online. Try taking Buscopan IBS for a couple of weeks as this helps me on the gas side too. It really is trial and error but persist and you may well see a pattern emerging.

[xjrs]

IBS cannot be diagnosed from symptoms alone. Has you doctor run blood and stool sample tests mentioned here?:

nhs.uk/conditions/irritable...

They have to rule out other things. IBS is diagnosed as a process of elimination of other disorders.

If the tests have been run and you have formally been diagnosed with IBS, here is my general advice in another post of mine:

healthunlocked.com/theibsne...

[Hidden]

Sorry to hear about your symptoms. I agree, in general, with the comments.

The diagnosis of IBS, especially in the over 40’s, is only made when other more significant conditions have been excluded . These include coeliac disease, and problems arising from bowel, gallbladder pancreas and ovaries, all of which can present with abdominal symptoms.

You don’t specify your age, nor the duration of your symptoms, but you do indicate that you have already consulted your GP, although you don’t list the investigations carried out.I trust this diagnosis has been made after appropriate investigation, which might include blood tests, including one to exclude coeliac disease and Ca125 if you’re female, stool analysis for infection, malabsorption and possible inflammatory conditions, ultrasound scan(or CT) of abdomen and pelvis, and possibly endoscopy( upper and lower).

If this turns out to be IBS, do look at the various threads on this site where you’ll find, on the whole, some sound and sensible advice, including taking a reputable probiotic- Ferrocalm, Alflorex and Symprove( I, personally, would start in that order, trying each for at least 8 weeks before trying another )- and trying a Low FODMAP’s diet. In addition, Enterosgel might prove very helpful if you suffer with IBS-D. There are obviously more specialised drugs which your GP can prescribe to deal with the particular predominant motility problem, such as Linaclotide for constipation. With Diarrhoea, you have standard anti-diarrhoeal preparations, and Amitriptyline which is useful as well for pain and as a constipating agent. You can purchase the usual antispasmodics, such as Buscopan, Peppermint oils caps, and agents for diarrhoea such as Imodium OTC if you pay prescription charges. Buying them through Amazon, I have found, can be cheaper.

Good luck

[Hidden]

Further to my comment, your presenting symptoms, especially the loud bowel sounds, puts me in mind of Carcinoid syndrome which is, actually, very rare but if your symptoms persist in the presence of other normal investigations, this diagnosis is worth thinking about, although, obviously, very rare, so don’t worry about this!