3 replies to this topic

[plumbago]

All,

I am posting on behalf of a colleague at work, who for the last eight months has been suffering through constant - 4 times a day - D and lower abdominal pain (hypogastric region - not inguinal). This pain often wakes her in the middle of the night. She is young, mid-20s.

There is a family history of IBS. She recently went to the gastroenterologist who scoped her large intestine. What the dr found was nothing that worrisome - no polyps, no outward indication of inflammation, just very mild redness, though a biopsy will indicate anything more, results not back yet. This exam also revealed interior and external hemorrhoids - but she and I are thinking that is because of the constant D. At any rate, I do not think the hemorrhoids would explain the D and the abdominal pain.

Other: She had a Celiac workup done 10 days or so agao (I am not sure of the exact tests), and her antibodies were not high. They were fine. Her absorption of vitamins is good. Most other indicators on the blood tests were fine.

She is slightly - slightly - sensitive to milk, she says. So she does not drink it alone, but if a brownie has it or some other food has milk as an ingredient, she will eat it.

The last time she had a solid stool was many months ago. Nevertheless, she gave a sample to the gastroenterologist (I'm not sure what they would be searching for), and is expecting the results back within the next week or so.

I myself have not researched irritable bowel. She is terrified that this is what it is because there's nothing you can do about it, she says. I'm not so sure this is true. There must be a cause, is my thinking.

That's most of what it is. I so appreciate your reading this and any thoughts and ideas you may have.

Sincerely,
Plumbago

[gluten free overseas]

I am sorry to hear about your friend. Even though her antibodies came back normal, she could try going gluten free to see if it helps. Has she visited a tropical or humid climate or lived somewhere like that? Tropical sprue has the same symptoms as celiac but is not caused by gluten. It's when an overgrowth of bacteria wrecks your intestines, basically. It often happens when a person has lived or visited humid climates and eaten a lot of hawker food. I am not sure how they treat it, but I think antibiotics and stay off sugar and yeast and foods that cause bacteria to grow rapidly. I wonder if a stool sample would show if there is a gross overgrowth of bacteria.
I hope your friend does not give up and will keep pounding the pavement until she finds an answer. That's so tough.

[everything-free]

I would be helpful to search up Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS), I found a great site written by doctors at the Mayo Clinic that may give her some good information. There are links at the bottom of each description to lead you to the next important page. http://www.mayoclini...yndrome/DS00106

Unfortunately for you're friend there is very little that can be done about IBS, if that is what she ends up being diagnosed with. There are a few pills that can be prescribed but only by specialized doctors (there is a list on the site I suggested), and as far as I am aware you need to have either D OR C, not both, for them to work properly, so they may work for your friend.

I am in my early 20's and was diagnosed with IBS over a year ago, but my symptoms vary a lot and none of these pills are a good option for me. I've tried fiber supplements like Metamucil, and then stool softeners at other times and both of these have just made the D, C, and cramping worse. After having an endoscopy I was told that I was lactose intolerant. I have also noticed a large difference in my symptoms since going gluten and potato free over six months ago, and sugar free a month and a half ago. Alcohol and not getting enough sleep (I need about ten hours a night and even then I never feel rested) are also big triggers for me and make my symptoms extremely worse and because of all of this, having IBS has impacted my social life. I still go to the bathroom regularly, on a good day twice a day, sometimes up to 5 or 6, and the bloating pain has not completely gone away but it has gotten better.

This may be another option for you're friend, the elimination diet, as stated above. A lot of people with IBS have a problem with gluten and/or lactose, as well as many other GI irritants. The struggle is finding out which ones irritate different individuals. IBS is not something that can be cured, you need to learn how to manage it and figure out what are you're bodies triggers and what is safe for you. Most people find exercise helps to relieve some symptoms.

Hopefully something will show up on one of your friends tests to say that she has something other than IBS, that can be treated a little easier, since it is difficult altering your lifestyle just to manage your symptoms, let a lone get rid of them.

Best of Luck!

[plumbago]

Thanks for the two replies so far! I hope to get more.

It's especially good to hear from someone in the same age group.

Plumbago