Ibs Leads To Other Diseases....

[Kiki2]

Has anybodys doctor put them on medication for thier IBS my doctors knows I have celiac positive bloodwork and positive endoscopy... He put me on Zelnorm.. i dont know what to do know do I have IBS he put me on med because after a month of being completely gluten free I was not getting much better very little improvment almost none... I confused, I am feeeling better than what I was before starting the meds... Arrgg I am so confused..

[Smunkeemom]

Has anybodys doctor put them on medication for thier IBS my doctors knows I have celiac positive bloodwork and positive endoscopy... He put me on Zelnorm.. i dont know what to do know do I have IBS he put me on med because after a month of being completely gluten free I was not getting much better very little improvment almost none... I confused, I am feeeling better than what I was before starting the meds... Arrgg I am so confused..

are you sure that you don't have other food intolerances?

it's possible that something else you are eating is bothering you too, like milk or soy, or eggs, or corn. Zelnorm treats symptoms, so you would feel better taking it, but if something is bothering you, it's still going to mess you up, the meds will just cover it up. You might want to go back and talk to your doctor, and see what he has to say about it though (since none of us are doctors )

[burdee]

After being misdiagnosed with 'IBS' for 10 years, I learned I have gluten, dairy and soy intolerance as well as the celiac gene. Both my primary care doc (who misdiagnosed me) and the naturopath whom I saw when I first suspected celiac disease, rather than 'IBS', told me that IBS is NOT a disease. Docs assign that category for billing purposes when they can't determine the cause of gastrointestinal symptoms. I like how several members of this board have defined IBS as "I Be Stumped" or even "I Be Stupid".

Drug companies can sell drugs for ANY symptom, if they can convince the FDA that their drug relieves the symptoms through experimental tests on a population (albeit limited). However they tend to dismiss dangerous side effects as 'rare' to get FDA approval. 1% of 100 people does seem rare. However consider that 1% of the first 10,000 people who receive prescriptions for that drug from their docs. Also consider how many people request prescriptions for drugs they saw advertised in magazines, which describe the dangerous side effects in tiny print as 'rarely occurring'.

BURDEE

[evie]

Dani; add me to the list of many who were told I had IBS by various dr's for many years. If I had known the reason for my extreme constipation @ times then later "D" I might be a healthier person now!!!

but I suppose GP's do not know all those things.

But I was in & out of hospital in late 80's with diarhea under care of a gastroenterologist, he finally said see a shrink; did help for several years but not the answer!! Also i am wondering what you know about the aloe vera product, if you think it is helpful as they claim or if you just used the url for the medical info included. would you please let me know what you think?

I am healing slowly on gluten free foods but still losing weight and gaining food allergies. any help I can get for faster healing I need. have gotten good info from etc posts by you, you are well versed in the gluten problem.

THX evie

[evie]

Kiki...After elternateing between "C" and "D" my dr. ( a year ago) put me on zelnorm for several months, it seemed to help for a while but eventually turned into every day "D". I was finally diagnosed Celiac thru capsule camera that I swalloed, was sent to University gastro. Since i had been on gluten free foods for 2 months I did not want to do the gluten challenge so he said "presumed celiac" as my diagnosis. has been 4 months now and i am feeling better but have a long way to go yet, especially in gaining lbs back. good luck to you!!

evie

[loraleena]

Yep thats me, diagnosed with IBS in 1997and told to eat fiber. (Didn't work). This was followed by diagnosis of panic disorder, fibromyalgia, hashimotos hypothyroidism, and finally chronic fatigue. The final diagnosis led me to celiac. (This I found out with no help from doctors). Thanks a lot.

[evie]

Yep thats me, diagnosed with IBS in 1997and told to eat fiber. (Didn't work). This was followed by diagnosis of panic disorder, fibromyalgia, hashimotos hypothyroidism, and finally chronic fatigue. The final diagnosis led me to celiac. (This I found out with no help from doctors). Thanks a lot.

Sorry you got the run around too I also have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue in the past, I did get better for a few years but hypothyroidism continues to worsen, just increase the dosage

(dr. does), apparently these are warnings of Celiac disease on the way!! Wish you well Loraleena in your recovery back to better health. I am improving somewhat on the gluten free diet of 4 months. I agree/ many others who have said people here know much more than most of the drs know!! some have done an incredible amount of research that I have taken advantage of...my computer savvy is too lacking for that.

evie

[teankerbell]

I agree with Ursula - I always believed that IBS, Crohn's disease and Acid Reflux are misdiagnosed and actually are Celiac cases.

[Mabc]

I don't know how to quote yet, but I agree, "(yeah, you would be anxious too if you were sick and your doctors didn't care)"

I think IBS is a lot like a CFS diagnosis (I've been dx with both). If I have chronic fatigue, help me find out WHY? It's sort of like if you break your leg and they call it "leg hurting syndrome" and do nothing to make it better. I can't believe how they can just leave you to slowly die or suffer. I remember in my early 20's when the doctor dx me with IBS and then told me to quit worrying about finding a husband! I remember sitting there so confused! Then years later when dx with CFS I was told, "it's all in your head." He actually used those words. I was sooooooooo sick I couldn't stand up for more than 1 minute and even 1 minute made me deathly ill, trembling all over. I told my doctor, "It feels like no food is getting to my cells." He laughed. It has taken me until now to realize that out of all those doctors, I was the one who was right on target!

[emcmaster]

I've got a question for those of you that were dx with IBS: did any of the remedies for IBS help you?

I cut out dairy, high-fat foods, alcohol, carbonation, caffeine and artificial sweeteners when I was dx with IBS and felt a lot better, almost normal sometimes, even though I was eating a lot of bread and gluten. Then eventually, just cutting out those foods didn't make much of a difference anymore. Since I've cut out gluten (along with keeping dairy-free and low-fat), I feel much better than I ever did when I was cutting out the other things but still eating gluten.

So is it possible that I had IBS that turned into Celiac? Because I don't feel normal anymore unless I'm completely gluten-free and my reactions to gluten are far more severe than my reactions used to be to the above triggers even when I was eating gluten.

Does any of that make sense?

Thanks!

[francelajoie]

Alot of doctors diagnose IBS right away without going into more extensive testing. I thought I had IBS and the diet was fine for a while but all the symptoms came back. I got on a few supplements wich really helped but its not before i changed doctors, was diagnosed with gluten intolorence (possible celiac), and went gluten-free that all my symptoms disappeared.

[ladyx]

Exactly!

Then the doctors push medications to "treat" the symptoms of IBS, which then requires more medications. Just go to the IBS forum where almost everyone is on medication and almost nobody wants to think about dietary change.

IBS is a blanket diagnosis (Rome II criteria) for when they do not know what is wrong with you. It is not a disease and therefore your blood will be normal. Exactly what you said, negative bloodwork and negative scope equals IBS diagnosis.

I was never given blood work just told by my doctor "sounds like IBS here's some pills that probably won't help very much good luck"

[rinne]

I have yet to receive any kind of diagnosis but my sister was told she had IBS and Celiac and that the Celiac diagnosis meant she was allergic to wheat and should stay away from it. That was nearly five years ago and she has continued to consume wheat occaisionally because it was just an allergy, she thought the IBS was the real problem. She is very ill.

When I began to get sick in the fall I stopped eating wheat even though I had never eaten much because I knew it was a problem for me. Last June I had gone to the Doctor for a physical and was declared healthy, checked my heart because I was having a feeling of tightness and pressure, that was declared stress and anxiety. In January when I finally went back to the Doctor because I was in extreme pain the Doctor prescribed a medication to stop all acid production in my stomach, she said it sounds like gastritis and I went home with the pills. I found out that the pills prevented the absorption of Vitamin B and that leads to brain damage, decided that that Doctor was not my friend and didn't take the pills. In May I saw a Gastro-Enterologist and he asked about Celiac disease and you all know what I found.

I realized that I was a Celiac, a person who is poisoned by gluten, I wonder that it is called a disease when the truth is a segment of the population is being poisoned. We don't call it "peanut disease", as in, "oh yes, peanut disease is a very short disease, some die within an hour." No, we sentence people to a lifetime of health problems that cascade from the ways in which we are being poisoned and starved.

I have come to understand that what they diagnose is damage not disease and that if I wait for them to confirm with the biopsy that I have Celiac I will have to volunteer to damage myself, no thank you. I intend on asking for the genetic testing to see whether or not I have the marker but with or without their confirmation I know the truth of my body and I trust it. I would say that trusting my gut is the most important lesson I have learned through this experience.

Sorry about the glitch (several edits to fix) for those who caught it, I'm new to this system.

[queenofhearts]

In January when I finally went back to the Doctor because I was in extreme pain the Doctor prescribed a medication to stop all acid production in my stomach, she said it sounds like gastritis and I went home with the pills. I found out that the pills prevented the absorption of Vitamin B and that leads to brain damage, decided that that Doctor was not my friend and didn't take the pills. In May I saw a Gastro-Enterologist and he asked about Celiac disease and you all know what I found.

[eKatherine]

A doctor sending you away with a diagnosis of IBS is like a dermatologist sending you away with a diagnosis of a "skin rash".