Ibs

[Brenda]

Following on from another thread, it seems there are some IBS sufferers here. My 19 year old daughter suffers from IBS quite badly and has diarrhoea almost daily, although sometimes constipation. She is often up in the night with it and as a result is very often tired. She has lost weight too and is now a size 6. She has seen several doctors about this and blood and urine tests ahve been taken, she is on anti-spasmodic meds, but they are no help at all really. I have never suffered IBS myself so wondered if this is 'normal' for a sufferer? We also wondered if she has a food intolerance which may be causing her symptoms, she is vegetarian and eats a lot of soya & quorn, but has a good deal of diary too. We have looked into food intolerance testing, but BUPA cost nearly £400 I would be really interested to hear people's thoughts and experiences. Thanks.

[gremlin22]

i know people who are really allergic to soya and dairy so fingers crossed it's neither of those for your daughter. Can't beleive it costs so much for the testing, may be worth asking the gp instead of bupa?

Don't know much about IBS except there seems to be a massive difference in how badly different people suffer.

i take it she has tried just cutting out the food groups one at a time for a week or so, i know it's hard on a restricted diet to cut things out and still get the vitamins you need but it might be worth a go if she hasn't tried already.

[Brenda]

Thanks for your reply. She hasn't tried cuttng out the food groups for a while, although I have suggested it might be worth it. We thought the allergy/food intolerance testing might be easier and more conclusive.

[reds]

Sorry to hear your daughter is struggling I know someone (an older gentleman) who has IBS and symptoms similar to your daughters. It makes it very difficult for him to do long car journeys as he can often need the toilet very quickly, and any anxiety doesn't help either. I guess as with most things there will be a scale of how different people are affected.

 

Was her iron count ok? Just wondered because sometimes IBS and coeliac disease can be confused as the symptoms are similar.

[Jacobean]

It's very easy to be labelled as having IBS when it could be something else these days. I had it severely when mine first started and couldn't stop losing weight. Your daughter sounds similar. I ended up on a diet of chicken and rice as that was all I seemed to be able to eat and keep hold of. Not to be recommended though as it took a lot to be able to start eating other foods later on.

 

A work colleague told me her mum swore by Aloe Vera juice so I thought may as well give it a go. It's very good for soothing everything and can take a couple of months to work. I was also on Colpermin tablets. Other painkillers anti spasm tablets just didn't work for me.

 

Part of the problem doctors face is because no 2 people seem to be the same so it's all hit and miss. That's my understanding of it. I could be completely wrong.

 

Hope she manages to get it under control very soon as it's not good to be losing a lot of weight. IBS itself is very debilitating and can make you feel tired anyway. I found I couldn't walk too far at one stage never mind sleeping a lot. I really feel for her because it's not easy to resolve. She needs to keep a diary of every single thing she's eating each day and at what times and when she goes or doesn't to the loo. To try and work out exactly what she can get away with and not.

 

There is a possibility she could have diverticulitis (sp?). That's a tough one to get a diagnosis for.

[Jazz]

I had it bad, mine was stress. as soon as the divorce went through, I got a lot better. has she got much stress at the moment, exams or anything?

[Karen]

IBS is notoriously difficult to pin down - in many people it's purely stress related and others it can be food intollerance. If your daughter isn't a particually stressy person (although I know that feeling that ill can make her stressed!) then I'd try keeping a food diary to try and associate good/bad days with particular foods. Skin prick tests for allergy to food apparently don't necessarily give the same reaction as eating that food, intolerance is something different.

 

Many people have quite a violent reaction to eating quorn (speaking for experience here) but I honestly wouldn't encourage her to cut anything out just because someone else has found it a problem. Everyone is different and sometimes almost any food can be a problem when in a bad phase. Splitting meals into smaller portions eaten several times a day can help too.

 

Really hope that she feels better soon

[griff]

sorry to hear your daughter is so poorly it must be awful for her (and you to see her poorly) i don't know if this place would be of any help to you

http://www.yorktest.com/

we have had both our dogs done and they have been spot on twice if we avoid the foods on the list we have no bother at all

[JulesB]

I can't add anything to what others have said in terms of what might be triggering the IBS, but I just thought I'd add that my OH has had many tests and years of what was first thought to be IBS, then diverticulitis, and now they are fairly positive that's it's actually Crohns disease that he has got.

 

As Michelle says, I think the medical people start with IBS and work from there. I hope your daughter can get some help with her problem

[celeste]

Not an IBS sufferer, but I have had Crohn's for over 20 years, so similar, unfortunatly every one is different, dairy tends to be one of the main triggers in any bowel problems, but obviously some people are fine with it ( me included ) from my experience you tend to know pretty quickly if something's causing a problem ( few days) so cutting something out for a week, say, might be an option. There are also a lot of support groups The Gut Trust which can give you a lot of tips and help. Has she tried using ginger ? you can get it in tablet form and both myself and two friends who have IBS have found it to be very good at soothing intestinal pain.

[Ruthi (borrowadog)]

You need to push for them to rule out both Crohn's and Coeliac disease before accepting a diagnosis of IBS.

 

Food intolerance is difficult to pin down, and relatively rare, despite everything that we read about it. I used to run a support group for the Hyperactive Childrens Group, and we'd regularly see people working on this one. The most common causes of reactions are milk and wheat, but soya and lots of other foods can be triggers.

 

Skin prick tests are almost worthless with food. There are blood tests that are more accurate, but still only measure true allergy, not the kind of intolerance that she is showing, so a systematic exclusion of all the possibles is the best way. Easiest is to start on a very limited diet and then introduce other foods, starting with the most likely culprits. You need to be clear of an offending food for at least five days before re-introducing it.

 

If you are asthmatic don't do exlusion diets - especially of milk. The re-introduction tends to produce a heightened reaction. In the case of asthma that can be fatal!

[Brenda]

Thanks for al your replies, links, etc. All very helpful and lots to think about!

 

Unfortunately she is a stressy person and doing a uni degree at the moment, so always worse when she has exams or an important essay. She was at uni in London, but for various reasons, including her IBS she found an Animal Management course closer to home. Shw was supposed to be working for Pet Blood Bank today as part of her work experience hours, but couldn't face it as she wouldn't be near a toilet, plus it was a long day and she gets so exhausted.

 

Think it is time to go back to the GP.

 

Edited to say, doctor has ruled out Coeliac disease. Thankfully she isn't asthmatic and always been healthy before the IBS.

Edited January 12, 2010 by Brenda

[reds]

Hope your daughter gets some helpful answers

 

When eating anything becomes difficult it gets to you emotionally as well as physically so I can appreciate the trauma she is going through, as can many of us sadly by the sounds of it

[incapuppy]

Hi Brenda

 

I can fully empathise with your daughter and know just how debilitating this is. When you say she has seen doctors are these GPs or has she seen a specialist? It sounds to me as if she would benefit from being referred to a gastroenterologist as soon as possible in order to try and get a more definite diagnosis.

 

I was in a similar position to your daughter in 2008 and to-ing and fro-ing from GPs was overtaken when I collapsed and had to spend an unpleasant (as I was so poorly) week in hospital and I was eventually diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (which is similar to Crohns.)

 

The answer for me was a (very long, in my case) course of steroids and I take another drug daily to help to control the symptoms. I have a few food triggers which I live with but the worst thing for me is stress. I hope your daughter can see someone who will be able to get to the bottom of this (no pun intended!) asap

[collies r best]

I have IBS as well and stress certainly plays its part but also whereas a lot of sufferers are advised to eat plenty of fruit and a high fibre diet this triggers mine off badly. Also fried or spicy foods do the same.

I would also advise testing for Crohns.