Could it be IBS?
There is no one test to tell you that you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Instead, diagnosing it depends on identifying the symptoms and excluding other more serious causes first.
Typical symptoms include- abdominal pain/discomfort, altered bowel habits (how often you go and the consistency), bloating, flatulence, nausea and, reflux. Generally you need to have had symptoms at least once a week for 3 months to be diagnosed.
We also have to exclude any more serious causes for your symptoms such as coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease or even colon cancer. Symptoms that would be concerning for something more serious than IBS are if you have new symptoms well into adulthood, bleeding when you go to the toilet, unexplained weight loss or fevers, symptoms that disturb your sleep at night, incontinence of faeces, a family history of serious gut problems or other associated symptoms like joint pains/rashes.
Your doctor may order some blood tests/stool tests to exclude these serious things.
We come across far too many patients who suffer with symptoms for years before seeking help- so if any of this sounds familiar to you, we encourage you to make an appointment with your GP. It is important to get a diagnosis so that we can help you create a plan to manage your symptoms- there’s a lot that can be done!
#IBS #guthealth #fodmaps #gp #doctor