[elyag]

I recently had the blood test to screen for markers for IBS and IBD. Both tests came back as showing no markers for either. Just wanted to know how accurate the tests are? I've had all the symptoms of IBS since 2001.

 

[MrBumwe]

I had never heard of a blood test for IBS/IBD, has it been around long, I am an ozzie and have been to an array of docs and specialists... but never heard mention of it

 

[Kathleen M.]

There is a new blood test in the USA that looks for IBS as well as having markers for IBD (and there are IBD only blood tests beyond just testing for inflammation in the blood which they do every single time they do a completely blood count).http://www.ibsbloodtest.com/ is the IBS test. It is available in the USA, I do not know if they are doing it anywhere else.It isn't 100% (but then no test is) so you could have IBS and still have a pattern not consistent with IBS. And the choices aren't it has to be IBD if it isn't IBS or it has to be celiac or some other specific thing.I'm not sure how well the test catches other functional GI diseases (as IBS is only one of them).If it isn't IBD or Celiac and your blood and stool tests are clean there isn't much else for it to be other than IBS if your symptoms are consistent with IBS.ETA: Looking at the monograph it does have a relatively high false negative (you have IBS based on every other test but don't have the biomarkers from this test). So you could be in that group and is looked like a pretty substantial percent. Hopefully over time they can get it better. Mostly it helps confirm earlier in the process so some people won't need as many invasive tests before they determine it is IBS. I assume you had testing back when this first started up?

 

[elyag]

Kathleen,I really haven't had much testing except for blood tests. I have a disorder called dysautonomia and there's no way I can get through a colonsocopy. I guess I was sort of hoping the blood test would confirm IBS.

 

[Kathleen M.]

I don't know if you can distinguish if the GI symptoms are from the dysautonomia vs from IBS as a separate disease.If your blood tests for inflammation and IBD markers are normal and you don't have bloody diarrhea I wouldn't worry too much about it.Since IBS treatments mostly focus on symptoms they should work whether the symptoms are from dysautonomia or IBS, I would think. Imodium will work either way, laxatives work either way, antispasmodics, etc...http://www.dinet.org/symptoms.htm seems to indicate a lot of people with dysautonomia have GI symptoms, so hard to know if you have to have IBS on top of that to have GI symptoms.

 

[elyag]

I don't know if you can distinguish if the GI symptoms are from the dysautonomia vs from IBS as a separate disease.If your blood tests for inflammation and IBD markers are normal and you don't have bloody diarrhea I wouldn't worry too much about it.Since IBS treatments mostly focus on symptoms they should work whether the symptoms are from dysautonomia or IBS, I would think. Imodium will work either way, laxatives work either way, antispasmodics, etc...http://www.dinet.org/symptoms.htm seems to indicate a lot of people with dysautonomia have GI symptoms, so hard to know if you have to have IBS on top of that to have GI symptoms.

I'm very impressed you know about dysautonomia when half of my docs don't. Yes...it's hard to know if the dysautonomia is causing my symptoms and there's no test to determine if it is. So far...all tests for inflamation have been normal and no bloody diarrhea. My GI doc has recommended a sigmoidcopey (sp) as an alternative to the colonoscopy. Not as accurate but better than nothing.

 

[Kathleen M.]

I had to go look up the symptoms as I wasn't exactly sure what it was. As long as the blood work is normal a sigmoidoscopy will at least get a look at where ulcerative colitis and diverticuli are likely to form, and they can at least screen that part of your colon for polyps and if they think they need to they can take a biopsy or two. It isn't quite as comprehensive, but it will rule a fair number of things out.

 

[elyag]

My GI thinks I should be able to handle the sigmoidoscopy so it's a good compromise. I really like him because he gets how dysautonomia might play a part in my symptoms and he also understands how sick I might get if we try to do a colonoscopy.

 

[blondeoverblue24]

Have they done anything along the lines of an MRI? Sometimes they use those to help confirm IBD

 

[Borrellifan]

My GI thinks I should be able to handle the sigmoidoscopy so it's a good compromise. I really like him because he gets how dysautonomia might play a part in my symptoms and he also understands how sick I might get if we try to do a colonoscopy.

Not to scare you as im sure you can handle it but I had a sigmoidoscopy without any sedatives and it was pretty rough! Although i did get to watch it on the tv screen which was pretty cool. I wouldn't trust a IBS blood test, i think examining the intestinal lining is necessary. How about the capsule endoscopy, where you just swallow the pill camera?

 

[elyag]

Not to scare you as im sure you can handle it but I had a sigmoidoscopy without any sedatives and it was pretty rough! Although i did get to watch it on the tv screen which was pretty cool. I wouldn't trust a IBS blood test, i think examining the intestinal lining is necessary. How about the capsule endoscopy, where you just swallow the pill camera?

LOL...you're not scaring me...I appreciate any information I can get. Was the sigmoidoscopy very painful? Also...I was under the impression the procedure only takes a few minutes?I've been hearing about the capsule endoscopy but when I asked my GI about it he said it isn't an option. I'm not sure if he doesn't have access to it or if he doesn't think it's a useful diagnostic tool. Does the capsule endoscopy also involve a prep?

 

[Kathleen M.]

The capsule is mostly to look at the small intestine, not the whole colon. It only has so many hours of battery life, so you might get to the colon, but you won't see the whole thing.I had a sigmoidoscopy, it wasn't that bad, but I tolerate medical procedures pretty well based on what doctors always say. I was a bit crampier than usual for a few days afterward. It was just a few minutes.

 

[elyag]

I used to tolerate medical procedures well but lately I seem to have a lower tolerance for pain. I'm as worried about the cramping afterwards as I am about it happening during the procedure.