[oncloudnine]

I am really worried I don't have ibs and have something alot more serious. My gp diagnosed a couple of months ago but my symptoms are not typical at all.The only troublesome symptom I have is pain and discomfort in my upper addomen and a constant feeling of bloating which is not relieved.Oct 2009 I had some rectal bleeding and my gp sent me for a colonoscopy which showed 2nd degree piles. I have also had a gastroscopy and that showed gastritis.In Jan of this year I had an ultra sound of abdomen and everything came back ok.As I still had the bloating and I was out of my mind with worry about ovarian cancer. my gp sent me for a transabdominal scan and that came back ok.My gp thinks I should be reassured and that he still thinks I have ibs.I however am not so sure. I have no problems with constipation or diarrohea just this feeling of constant bloating and pain and discomfort in upper abdomen.Should I go back to my gp and ask for more tests?I have since found out ovarian cancer is very hard to diagnose and constant bloating is one of the main symptoms. They have to do many tests and wouldnt necessarily discover it by a transabdominal scan.Has anyone else ever just had the constant bloating and pain and discomfort in upper abdomen with no other problems?I am a woman of 44 and this has been going on since oct 2009 with no relief.

 

[Kathleen M.]

IBS is not the one and only functional bowel problem. Every subset of IBS symptoms has it's own functional GI disease.IBS also does not require full out don't go for days and pass rabbit pellet constipation or full out watery diarrhea. Just an alteration of stool consistency or frequency.There is functional bloating and chronic functional abdominal pain syndromes and typically LESS symptoms than IBS means other functional problems, not something much worse.There is also functional upper GI problems like functional dyspepsia which causes upper abdominal bloating, pain, discomfort and does not effect the colon so doesn't have much if any changes in stool. A lot of doctors do not in the clinic make any distinction between any functional GI problem and call every last one of them IBS. The researchers tend to divide everything up as finely as possible. The doctors tend to be lumpers especially when you treat the diarrhea of functional diarrhea the exact same way you treat diarrhea for IBSers. The distinctions between all the different things may eventually lead to different treatments, but for now pain is treated the same in all of them, etc.Bloating in Ovarian Cancer (and cysts and other growths on the ovary can do this) tends to be more constant than in IBS. It may be there all the time in IBSers but someone with ovary issues are more likely tol have the same bloating and distension all day long where IBSers or people with functional dyspepsia may always feel bloated but it is more likely (not 100% in every case, nothing is ever 100%) to vary a bit over the day and they may feel very bloated without a big change in waist size.Gastritis can also cause upper abdominal pain and various discomforts so we do know you have something going on up top. You might discuss this with your OB-GYN to see if you need more testing, or which tests would be appropriate.For bloating with IBS/FD some people find digestive enzymes with pancreatin in them can help with that symptom so may be worth a try. They do help me as sometimes the medications I take in certain combinations can cause me a lot of upper GI bloat.