[te34resa]

My symptoms seem to have got worse lately as far as gas and pain is concerned. Sometimes I get scared and think maybe they're the symptoms of something else, like an ulcer. What is your pain like and how does it compare with other possible illnesses? I get loads of gas about half an hour after eating and a stabbing pain in the centre of my stomach, round the belly-button sometimes even while I'm eating the food and then for hours on and off afterwards. I could just about cope with this but have the fear that it could at any turn turn to D so daren't go out when the pain starts. Is this the pain normally associated with ibs?

 

[overitnow]

Well, I still get the gas following meals, always have, although not as much nor as pungent now that my bowels are no longer a problem. Generally I just had day long burning of my stomach--GERD/indigestion--with some moderate cramping before D; but I also used to get that sharp stabbing pain at my bellybutton, intermittantly. I never realized it was apart of my IBS until joining this Board, which was well after the IBS was under control.I am pretty well convinced that, for us, if pain occurs in the front part of the trunk from the esophagus to the rectum, it is the GI system. (As an example, my wife thought she was having a heart attack...it turned out to be reflux disease. Another friend says it felt like labour pains...IBS.) Ultrasound may rule out other conditions, ulcer, gall stones, and the like.Mark