[CloudStrife]

Hi all,Is there any correlation between swallowing difficulty and IBS? I have had a swallowing problem for a few years (feels like a lump in the throat with difficulty swallowing and more swallowed air) and it presented itself not long after I had IBS symptoms. I have been to an otolaryngologist who scoped my throat and said that it looked "very red" but there was nothing else evidently wrong. He had me take some PPIs for a while and that may have made me worse (we know about the PPI-sibo connection now, I wish I had known then).

 

[Kathleen M.]

Are you a splitter or a lumper?Researchers are splitters so swallowing problems are in a different set of Functional GI problems than IBS. So it isn't typical or required of IBS.However. Many people ahve more than one thing going on with the GI tract and so some people (often doctors in the field) lump any and all symptoms into IBS because people prone to IBS are also prone to have other things the splitters say is not strictly IBS.Have you been back to say the PPI's didn't work/made other things worse and have them try something else?

 

[TanaG]

Did you check your thyroid? It might as well give you that feeling though I don't understand why it would be red. But there are some other chronic conditions...I really don't get these doctors who are telling you #### and not even making an attempt to give a diagnoses or help in any way!

 

[ArtLady1]

Hello,Regarding your question about if swallowing problems and IBS are related really hits home with me. I have had trouble swallowing for years. Also have had IBS for years. My doctors say it is not related....I do not agree since my swallowing is always worse when my IBS flares up. I figure it is all one tract. I have had barium swallowing studies and my swallowing process is good . So they think it is psychological. I can't agree entirely. I am now going to therapy for swallowing. It does help. As long as you have had all the tests, you might try seeing a swallowing therapist. Where I am in California, swallowing therapy is handled by speech therapists. There is so much doctors don't know about IBS! I wish you luck.

 

[JackReynolds]

Do you take any supplements? Food first started running through me when I was taking bile stimulants; it got better when I stopped them, but some other supplement continued to irritate my stomach so much that I got gastritis. The resulting acid overproduction gave me esophagitis. In retrospect, the vitamin b-complex was the culprit. I don't know if it was one or more of the vitamins B in it or some binding ingredient, and right now I don't care. The esophagitis diagnosis surprised me, because I've really only felt heartburn a dozen or so times in my life, most recently after attempting to be the first person at a local restaurant to eat their El Diablo burger (it was covered in habanero sauce).Do you keep a food diary? It could be as simple as a food allergy.

 

[CloudStrife]

Do you take any supplements? Food first started running through me when I was taking bile stimulants; it got better when I stopped them, but some other supplement continued to irritate my stomach so much that I got gastritis. The resulting acid overproduction gave me esophagitis. In retrospect, the vitamin b-complex was the culprit. I don't know if it was one or more of the vitamins B in it or some binding ingredient, and right now I don't care. The esophagitis diagnosis surprised me, because I've really only felt heartburn a dozen or so times in my life, most recently after attempting to be the first person at a local restaurant to eat their El Diablo burger (it was covered in habanero sauce).Do you keep a food diary? It could be as simple as a food allergy.

I'm pretty sure it's not a food allergy, since I didn't significantly change my diet 2 years ago, and what few new foods I may eat I do not eat very often to cause a chronic problem. At first I thought it was a respiratory allergy, but I moved over 100 miles and the problem is unchanged.

 

[CloudStrife]

I don't have any other symptoms of thyroid problem, or if I do, they are conflicting so don't point either way. Constipation, plus weight loss. No change in pulse.

 

[CloudStrife]

Along with the swallowing problem, I get throat mucus after eating. At first, it was primarily in the morning, but after awhile it persisted all day.I'm very frustrated with my health; I'm 28 years old, and with the swallowing, IBS and anal fissure, I feel like I might be miserable forever. I was tested for SIBO and treated with an antibiotic to no avail.

 

[Autosaver]

I had the same problem after a while, but it went away.It happened more frequently when I ate food without liquid.