[gerschic]

hello, i have just been told that i have ibs-d. I'm 24 and for the past few months have been having problems with being bloated, excessive gas, mucus in my stools, pain in my stomach that is mostly relieved by having a bowel motion and on occasion a feeling of being finished after i go to the toilet. This has been going on roughly 5 months or so. Some days i'm ok and other days i just feel like #### !!I went to the dr and she ran blood tests ,i had to do a stool test and she felt my stomach but that was it. Everything came back normal and she said because of my age and symptoms there were no reasons to do any further testing unless i got any new symptoms or my current ones become worse. Is this what normally happens when you see a dr for this kind of thing ?I'm not really worried as my symptoms are mild compared to others that i have heard off and it doesn't interfer with my life too much. I'm thinking i'm probaly just worrying too much as when you look on the internet all sorts of scary sounding things come up !!! Would you agree with the diagnoses of ibs ? or is it possible i have something else which needs to be checked out more extensivly?Thanks in advance Kate

 

[BQ]

Welcome

Is this what normally happens when you see a dr for this kind of thing ?

At your age and if you have no history of anything serious GI wise... yeah.. kinda typical. I assume you also had some blood work done?? If not you could ask your Dr to check it just iin case.But truly the symptoms you describe sound very familiar and what your Dr. said to you sounds spot on. So unless you have any new symptoms occur or if yours change for the worse... you can relax about your diagnosis and try learning some ways to manage your symptoms.Just pick your worst symptom... choose a forum here that seems to most closely match it and begin reading & posting your questions. (You can find all of our forums by using the site navigator at the bottom right of the page.)All of us are different so.. one discovers what works for their unique IBS by trial & error. Usually folks find that a few treatment methods working in concert is a good way to manage their IBS symptoms.All the best

 

[Kathleen M.]

They've done some studies and found that for typical IBS symptoms (like yours) that if you keep running test after test especially more and more invasive and embarrassing tests that they find that it only makes the IBS worse. From the stress of the testing and from the stress of being told over and over and over that they found exactly the perfectly healthy normal they expected to find based on your symptoms. So a lot of doctors do fewer tests as it generally is better for the patient and the invasive tests all have rare but serious risks.If your symptoms are typical like yours are it is very rare to find anything other than IBS going on, and most of the other than IBS will eventually cause other symptoms.People getting up around 50 or older need screening colonoscopies for polyps anyway so are more likely to get that then people who are in their 20's That you have good days and bad days is a very good sign. Some people feel bad every single day without a break.One thing to make sure you do with bloating (especially if that becomes severe and constant rather than good on some days) is make sure you are up on your gynecological exams. Sometimes when that has a problem it shows up as GI symptoms, but it tends to be all the time.Symptoms that indicate something other than IBS.Abnormal stool or blood tests (and sounds like yours are fine)Bloody stools (lots of blood and mixed in, a small drop of bright blood on the paper is usually an anal irritation and IBS can irritate those)Abnormal weight loss. If you eat less and lose weight that is NORMAL weight loss. If you are eating like Michael Phelps training for the Olympics but aren't burning calories like he does and still can't gain a pound or keep losing weight--that is abnormal.