IBS and My Experiences
IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be a challenge to live with because many doctors still do not recognize it as a bona fide illness or condition. This leaves IBS sufferers feeling lonely and hopeless. Having experienced this first hand, I can relate to that feeling very well. When I asked my gastroenterologist what was wrong with me, he replied that he didn’t know. To give you the happy ending at the beginning, I have been leading a perfectly normal life for over two years now after I put a few dietary and behavioral changes into effect. It is my intent to share the things I learned, both through the experience of trial and error, and through information I gleaned from the internet.
Let me give you some background. Back when I was in my twenties I had an ulcer. This was treated successfully but when I started having IBS symptoms I attributed them to ulcers. When no ulcers were found I was confused. My symptoms were mild but often annoying and uncomfortable. I didn’t realize that I must have had IBS until years later when I had an “attack” and couldn’t eat even a teaspoon of food without getting uncomfortably bloated. I was starving but full. It was horrible. I even went to the ER because the pressure on my diaphragm was very uncomfortable and I had no idea what was going on. The attack seemed to get better on it’s own in a few days and I was fine until we went on vacation a few months later. Then I was constipated for days followed by diarrhea for a day. This went on for a month and then it clicked. I remembered someone telling me about their IBS troubles. I ravenously devoured everything I could find on the internet about it, realized those were my symptoms and then set to work fixing things.
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IBS Diagnosis and Symptoms
According to the Rome II committees and the Functional Brain Gut Research Group, IBS can be diagnosed based on at least 12 weeks (not consecutive) in which a person had two out of three of these features over a period of a year:
- Relieved with defecation; and/or
- Onset associated with a change in frequency of stool; and/or
- Onset associated with a change in form (appearance) of stool.
Symptoms that cumulatively support the diagnosis of IBS:
- Abnormal stool frequency (for research purposes, “abnormal” may be defined as greater than 3 bowel movements per day and less than 3 bowel movements per week);
- Abnormal stool form (lumpy/hard or loose/watery stool);
- Abnormal stool passage (straining, urgency, or feeling of incomplete evacuation);
- Bloating or feeling of abdominal distention.
Supportive symptoms of IBS:
- A) Fewer than three bowel movements a week
- B) More than three bowel movements a day
- C) Hard or lumpy stools
- D) Loose (mushy) or watery stools
- E) Straining during a bowel movement
- F) Urgency (having to rush to have a bowel movement)
- G) Feeling of incomplete bowel movement
- H) Passing mucus (white material) during a bowel movement
- I) Abdominal fullness, bloating, or swelling
Determining whether you are diarrhea predominant, constipation predominant or a little of both helps in managing your symptoms.
Diarrhea-predominant: At least 1 of B, D, F and none of A, C, E; or at least 2 of B, D, F and one of A or E.
Constipation-predominant: At least 1 of A, C, E and none of B, D, F; or at least 2 of A, C, E and one of B, D, F.
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IBS in Children
Yes children do get IBS and the treatment for them is the same as for adults. Depending on the age of the child, compliance may be hard or easy to come by. The occurrence of irritable bowel syndrome in children is similar to the rate in adults (6% to 14%). Symptoms sufficient for a diagnosis of IBS were noted in 17% of high school students and 8% of middle school students.
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