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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 2/7/2011 2:25 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, it is nice to be here today. I discoverd this site today and take it as a gift, tomorrow is my birthday, I'll be 43.
Now for 4 years I almost constantly have digestion problems. Unable to regain weight; often loose stools, and regularly cramps and pain, sometimes very violent. They may last for 10 days and then calm down and then a week or two later, start again. I did not notice any change in my diet to explain these coming and going.
Actually indigestion started 6-7 years ago, I was losing weight despite good diet, good appetite and good quantity, in France. I thought of some parasite due to my frequent travels to Asia, but the doctor disagreed and blood tests only indicated low iron (14) which is quite chronic as far as I can remember. I had no pain nor diarrhea, just losing weight. Actually I was burnt out after years of too much work, sleep deprivation and strong psychological pressure. As well, I turned extremely weak, and was depressed a lot. I had lost sleep as well.
Then when I arrived in India 4 years ago , I thought I could recover because I was on sorts of holidays but then i just kept losing weight, and notieced that I not feeling very comfortable in my guts. It is difficult to say when really the mild sort of pain started, because I did not pay much attention. My sleep problem and general weakness was my may concern then, and so far I had never had any GI issue in my life, except one dhirea when arriving in Afircan or Asia – a sign of good guts, actually!
After 6 months in India, I had amoebia (the first time in my life despite my previous frequent travels) and violent cramps. Amoebia was solved but milder cramps, pain and diarrhea went on, this I can say because the amaboea period made me more aware of my guts. Then I spent one year with everyday cramps in the lower abdomen, with bubbles sounds, -and diarrhea regularly although not always. I was in a very, very remote place; I attended local Tibetan doctors, they all agreed that I was lacking "digestive fire" but disagreed with my idea that maybe I still had the amabobia. I took their herbal medicine , recovered from the sleep problems but still suffer from cramps and diarrhea coming and going. I have been using Tibetan medicine for other ailment since1997 and it has always been helpful, sometimes amazingly helpful, but not with my my present bowels state...
I had amobia again 2 years ago, which is easy to recognize because then there is mucus in the stool.
Since october, I live in another valley, less isolated, and the pain is more frequent and acute and the cramps are again violent but now a little bit higher in the abdomen, without bubbling sounds.
I thought again some parasite checked with Tibetan doctors (3, one after the other, because their treatment did not help and also they said I had no parasite) then I shifted to conventional medicine to get strong anti-aparasite treatment and event though stool examination did not show parasite, they gave me antibiotic for another parasite, Giarda, and it brought a bit of relief for 10 days. Then pain again, cramps, the whole thing. They call it colitis and gave me then antacids and corticosteroid, without result, apart form violent side effect: heart palpitation so strong that it would wake me up in the early morning. I dropped conventional medicine once again in my life in December, because it did not help but added trouble. Of course this is not a definitive decision, I am ready to get help from any direction.
A few days ago I met a strange man who has a reputation of being a healer, he sort of checked me with a pendulum and crystals and said my whole GI is ulcerated. I do know how he can know. He give "diagnostic", advices and medicine for free, in the back of his shop. I don't doubt his motivation at all, just wonder about his skills, but he has excellent reputation. Although he usually treats with diet and homeopathy, he gave me 20 days famotidine, 80 mg a day, an antacid, to "heal the ulcer". Since fomatidine is only a symptomatic medicine, I still try to understand what's wrong with my guts to solve the pb from the root. Today is my 3rd day with famotidine, mild pain is still there constantly but no cramp. I can't say whether it's due to that medicine or not.
I am also trying homeopathy now for 3 months, no result.
I am not much in search for symptomatic solution, I can cope with the pain and the irregular and usually moderate diarrhea, but I would love to know, what’s wrong with my intestine? Can I digest the food, be healthy, regain weight?
Surfing on the net, I would believe I have IBS, but I wonder about IBD and Crohn. Crohn affects more likely ladies and jewish people and I am both.
Here, in the Indian Himalayas, it is difficult to have proper check up. To undergo one, I would need to travel for 13 hours across the mountains and it is very uncomfortable, especially since my health is so bad. I get motion sickness immediately- this is part of the package since 6-7 years...
Better than hell, though! https://www.healingwell.com/community/emoticons/tongue.gif
Any idea about my symptoms?
Wish you all excellent health!
Posted 2/7/2011 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
If you are a woman your hormonal cycles might explain why things are going from bad to worse every two weeks or so.

It seems like you need to see a gastrointestinal doctor and have your bowel scoped to see what's going on inside. There are effective medications for Crohn's and colitis other than corticosteroids.
Posted 2/7/2011 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for the suggestion Kazbern, regarding hormonal cycle.
So far I have not noticed any correlation between this cycle and the abdominal pain, wich is just irregular, but I'll track that more closely> It reminds me that Tibetan doctors as well as the strange man said that my chronic leucorrhea (a gynecological mild disorder without any pain) are connected to the intestinal problems
I solved the chronic leucorrhea last year through Ayurvedic medicine, 'Leukol', by the Himalaya drug company (an Indian one but they meet international standard, see www.himalayahealthcare.com). The strange healer told me that the leucorrhea was not healed and it can be that the leucorrhea- which was there for maybe 10 years, i can't remember- actually triggered the guts acidity.
As for getting endoscopy, this implies travelling afar, expenses and I don't know what and where I can find good doctors> Here this is not so easy> Well, I will try to find out. I will think over. What do you think about he famotidine? On the web, it says dosage are between 10 and 40 mg a day> This man prescribed 80 mg. Am i stupid?
Also, it is said everywhere on the web that Crohn's can not be healed, are you mentioning just a symptomatic relief?
Posted 2/7/2011 5:56 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know much about famotidine, hopefully someone else will answer.

Crohn's and ulcerative colitis are inflammatory conditions caused by inappropriate response of your autoimmune system to your healthy tissue. The medications that are used typically address the inflammatory response (5-ASAs). Newer medications try to modify the immune system (corticosteroids shut down the immune response that causes inflammation, but can have really bad side-effects, especially long-term; other newer meds are methotrexate, imuran, remicade, etc.). Come to the Crohn's forum here at Healingwell and I'm sure you will get lots of advice. There is not a "cure," but effective treatment will reduce inflammation in the bowel, restore healthy bowel tissue and bring back normal bowel function. Sometimes people have to have surgery if part of their bowel is damaged beyond a certain point.

Beyond bowel problems, many people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (not IBS) will have other problems like joint pain, skin problems and eye problems. Effective treatment of the bowel inflammation will relieve the other problems.

More generally, people with Crohn's suffer from poor absorption, and will have prolems like anemia, vitamin D deficiency and vitamin B-12 deficiency. You can take vitamin D easily. You might also consider supplementing with an Omega-3 source, which has natural antiinflammatory action (fish oil, flax seed oil). This is not likely to be sufficient treatment if you do have Crohn's, but it won't hurt either.
Posted 2/7/2011 9:11 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you
I am a bit afraid to move to the Crohn's forum
I'll see how it goes with the famotidine.
Today a friend gave me a box of Diosmectite, which is a sort of purified clay, described as "anti-dirrheal and gastro-intestinal protectant" I Googled it to see and then decided it is worth a try. I took just one sachet -3 are recommended per day... and well, i feel better, the pain has disappeared. On the web there are papers which say it is anti-inflammatory as well. The good thing is that it has no side effect, it is a sort of natural remedy. I'll tell more after a few days, let's see... I was thinking not mixing the famotidine with that diosmectite, in order to know which one works better, but could not help trying because I still had pain today all day, untill mmm a few hours ago...
Thanks again, kazbern, and have a nice day!
Posted 2/7/2011 10:48 PM (GMT 0)
You'll also receive more replies on the forums. For some reason, this one is infrequent in activity. Even if you don't have the other diagnoses just go there, to start reading info and previous topics. Can't hurt.
Posted 2/8/2011 6:00 AM (GMT 0)
Ok, thanks Marsky
whta's your low residue diet
Her so difficu to have a proper diet...
I was thinking, if I go for endoscopy somewhere, will they be able to read the result?
Last year I deceided to have a check on my low back because, as part of the package, I have almost chronic low back pain for the last 4 years. Tibetan doctors used to say this is related to the lack of "digestive fire" and call it "damaged kidney heat" which is not related to the kidney organs but to the energetical zone. Still their treatments did not help. My low back can be ok, not so painful, but if I have to walk for a while or walk uphill or carry something a bit heavy, then I automatically have to bent down 90 degrees like a 90 old lady and then feel strong pain for many days.
So last year they did Xrays and scan and various others things and then declared I should not walk not sit not do this not do that and it was frightening. I fetl many they exagerate because they want my monwey, as they see I am a westerners and must be rich. So I went to another hospital, the missionary one, and they lookes at the scan and Xray and said there is nothing wrong how strange you have so much problem? And they gave me physiotherapy for 20 days with no result.
Do you know if low back pain can be a part of IBS or IBD?
Posted 2/8/2011 2:00 PM (GMT 0)
A low residue diet is a low fiber diet consisting of plain foods - white bread/bagels, etc., white rice, cottage cheese, applesauce, yogurt, plain pasta or mac/cheese, roast chicken/turkey, plain fish, salads made with iceberg lettuce, some canned fruit, bananas, etc. I avoid whole wheat products (bran cereals, etc.), fresh fruit such as any berry (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry), all have tons of seeds offensive to touchy GI tracts and fresh pineapple (too much fiber, canned isn't as offensive).

I was faithfully on this diet for about 2 years (still on it about 75% of the time) and kept a detailed food journal (any notebook will suffice, designate one page per day, record every single thing you eat and drink that day). I would rate each day in the bottom right hand corner, great, good, bad. I could easily flip back thru the pages and days to find great days if I needed to duplicate my food intake for that particular day. If you do these things, after a while you'll see a pattern begin to form and you can easily determine what your go-to foods would be. We're all different inside, what helps one of us, may not help another.

One time my family and I rented an old season of Survivor, the one set in Australia. One player said she never felt better and all she had been eating was rice for 40 days. Once she came back to the US and began eating our western diet again, she had a lot of bowel troubles. She wrote a book called the G-Free Diet and determined she was allergic to gluten. Why she felt so good, at just eating rice for over a month.

Have you been checked to see if you're sensitive or allergic to gluten? That could be your culprit.

You mentioned your back, funny thing, I have back trouble now but it's because of lifting heavy items in unwise ways (knees locked, legs straight). Now I know better but the damage has been done. A chiro tried to help me or I should say I tried his approach but he wanted 8 visits per month with me and honestly I think he was just trying to get $ out of me (insurance wouldn't cover the visits). So I just now lift anything I drop as if it's 50 lbs and squat down low, feet wide apart, rear end almost touching floor, back straight, etc. I do this for a piece of paper I might have dropped, to tie my shoes, etc. Never again will I bend over, without going all the way to the floor like this. I do rely upon a topical cream that is GREAT, called Topricin. It's analgesic and you find it at health food stores. A little pricey, over here in US it's $16 for a 2 oz tube but it takes care of the pain. Doesn't numb the area or have a smell, but it seeps in and the pain is less.

Good luck to you. Wish I could be more helpful. Hoping Shawn can help you. He's a wealth of info!
Posted 2/8/2011 2:51 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, lower back pain can be a part of inflammatory bowel disease. about 25% of people with Crohn's will have joint pain, and some will have arthritic changes in their sacroiliac joint and lower spine.
Posted 2/8/2011 6:57 PM (GMT 0)
You really need to see a conventional doctor and get some tests done.

A colonoscopy.

Blood work and stool work.

You may have Post infectipus IBS that is headed to IBS, but you need testing.

Some stool tests and blood work can help differentiate between IBD and IBS, as do some symptoms.

ameobic dysentary after resolution of the intial infection is known to cause PI IBS.

I believe some of these people your seeing aren't helping you and you should pursue someone who really can.

also the leading cause of misdiagnoses is self diagnoses. No one can diagnose you using crystals.

You need a proper diagnoses first so you know what your treating and some of these conditions, not IBS can cause death if not treated right.

 

Posted 2/9/2011 7:56 AM (GMT 0)
Yes Shawn, the man with crystal is strange and I don't know how reliable, although he made correct assumption saying that I had chronic leucorrhea and that had worsen my case. He checked my belly through palpation and the funny thing is that only the upper and the left sides are painful under pressure, the right side is Ok. I checked on the encyclopedia and it says there is a left-side colitis. I wish I could diagnose the whole thing without travelling. Shawn, right, the Tibetan doctors did not help so far with my current problems although they have helped me a lot in the past with other things. The missionary hospital has conventional doctors, including a Brittish doc, she said "colitis" but their corticosteroid made no difference. They have so many patients, no time for each. But i'll go there once again in the afternoon today thanks to your insistence. They can't do endoscopy, though. Then, 2 hours drive away (in the mountain, and by local bus) there is a hospital with lots of equipment but they are just after money and are not reliable either, I would believe. For my low bak pain they behaved in a disgusting way. Otherwise I have to travel 13 hours and make my self sick to reach some Indian gig city... These big cities are not fun.
Now I remember my sister said that after her sailing around the world in 2007, she came back with intestinal disorder that nobody can heal (she is in France with good medical facilities), and that my mom often suffered form painful diarrhea. None of them told me about Crohn or these tings but, yes maybe there is something genetic?
Gosh
And now if I painfully go to get the endoscopy for one of these disease like UC or Crohn, and there is no remedy, wont' I just suffer the traval and the endoscopy for no benefit?....
Anyway thank you for insisting that I get checked properly. Yet still I don't want to take these conventional medicine. There is a thread on UC. today, a woman has been taking medicine for 14 years and it damaged so many other tissues and the bones, etc. she want to go for surgery now. I'd prefer to live with the pain, my symptoms are not so severe, just painful flare up but they last only a few days or maybe the longest is 10 days, and then better for a while. The thing is I would love to be healthy and regain weight. I am chronically weak.
Well, someone is going to Delhi soon, I'll see if I can join them.
Marsky I think I'll do as you said for the food diary. I was thinking about doing that but I'll do it from today onwards. These days actually I am simply not eating. That's pretty easy!
As for yo7ur back pain, I know what you are talking about, but it doesn't apply to me> Merely walking brings the problem. I was aware of the bending thing, since my mom cannot bend it immediately brings pain to her and carrying her children in her arms was a nightmare to her. Then her vertebrae (Last lumb. 1st sacral) simply fused into one by themselves, and now she has no pain, just lost a bit a flexibility.
This site is wonderful, you are all very kind, thank you so much for your suggestions and advices.
Posted 2/9/2011 9:25 AM (GMT 0)
Ok I started the food journal. Already something to mention...
I did not have violent pain for the last 4 days, but just after the meal, I had one sudden cramp. It seems very strange to me, because I would say that right after the meal, the food is still in the stomach, not yet reached the intestine and not the colon! Yet I was curious to know what this food would do, as a trial. It was white rice and red kidney beans, that I got from the Monastery kitchen (no menu card, we have to eat whatever they have prepared) I live in a Tibetan monastery. I took only a very small ration because Tibetan doctors tell me rice is not so good for me and I know that beans are not easy to digest. Could it be that, which so immediately caused the cramp?
Yesterday I had a boiled veggies in a restaurant, and the veg were only half cooked.I thought it may be difficut to digest, but ate it. No trouble afterwards, surprisingly.
Posted 2/9/2011 10:36 AM (GMT 0)
KAzbern and shawn,
On the Crohn's forum, they say CD is not easy to diagnose so I wonder if I really should go to Delhi and all the whoel things, it is very impratical>
They says something as well about teeth> Gosh it's true my teeth I decaying very fast these days. I thought due to malnutritionYet for the last 4years I am taking minerals and vitamins a lot, including in ayuurvedic form which is supposed to be more easy to assimilate, but I always wondered, if I can't digest the food, how can I digest all these pills? Still I took a lot.
Posted 2/10/2011 3:20 AM (GMT 0)
Betterthanhell,

You need to decide for yourself what to do. You can certainly continue living in pain and suffering from malnutrition. You can keep a food diary and figure out what foods will work and which ones won't. If you have an inflammatory condition it will not matter, but perhaps you will have less diarrhea or less pain or less gas - in any case the inflammatory process does not care.

One dietary measure that has been shown to be effective for inflammatory bowel disease is a completely liquid diet. You will have to figure out how to get a nutritionally balanced liquid to drink (in a place where you can buy these things, people use Ensure for example, or some prescription liquid formulas). You can stay on a nutritionally balanced liquid diet for a long time (although it may be hard emotionally to not eat solids). This will induce a bowel rest and can slow or stop an inflammatory process.

Yes Crohn's is difficult to diagnose in patients where disease is not severe. Some bloodwork can show inflammation that can be a useful diagnostic tool, but it is not definitive for most people. A scope is the way to go. If you will read again what I wrote above a few days ago, the medications for Crohn's are usually effective at stopping the inflammatory process. This will allow you to be properly nourished, maintain your bone density (very important for a 40-something woman) and feel well.

There may not be much experience in Indian hospitals with inflammatory bowel disease. A big city is definitely the way to go, and go to a place where westerners are often treated.
Posted 2/10/2011 6:48 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for getting right to the point and the so practical advices
I guess I have to go to Delhi now
Well I have to complete some task here before I go, it may take a week or two
My symptoms are mild, yes if I compare with other's on the forum, but this malnutrition, teeth decay, low back pain, and eyes... well yes, defitely decline in clear distant vision
KAzbern, thank you> I may come back here to ask advice concerning the treatment as well. As you know, I don't like medicine. But you are so practical, and I am maybe foolish...
Thanks for sharing on this forum!
Posted 2/10/2011 7:04 PM (GMT 0)
There are different kinds of colitis. Mucous colitis was a very old name for IBS.

Microscopic colitis is a form of IBD.

IBD can kill you if not treated correctly, where as IBS won't.

This is really important to your health and what you have an are suffering from for you to get proper testing and a firm diagnoses. You might not need IBD meds if you have IBS. IF in fact you have an IBD condition you don't treat it right it could cause serious heath issues and even death. These are serious issues to your well being.
Posted 2/11/2011 8:51 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks
Yesterday I could join my mother and then my sister in France on the phone for a few minutes
Also tried to see a doctor yesterday at the missionary hospital, had to wait 2 hours still couldn't attend him, there was an emergency and people before me, so I left. As for the gastoenterologue, he is on leave, back in.. April...

My mother (68) told me she suffered form diarrhea very often all her life and had to run to the toilet. Funny I have never noticed that. She said, all checkups showed nothing so the conclusion was that it is a psychological or emotional thing. She told me don't worry that's nothing. She says she feels better after stoping dairy food last year. Any dairy now she can notice makes her feel immeditaley incomfortable. In my case I have not noticed anything with dairy, nor with emotion, although i would say that my depression in 2004-2006 may have triggred the problem, then becoming accute with the first amoebia episode in September2007. Since then...


Called my sister, it seems we have quite similar symtoms. For her it started with a severe infection she got in Cabo Verde, an African island, 3 years ago. Back to France, she had consulted 2 gastroentorolgues, Homeopaths and few other people, had an endoscopy which showed nothing but made her worse for a while. She tried many different treatments without success.
She said stress is aggravating, and Probiotics as well.
She says she finds relief with ****su and Ultra-Levure, or ultra-yeast, which is not a bacteria but yeast, she insisted, as the other probiotocs made her more sick.
She agrees our symptoms are symilar, though she doesn't have my side symptoms like low bak pain, tooth decay, and sight pb.
She disagreed with me going for endoscopy, as it showed nothing in her case and just made her sick, and for sure my travalling to Delhi will make me sick.
She said we problably don't have Crohn because no mucus, no fever, no blood. She made a joke about the Jewish genes, (she is not happy being a Jew and never wants to talk about anything relating to that) and said somthing like jews always find that being a jew is a problem, so please forget about that point...
She says (she has PhD and is a scientist reseacher in evolutionary genetics, so she knows quite well about biology and genetics) that it is problably just a disorder in the inner flora, brought about by the infection. She said in my case, due to my traveling in India and the Himalayas, up and downs with great altitude differences, it is logical that the flora is disturbed.
Well I don't beleive that flora can be chronically disturbed just like that, and that my life style in the Himalayas can have triggered anything, because I have been living in the High Himalayas before without guts problems, and besides, my food is healthy there, simple, regular - no fancy.
She said we don't care about the diagnostic we care about feeling better and she is happy with ultra-yeast.
So she beleives endoscopy will be useless.
She'll call me on Sunday so that we can discuss further, since yesterday was not the right moment.

Well...
?
Posted 2/11/2011 2:12 PM (GMT 0)
Well, endoscopy is not typically where you'd look for Crohn's - you need to be scoped on the other end to see most cases of Crohn's.

It is true that Crohn's patients most often have bleeding and/or mucous (not so much with the fevers), but if you poll the Crohn's forum you will see many people there who did not have those kinds of symptoms. Some were diagnosed simply because they were anemic, some from pain alone....I can tell you that I had mild stomach trouble my whole life, but didn't seek help for anything until I started passing blood and mucous. That was when I was 37. I'd already had 10 years of pelvic pain, reduced fertility and arthritic changes in my sacroiliac joint from the disease. And I was chronically anemic. Most doctors dont' look twice at an anemic woman if she's still menstruating - they'll say it's your monthly cycle that's stealing your iron. But for me it was probably both my monthly cycle, poor absorption and possibly microscopic blood loss in the gut.

My dad (who is probably the genetic link to Crohn's for me) had two years of diarrhea recently, brought on by a simple stomach bug. He does not have Crohn's (but his mom probably did, and his 1st cousin does), as demonstrated by scope & blood work. His doctors felt that the intestinal virus just wrecked his gut and it was going to take a good long time to get better. He was 71-73 years old. So I guess it certainly is possible that the whole shebang can go to he!! in a handbasket from one viral infection.
Posted 2/11/2011 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
Your sister maybe a scientist, but its bad advise not to get scoped. A colonoscopy.

There is a stool test called a

Fecal Calprotectin Assay in Distinguishing Organic Causes of Chronic Diarrhea from Irritable Bowel Syndrome:

http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/full/49/6/861

Neither IBS or IBD are caused by flora imbalances.

There are specific symptoms for an IBS diagnoses minus red flags. You have a few red flags. But it doesn't mean its not IBS, especially since you had ameobic dysentary or some other problem like IBD and there are even others, again some life threatening. You should also be tested for celiac sprue.

I understand you don't like medicine and have to travel for help, but it is the most inmportant thing right now.

Mucous is common in IBS.

look over this site.

http://www.aboutibs.org/site/about-ibs/symptoms/

Don't talk yourself or any one talk you out of going and getting a proper diagnoses. Again the leading cause of misdiagnoses is self diagnoses.

 

Posted 2/14/2011 2:55 PM (GMT 0)
Hi
Nice conversation with my beloved sister yesterday
She told me she had chnaged her mind and avised me to get the endoscopie (which means colonoscopy). She said her colonsocopy showed noting and they did also several biopsies at different levels of the Gt but found nothing but "doli-colon" (forgive me, maybe only a French expression), which means the colon is atypical, too long and too tender. They did not find any inflammation anyway.
Then she insisted I should come back to France where I can have good medical facilities with doctors who know about Western Guts.
Well I don't feel like going back to France for many reasons.
And I know she is constanlty trying to fond good reasons for getting me back closer to her.
No way, at least for the time being.
well I'll get checked in Delhi, i decided, in September, since I have to go there to renew my passport in hte French Ambassy.
I can survive till then, i think, because my symptoms are mild and now for about one week, no sever cramps, just very mild ones maybe only one or two per day, and the overall discomfort is also very slight. Yes, I know, remission means nothing, but I don't think I am in danger and anyway, yes, I'll ask for the colonoscopy and biopsies and blood test.
and now I am going to explore the links you kindly provided.
The interesting data is that she told me that our dad, who died of AIDS about 20 years ago, and had among all the sickness brought by AIDS, chiefly intestinal infection... and so, she todl me that actually all his life (before AIDS), he was a ultra-yeast consummer, and often adivsed her to take ultra-yeast.
Now if you look for the virtues of that Sacchormyces boulardii, it is said that it treats Crohn's so maybe there is something.
She also said our dad's 2d cosui today has Colon cancer, the only case of cancer in our family.

I'll ensure that the gatstroentorologue in Delhi knows these IBD and CD well.
BIG THANKS for all your kind sharing and advices
Oh, I also found out these days that discomfort and cramps were triggered by pressure, euther an bosdy position which presses on the belly, or my clothes!
Does this ring any bell?
And I am constantly belching (air burping suddenly from the mouth noisily)it is embarassing sometimes. Do you have any explanation related to bowels? I would beleive that belching is rather related to the stomach thant the gut or colon, but this is my fact, My sister doesn't belch or burp but has often fats she said.

Oh this is all a bit boring, sorry
Lots of love to you

Post Edited (BetterThanHellThough) : 2/14/2011 8:07:21 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/17/2011 6:16 AM (GMT 0)
I went through years of tests to see what was wrong with my stomach. The drs. said I have IBS but the D. didn't get any better. Finally they tested me for Celiac. Low and behold my gluten level were 18. They re supposed to  be under 5. So get tested. its only  simple blood test.
Posted 2/17/2011 6:19 AM (GMT 0)
Try gettng tested to Celiac
Thats what happened to me.
Posted 3/30/2011 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
Hi I am 38 and I have had a number of symptoms lately, fatigue, exhaustion, weight gain, blood in stool, mucus, pins and needles in left arm and fingers, burning sensation in my skin on my chest, huge bloating!! Stomach aches, feeling more like period pains? Feels like stool is ripping my colon on its way out!

Anyway had bloods taken all came back fine. Had urine tested this was fine after a recent urinary tract infection - ecoli. Then had stool sample done, result were that my Calprotectin level is 527. It should be below 60.

Went to hospital last week to see a consultant, ended up seeing her Junior who didnt know her arse from her elbow, kept contradicting herself :(

The Junior had a look in my bottom and said all looked well except for internal piles. However, the consultant recommended I have a colonoscopy.

Im due to go for the colonoscopy in 3 weeks and feel worried.

All the sites I have checked say that calprotectin would be low for IBS , which leaves colitis, chrones or cancer!!

Anyone got any ideas about what might be going on, 3 weeks seems an eternity away!! :(  

Posted 3/31/2011 8:24 PM (GMT 0)
Diagnose-me,

My colonoscopy is 3 weeks away too, try not to worry, although that's easier said than done.
Posted 3/31/2011 8:42 PM (GMT 0)
Oceanz,

What symptoms do you have?

Wendy
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