IBS or what?

Hello. I am a new member and would be grateful for some thoughts on my problem. I have had bowel problems for some 20 years on and off with gas, abdo pain and, occasionally, more than one "moveent" a day. No diarrhoea or constipation and I am vegetarian. I had a total hysterectomy fo fibroids at 36 and am now 51.

Recently the gas and twice daily motions returned so I visited the GP who has referred me for a sigmoidoscopy. I gather this is to be a rigid rather than flexible scope - what are the differences between the two and is one superior to the other?

I have had a normal CA125 (reading 28) and normal LFT and anaemai test.

The thing is I don't ever have what I would call diarrhoea or constipation but someone has suggested I may have IBS. Can IBS be present without causing looseness or inability to perform?

Any help would be welcome. I feel rather vulnerable!

Pauline

Yes, it could be IBS, but sometimes people get a bit free with that diagnosis. Having gas and related gas pains is normal. Having a bowel movement twice in one day is quite normal for a lot of people. When normal becomes abnormal is when it really starts to interfere with your life. When pain is unbearable, when you bloat to the point you can't wear your clothing or even look pregnant, when even your one or two bowel movements a day are hard to pass or hurt or have a lot of mucus with them, even if they look normal.

Since you're a vegetarian, I daresay you eat lots of veggies. Veggies, especially in their raw or al dente state, are bad to cause normal people gas. Beans too, obviously, cause a lot of people gas. Raw fruits and fruit juice can cause gas in some people (apples seem to be universally the worst offender).

Have you been able to combat the gas with OTC gas relievers? Have you tried keeping a food diary to see if one or a few things in particular (e.g. beans or raw broccoli) makes it worse? If your problems are mild and controllable with diet modifications and/or OTC stuff, then you are within the realm of normal.

Have you ever had a colonoscopy? If not, and given your age, make your doctor convert that sig to a full colonoscopy. A sig only looks at the lower part of the large intestine, while the colonoscopy goes much further up into it. A colonscopy is recommend for people over 40 every 10 years to look for colon cancer.

That your doctor wants to do a sig is a bit weird to me (based just on what you've described as symptoms); it looks at so little of the intestines, what's the point in your case? He's not going to find the cause of your gas problem in such a short amount of space. They're usually used, as I understand it, for people with lower-intesinal problems, such as when the doctor suspects hemmroids, skin tags, anal fissures and other things like that that might be causing pain or bleeding right near the rectum. If you don't have those complaints, I don't see the point at all, although if you've not had a colonscopy in the last 10 years, you need one of those just as routine maintenance, as it were.

If you have a good relationship with your doc, by all means keep it up.  The scope would probably be a good idea, with your history of hemorrhoids and rectal pressure, and because of your age.  Do you not have a uterus because you had a hysterectomy?  When was the last time you had an ultrasound?

A friend of mine ended up having TWO uteruses and, yes, TWO cervixes.  Very bizarre.  She had surgery to fix this crazy congenital condition...we'll see if she'll be able to have kids.  I'd be very interested if you've had cervical/uterine issues in the past!

As far as the gas, this might just be regular changes in your physiology, but a sigmoid/colonoscopy will still be a good idea for you.  The only difference is how far up into the colon they place the scope.  Have they explained why you're not receiving a colonoscopy, by any chance?