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Did you have symptoms you thought were IBS for years before being diagnosed?

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Posted 1/30/2010 8:45 PM (GMT 0)
  I did, in fact I had many colon symptoms that I just shrugged off as IBS. Now I wonder if IBS is really just a mild form of IBD waiting to explode when everything is just right or actually wrong. I wonder if I had UC all along and it just took a major stress to start it going.  I know I only had occasional D or C before my teenager getting into some trouble.  I guess I am hoping that with medication I can be ok again. So far  with both medications I have tried I  still get symptoms just not as bad.
Posted 1/30/2010 8:51 PM (GMT 0)
Nope. I was relatively normal in terms of pooping and such. Sure, my poop changed according to what I ate (as in it got loose if I ate a lot of berries or something), but I think that's normal..and, I didn't have foods that bothered me, except for MSG and artificial sweetners. However, there are quite a few people with IBD who also have IBS.
Posted 1/30/2010 9:01 PM (GMT 0)
no, i was always totally normal until i got severe uc symptoms
Posted 1/30/2010 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
 hmm interesting. So I wonder how to tell if it is IBS or UC acting up.
Posted 1/30/2010 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
     I certainly had IBS since childhood.  I remember getting nervous in school and just about making it to the restroom.  I used to walk to and from school and we even went home at lunch time....many times I barely made it home, and sometimes not...ugh.  Wasn't diagnosed with IBS though....doctor said I had a "nervous stomach".  This was back in the 50's and I guess not much was known about it back then.  I was diagnosed with IBD in 1998 at age 52.
Posted 1/30/2010 9:46 PM (GMT 0)
Nope, not me...never had any problems at all until one day...whammo!

Not saying that isn't what happened to you, but for me it was quite sudden.

Posted 1/31/2010 1:00 AM (GMT 0)
IBS and IBD are 2 seperate issues with similar symptoms...IBS is a syndrome, there's no evidence via scopes/tests that can explain why IBS attacks a person...IBD is a disease with inflammation, changes in stool and blood markers, basically has evidence of explaining why a persons bathroom habits change.

A person can have both IBD and IBS though...according to my GI it's more common for a long time suffering (and more severe) IBD to end up developing IBS...but there's certainly nothing saying that a person can't develop IBS first and then get an IBD, that said, they are still 2 seperate entities.

:)
Posted 1/31/2010 1:09 AM (GMT 0)

Yes, you have found someone who had IBS for years before diagnosed with IBD.  I still have problems keeping the symptoms straight at times.

Twice when having bouts of D I had a sigmoid and the doctor found nothing abnormal so still called it IBS.  I think I heard IBS for the first time when I was about 35 or so but always seemed to have a "nervous" stomach as Christine said back in the 50s.  The true difference that I have found for me is the bleeding and mucous.  I NEVER had that before UC.  BUT - my gastro doc thinks it is possible that I had UC a little sooner than age 67 (when diagnosed) but was in remission when I had the tests.  Who knows?  Anyway, what you eat affects IBS so much more than the UC for me!  I always had IBS with D - never C.  Another difference is where the gas is present.  Now my gas with UC is in my rectum - with IBS - always burping and heatburn, etc.  I take Prilosec and gasX for IBS and trying to eat lowfat/low spice and small amounts throughout the day.

ElaineNY

Posted 1/31/2010 1:12 AM (GMT 0)
no
Posted 1/31/2010 1:59 AM (GMT 0)
I don't know if they were IBS symptoms but I definitely had digestive issues off and on in my 20's that weren't the same as IBD symptoms.
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