IBS (IT BE SOMETHIN...)

After reading so many questions on this topic and the lame responses the so called doctors are posting I just finally have to say something.  IBS?  What a crock of **** diagnosis. (literally)  All that means is - it be somethin' but they don't really have a clue what!  And to add insult to injury, they insult us sufferers by once again giving us the "more fiber/water speech."  We've freakin' eaten a ton of fiber and drank gallons upon gallons of water and we STILL have diarrhea/constipation, abdominal inflammation, white blood cells in our stools, red and tarry blood in our toilets and an overall, poor quality of daily life!  I've had one sigmoidoscopy, three colonoscopies and whatever blood test they decided to run at Vanderbilt Hopital here in Nashville, TN and all they can figure out to say (in return for my thousands of dollars) is, "here, try Milk of Magnesia, some Miralax (plastic for your already ailing colon or and a nice trendy drug, Zelnorm (which I think may have been taken off the market for doing more harm than good-  although in one of the doc responses I read, the doc once again recommended it.)  Seriously!  It's not normal to have bloody diarrhea for months, even if their little test say "normal."  Maybe what that means is - DO MORE TESTS, PREFERABLY THE CORRECT ONES.  FIND THE CAUSE OF THE SYMPTOMS AND ATTEMPT TO HEAL THE CAUSE NOT JUST MASK THE SYMPTOMS WITH DRUGS THAT YOU GET A KICK BACK FOR PRESCRIBING OR THAT YOU PRESCRIBE BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO LAZY OR IGNORANT TO ACTUALLY GET TO THE SOURCE OF SUCH PROBLEMS.  BE IN THE "HEALING' PROFESSION, NOT JUST THE DRUB PRESCRIBING PROFESSION! !!!


This discussion is related to stomach pain,  bloating, diarhea (diarrhea), constipation, white blood cells in urine.

[ggreg]

Dear What Doc,
This is a volunteer patient-to-patient forum... But I hear you, IBS is what they call it when your bowel is "irritated," which is not a particularly definitive diagnosis.  I wonder if you have had an MRI or CAT scan and ultrasound of your abdomen, in particular the small intestine.  You can get a growth in there, usually slow-growing, that can cause your symptoms, but will NOT show up on a colonoscopy, because that scope only goes as far as where the small intestine turns into the large intestine.  So, be sure to get those specific tests done.  I'm assuming your bloodwork hasn't showed internal bacteria or virus.

Also, in case you have not considered this, sometimes medications can cause problems in the bowels, so the side effects of every drug you take has to be reviewed by a doc.  Let's see, I also assume you've got a gastroenterology specialist on board, and are not just going to the hospital, and could be you need to make some changes in whomever you do see.  In the end, I recognize from experience that it can be gravely serious to have tarry stool, endless bloody diarrhea, and constipation, and so a growth has GOT to be ruled out forthwith.
GG