Not sure how to best help my daughter?

[April2]

I think my 17 year old daughter has IBS but I'm not sure how to help her. She's had so many sick days home from school this year. She will feel sick, dizzy, nauseous, and has had constipation (sometimes with a little blood) and now lately, diarrhea,.
I took her to the doctor and they thought she might have IBS or GERD. They did an Upper GI and that came back normal. I'm not sure what the next step might be? She doesn't feel bad every day but it's still probably most days.
I try to encourage her to eat healthy and drink plenty of water, which she was somewhat resistant to because she wants to be like all the other kids and be able to eat what they all are eating but just this last week she said she was trying to eat healthier and eat more fruits, veggies, etc. and more water and now she says she feels even worse today and has diarrhea.
I'm at my wits end and don't know how to help her or what other tests I should maybe check in to. Any ideas?

[April2]

Yeah, I forgot, she gets a lot of headaches too. In fact, today she's home sick again. She's missed a lot of school this year.
I think she does have some food sensitivities but she has been so resistant to making any dietary changes. She says she wants to just be a kid and eat whatever she wants like the other kids. I told her then she will just have to be miserable. Eventually, I'd think she'd get tired of feeling like that. She's at a hard age because she's almost an adult and she's gone a lot, either at school, work or out with friends. We hardly see her at home anymore, so it's hard to watch or try to control what she eats. She needs to do a lot of this herself.
I guess I'll have to take her back to the doctor or get a referral to a Gastroenterologist. Thanks FurballsMom.

[FurballsMom]

Has the doctor ordered a colonoscopy?  If it's IBS, the colonoscopy will not reveal anything wrong with the colon.  But, that doesn't mean that it's not IBS.  My IBS tends toward constipation more often than diarrhea.  I take an antispasmodic called Bentyl.  The generic is called Dicyclomine.  It helps a lot with the colon pain, regardless of which way the IBS swings.

I totally understand your daughter wanting to eat the same things as everyone else does.  I really do, because I feel the same way.  But, I know I can't, because I know I'll suffer, especially since I have the IBS/GERD combination.  It just isn't worth it to cheat any more, because I suffer too much.

I would suggest taking your daughter to a naturopath, who will help guide her through an elimination diet/food challenge.  This will help figure out what food sensitivities she may have that are aggravting the IBS.  In my own case, this worked better than the allergy tests, because I react to things that I tested negative for.  These are called food sensitivities and are like hidden food allergies.  A naturopath will explain the difference between a food sensitivity and a food allergy.  Basically, a food allergy will lead to anaphylaxis or rashes, whereas a food sensitivity will make a person sick --as in headaches or digestive issues.  My allergist even understands that food sensitivities don't always show up on the allergy tests.  He will even talk about an anonymous patient who tests negative for milk allergies but could drink a glass of milk in front of him and have a reaction right there in front of him.