Read the disclaimer on the "A possible cure to IBS" page.

Since I am not a doctor, and am not interested in becoming as well versed as any biological researcher, I have written much of this page in layman's terms, and there may be many inaccuracies. I leave it up to the reader to do their own research and to find out how much of what is described here applies to their specific case. Some of this work is also based on some of my opinions. It is also important to note that IBS is a fairly newly created name for a disorder/disease that affects the bowels and so many doctors do not know about IBS. Finding a doctor knowledgeable about this is possibly difficult for patients everywhere. Again I will mention, that I do not attempt to be comprehensive here either.

IBS is usually diagnosed with a non-diagnosis. By non-diagnosis, I mean that if no other causes for pain are found IBS is usually what doctors attribute the cause to.

There are many other gastro-intestinal (GI) disorders that can cause intestinal cramps, and that in fact mimic IBS. These GI disorders can vary from benign to serious and this is why it is important to have many tests scheduled to find the actual cause for the pain. However, doctors struggle with how many tests to perform, being put in the position of having to schedule many tests that can extend the period of diagnosis to many, many months, or to reduce the number of tests - minimising the time, discomfort and cost to the patient. My tests lasted for a year before a diagnoses was found, and during this time the IBS problem became severe.

Since it is so difficult to diagnose IBS, medical groups have been looking for shortcuts to diagnosing IBS - such as the Rome II criteria - However, my personal belief is that the Rome criteria are not really adequate as compared to a good colonoscopy and the other tests mentioned here.

Before my tests, I've had intestinal problems for many years (maybe 15 years), but just never ventured beyond getting a doctor to merely say "take more fibre in your diet". I felt like my complaints of pain was falling on deaf ears. This is when I finally changed doctors and he decided after many complaints of colds, pain and discomfort to go beyond what other doctors were telling me. I feel he has cared a lot more than other doctors, after having found a tear, which I describe below, for which he prescribed some medicine that made the pain from that go away.

I had several blood tests done - One was to decide if I had thyroidism (by the way you might want to do a thyroid antibody test if you suspect that you have thyroidism as well) and the others were scheduled to find out why I occasionally complained of feeling faint. I showed low blood sugar at one test and so another one was scheduled immediately to see if I was diabetic. My stool was also tested possibly to tell if there were white blood cells in the stool. Another reason to test the stool, might be to see if there is any bile in the stool, which usually imparts a yellowish colour, or a greenish colour to the stool. The most important reason for testing the stool, in my case, was to find out what the cause of blood in my stool was. It was found that there was a tear in the intestine just above my hemmoroids - and that this was the only cause for seeing blood in my stool.

In the meanwhile, in order to control my colds, my doctor prescribed a nasal spray with corticosteroid called Nasacort (in Canada). This helped completely remove some of the never ending colds I constantly got. It also seems to help with some headaches and dizziness that people feel, if they are allergic to something airborne.

Next, they scheduled an ultrasound, which was mostly to find out if I had gall bladder stones - This pain occurs usually in the right chest as a stabbing pain, and it sometimes increases with breathing, but normally increases with the ingestion of fatty foods or large meals. I cut down on this and this significantly reduced the pain in the right chest.

However, the ultrasound indicated nothing and so I had to have a gastro-enterologist check me. She scheduled me for a short colonoscopy which checks the whole colon for problems. Others seem to have a sigmoidoscopy scheduled, which, I believe does a smaller check of the large intestine. She found nothing, except that my intestines had very erratic muscle contractions - an indication that I have IBS. She prescribed a drug called dicetel (in Canada), which is a smooth muscle relaxant.

Some of the other problems that I found on the internet which is similar to IBS and should possibly be tested for is as follows: Celiac's disease (for which you need to eliminate any food containing gluten from your diet), ovarian cancer in women (for which there is a simple CA-125 test - This may not be covered under insurance - however, PSA tests for prostate cancer in men are similar and are covered), Chron's disease (I think this requires a colonoscopy with a biopsy), H. pylori (again I think colonoscopy), stomach ulcers (upper GI, ultrasound test, colonoscopy?), and gall bladder disease (upper GI - however, gall bladder disease can be a side effect of IBS in my personal opinion). The IBS organisation also has an article of how small bacterial overgrowth, inflammatory bowel disease and lactose malabsorption in the intestines can cause symptoms similar to IBS - I don't know what helps diagnose this, but it might be worth reading the site for this information (See "A Possible Cure for IBS" page for site).

If you have joint aches in addition to the symptoms of IBS or if you have swelling of different body parts depending on what part is being actively used, you may suffer from fibromyalgia (FM/FMS), which apparently is a superset of IBS. (ie IBS is one part of the condition). A doctor who is aware of FM would be nice to have in your case - Even fewer than doctors aware of IBS.

Once (or if) you have been diagnosed with IBS, you should probably take a look at the "A Possible Cure for IBS" page and use whatever helps you.

Cheers, Raju.