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Crohn's or IBS

Let me start by saying that I know that something is wrong with my stomach/digestive system but I haven't quite figured out what yet.

My story started a bit over 2 years ago in my early 20s. Prior to the start of my issues, I would say that I was normal and I was also a lover of the spiciest of foods/sauces. I had prepared food for myself using an excessive amount of hot sauce that was rated at over 1 mil scoville units. Obviously I knew that eating extremely hot food usually results in some form of pain even for a perfectly healthy person. However, that's when everything changed for me. A bit later that evening my stomach started to hurt really bad and I felt a sudden urgency to go to the washroom so I tried to go but I was constipated and didn't go at all. Thus began one of the worst weeks of my life. The details are fuzzy now but I was pretty constipated for that whole week and was in extreme pain. I remember buying ex lax at some point too. I did have a few bowel movements that week but they were mostly small and would never feel complete so I constantly felt like I needed to go. Even when I felt minor relief from pain, it would come right back if I ate anything.
I went to a walk in clinic a few times, got 2 - 3 different tests done. I'm not sure what the doctor was testing for but all the tests came back fine. I just came to the conclusion that I probably just had some temporary infection.

I was dead wrong. The extremity of that first week eventually passed but over the next few weeks I determined that my digestive system was not functioning as it was before. My stool also started varying in appearance each day. However, I was not satisfied with the results of my clinic visits and I was also embarassed about it so I decided to just deal with it and did not go back to see a doctor.

The best way I can describe my symptoms for the first while would be: never feeling like a bowel movement was complete, therefore visiting the toilet more often, constipation, sometimes diaherra, and sensitivity to certain foods.

The symptoms eventually started progressing. I would try to eat a salad for lunch or a high fibre bar for breakfast and both of these would cause excessive painful gas. I brushed it off to being sensitive to fibre so I just stopped eating high fibre foods before or during working hours. Maybe a few months after this, it started happening no matter what I ate so I stopped eating during work. This worked for a while but now it still happens sometimes even when I don't eat lunch.

So where am I now? Pretty much all of the symptoms I listed above. I sometimes have 3 small bowel movements in the morning before I even leave for work. This is because I will go until nothing comes out anymore but then maybe 10 - 20 mins later my stomach hurts again like I need to go and then a bit more comes out.

I've gotten to a point where I feel that my quality of life is a fraction of what it was 2 years ago so I decided to try and start going to a doctor again recently but am back at square one. I've got a few tests I need to go get done before I can go any further.

This is a pretty brief snapshot of my story and I probably missed a lot of things. Based on this though, does it seem more like crohns or IBS?
 
I think you,ll probably end up getting the camera where the sun don,t shine it's the main tool to diagnose crohns hopefully it's not,maybe just some weird infection.crohns presents itself in many varied ways. it may be that your Drs will test till your blue in the face it's very unlikely that your diet will have given you crohns or ibs the hot curry thing won,t do it,watched a food/science programme that tested chilli,s and spices they don,t burn anything in fact many are natural anti-inflammatories,salads,coleslaw and raw veggies can up set crohnies up until recently I couldn,t go near them but now I can but I,m not brave enough to try melon lost 18lbs after a slice.
Crohns can present as really bad constipation and or pain and needless to say the trots if your feeling rough I would try blanding your diet out for a few days chicken,white rice,fish avoid greasy,fried food,homemade soup can help but push your Drs for help it's there job.good luck all the best
 
Ya at this point I'm just hoping that whatever this is doesn't worsen before I can find out what it is. I know it can sometimes take years to just see a specialist or so I've been told.

I definitely don't believe it was soley my diet that caused this. Was just odd that I was fine before that day 2 years ago.

I did just think it was IBS for the first while. I'm hoping its just IBS but it's killing me not knowing so I've been constantly doing research online. It's frightening that so many of my symptoms could also be crohns.

The other thing I didn't mention earlier is that a lot of my symptoms are almost non existent when I'm at home or on weekends(I do have a bad weekend day every once in a while though). However, that could also be due to the daily herbal remedy.
 
It's not a question of Crohn's or IBS. There are hundreds of conditions that can cause digestive symptoms. But when you google them, only the most common conditions come up in search results. I feel IBS isn't a diagnosis so much as the term used for digestive symptoms for which the cause has not yet been found. Your symptoms don't sound particularly like Crohn's, as typical Crohn's involves a lot of diarrhoea, often bloody, along with bad abdominal pain. But of course there are atypical cases.

The digestive symptoms that exclude IBS are malabsorption (unintentional weight loss) and passing blood. Pain that is accompanied by fevers is also a sign that something more serious could be going on. These are the symptoms that will suggest to doctors that more extensive testing is needed. Abnormal blood tests (e.g. signs of infection/inflammation, nutrient deficiencies) also warrant more investigation.

The only way you'll know is by going through medical tests. Find a good specialist (gastroenterologist). Looking online can only get you so far, especially if you have an atypical presentation of an illness. Have the doctors you've seen suggested you follow up with a specialist? Have you tried any medications? What tests have you had so far? Do you still find diet affects your symptoms in any way?

Don't research online if it's causing you stress. While it's important you get help with this as it's affecting your quality of life, you don't need to take all the responsibility of dealing with it; that's what doctors are there for. It sounds like your experiences with them haven't been great, but it can be difficult to find a good doctor, so don't give up.
 
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