Ive always thought that the colonoscopy can rule out crohns. if that comes back clear and all those other tests, I'm not sure there's anything else that can find it....but I'm not an expert
A colonoscopy can't rule out Crohn's, as it only looks at the colon, and Crohn's can occur anywhere in the digestive tract. You'd also need at least an upper endoscopy, which looks at the oesophagus, stomach and first part of the small intestine. That still leaves the rest of the small intestine, which can all be seen with a pill cam. Whether Crohn's can be missed by a pill cam, I wouldn't say that's impossible but to me it seems unlikely that you can have all three tests come back negative yet still have Crohn's.
Megan - IBS symptoms do not have to be relieved by a bowel movement. IBS is a very vague diagnosis. Don't give up if the pill cam is clear though. If it is, I think it's unlikely you have Crohn's, but that does not mean you have IBS. Not all digestive symptoms are caused by conditions which can be seen with scopes. There are other organs involved in digestion; digestion can be affected by the nervous system; by rheumatological conditions and so on.
Many people google digestive symptoms and assume they must have Crohn's or IBS because those are the most common causes and so they monopolise the search results. As I said on your other thread, reality is much more complicated than that. Similarly, there are many more diets than FODMAP, many more treatments, etc. You need to find good doctors to help you narrow all this down. I would concentrate on finding good doctors, and maybe also play around with diet, but don't worry if you haven't yet found one that helps, and don't stress over the prospect of negative tests. There
is something wrong with you, no matter what the scopes say; negative test results just mean the cause has not yet been found and good doctors will understand that.
