IBD or IBS

[Mel1905]

Good afternoon,

Thank you for reading...

I am currently waiting for an apt to see a consultant at my local hospital after been referred by my GP..

I have had a long history of what was believed to be IBS (10 years +) recently I have got a lot worse, I have felt unwell for months now, some days I don't eat unless I know I am at home to go to the toilet if needed.

I have diarrhoea every day mostly on a morning when I wake up but can be throughout the day too, I can also suffer from constipation later in the day, horrific wind along with abdominal pain, I have been anaemic since Oct 2013 with little improvement on iron supplements. I am exhausted constantly, my recent Calprotectin test came back with levels of 63 which I know is relatively normal.. I have been prescribed Mebeverine with no improvements and more recently Buscopan which made my symptoms much worse.

I have no idea how long I will be waiting for a referral, anyone had similar symptoms or Calprotectin levels?

Thank you in advance, x

 

[Johnnysmom]

I have had similar symptoms with IBS. I had frequent (sometimes 15 times a day) diarrhea, severe stomach cramps, loss of appetite, nausea, weight loss, and vitamin deficiency. I was often quite tired too, I found that was usually from being dehydrated. I have to work very hard not to get dehydrated. I had a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy because fecal cal wasn't used by the GI I went to. Everything was normal. My son has crohn's disease and his symptoms were different. My son had blood in his stool, weight loss, constipation, failure to grow, stomach pain, severe anemia, fevers, vomiting, heartburn and extreme exhaustion. The blood in the stool was a tell tale sign, he also had protein losing entertopathy. With IBD of course, there is damage being done to the digestive tract and this causes a high fecal cal. Even when my son was completely well, having just a hard time gaining weight, his fecal cal was over the 500's.

In my experience a GI will not do a scope with a normal fecal cal unless there is bleeding or blood tests (CRP and SED rate) that are off.

 

[UnXmas]

On the NHS you're probably looking at a couple of months wait to see a consultant if there's nothing to suggest you need urgent attention, though that will vary depending on where you live.

IBS is generally just a term doctors apply to digestive symptoms when there is no known cause. However, there are certain warning signs doctor use to distinguish IBS from other problems. Passing blood, unintentional weight loss and fevers are signs and symptoms which exclude an IBS diagnosis, and which make a Crohn's diagnosis more likely (though there are many, many other conditions besides Crohn's that can cause digestive problems). Any of those signs will warrant further investigation. As bad as your diarrhoea, constipation and pains are, they do not fall outside the criteria of IBS, but the consultant may well suggest some tests to check for other things all the same. Anemia may need investigation, though it may be unrelated to the cause of your digestive problems. Faecal calprotectin is just one among many tests used to investigate digestive symptoms, so don't worry too much about what it means.

Have you tried loperamide (Imodium) or co-phenotrope (Lomotil) for diarrhoea? Your GP should be able to prescribe them for you. Codeine can be used for this purpose also.

I hope the consultant is helpful. Make sure you stress to him/her that your symptoms are worsening.