Is this IBS?

[crohnie1830]

I have a friend whose been having some stomach pains (moderate) which are not cramping type and she's had constipation too and occasional bloody vomiting and the usual loss of appetite. More recently she's having diarrhea three times a day. I suspect that she has IBS. And it can't be IBD right? Because her pain is nothing like that and the aalternating stool movements seem like IBS
pleeease help! !

 

[teeny5]

Has she seen a Dr at all? The bloody vomit seems scary to me, I feel like that should be checked out ASAP. I believe some on here do have alternating constipation and diarrhea. Hard to say if it's IBS or IBD without tests done.

 

[SarahBear]

IBS does not cause GI bleeding. IBD is definitely possible. Not everyone's pain is severe or cramping in nature, and alternating constipation and diarrhea can occur. Based off the bloody vomit, IBD is more likely than IBS, although certainly not the only possibility. Unless something else is discovered to be causing the blood in her vomit, her symptoms are not being caused by IBS.

Has your friend been to a doctor yet? The GI bleeding definitely needs to be dealt with. I'd suggest going to the emergency room if she isn't already seeing a doctor for these symptoms.

 

[Lady Organic]

i support what has been said above, your friend must seek medical attention. bloody vomitting is definately not IBS.

 

[crohnie1830]

i support what has been said above, your friend must seek medical attention. bloody vomitting is definately not IBS.

She vomited juts twice. And it's not often. I don't think it's IBD because she's had constipation almost forever. And her pain is definitely not like IBD. It seems like IBS minus the v omitting. It hasn't happened lately. The doctors said it was suspecting for ibs too. She said she feels better when the bowel movement has o ccured. And when she has the pain it's like totally okay I mean it's not cramping or debilitating either. I think she's not having IBD?

What about if you consider her symptoms minus the v omitting?

She'd said Buscopan relieves her pain. That is a peristaltic movement suppressor of some sort and as far as I know doesn't exactly relieve an IBD pain.

Her pain isn't increasing as well.

Upper GI vomiting could maybe not be associated with her other problems?

 

[DEmberton]

It's not that black and white. I was told I had IBS and believed it for 18 years (mainly because I never got any blood) until it got worse and I found out I had Crohns all along. And not everybody has that much pain; I don't at the moment and yesterday's colonscopy showed some active Crohns returning.

Sounds like she needs a gastroscopy and colonoscopy to check it out.

 

[Lady Organic]

an easy non-invasive tool to help different IBD and IBS is fecal calprotectine, a stool test. FC picks up inflammation in the small and large bowel. this could be a good start for your friend along with usual blood report asking for inflammatory markers such as sedimention rate and CRP. Im less aware of upper GI track investigation.

IBD patient can exhibit whole different lots of symptoms and intensity of symptoms. each is different depending on location of disease or sub-type of disease..., so many particularities for instance a cramp from rectum inflammation is really different from pain in small or upper bowel. episodes of constipation and D are common in both IBD and IBS.

she coudl also keep a food journal and see if symptoms correclates with specific foods.

 

[Lisa]

ANY vomiting with blood needs to be checked by a doctor.

As for pain - everyone feels pain differently, there is no 'crohns' pain' as a one type fits all....what is debilitating for one person may be an annoyance for another, especially if a high tolerance for pain is there.

Your friend really should get some testing done, as mentioned the stool test if a non-invasive one that can be very helpful.

As for your friend feeling better after a bowel movement - some of the pain may be caused by the build up of material in the colon - I personally will sometimes have pain that goes away once I have a movement - the pressure is taken off the area. Again, there is usually a reason for that pain, however. Pain doesn't necessarily need to get worse, again, it may be a personal thing that you get used to it, or possibly there isn't a fast progression of disease/damage so changes are not really noticed.

 

[Lady Organic]

yeah, with sigmoid and rectal inflammation, my case, i only have cramp announcing a bowel mouvement and joining the mvt. automatically after I am feeling all well, until the next bathroom visit... Ongoing pain means my disease is at really severe state.

 

[SarahBear]

She vomited juts twice. And it's not often. I don't think it's IBD because she's had constipation almost forever. And her pain is definitely not like IBD. It seems like IBS minus the v omitting. It hasn't happened lately. The doctors said it was suspecting for ibs too. She said she feels better when the bowel movement has o ccured. And when she has the pain it's like totally okay I mean it's not cramping or debilitating either. I think she's not having IBD?

What about if you consider her symptoms minus the v omitting?

She'd said Buscopan relieves her pain. That is a peristaltic movement suppressor of some sort and as far as I know doesn't exactly relieve an IBD pain.

Her pain isn't increasing as well.

Upper GI vomiting could maybe not be associated with her other problems?

Even twice is too many times to vomit blood. That just shouldn't happen. It needs to be checked out.

As said above, it's not black and white. Just because her pain isn't cramping or severe doesn't mean it isn't IBD. Everyone experiences it differently. Feeling better after a bowel movement is normal with IBD, as well, and her pain certainly wouldn't have to be getting worse.

IBS is generally first step for anyone with GI problems. The majority of us go through that super fun phase where the doctor says it's IBS. Unfortunately, some of us get stuck there, even though symptoms indicate more is going on.

Buscopan helping also doesn't mean much. Yes, it generally wouldn't help with pain associated with IBD, but it can function as a placebo medication. Just expecting it to help, or even hanging on to some hope that it will, can sometimes make the difference. Doctors actually prescribe this for people with IBD too.

Obviously the vomiting could be attributed to something else. That's why it's important for her to go to the doctor / ER and find out what the cause of it is. If it turns out it is being caused by something completely unrelated to her other symptoms, then yes, it's very possible she has IBS. However, that seems unlikely.

It seems as if you want it to be IBS. For her sake, I hope it is as well. However, let's be careful not to ignore symptoms so as to make that hypothesis fit. Again, she needs to get a formal diagnosis so that whatever the problem is, it can be dealt with.

 

[Mr chicken]

Yeah that^^^^^

As far as constipation- Ds has Ibd and has constipation as a symptoms
This happens more often than you think
His Gi educates new medical students about Ibd with constipation
He also started with vomiting randomly among other things

Hope she can see a doctor soon