New member: could this be IBD?

[marthapmr]

I'm new to this forum, thought I'd write my story... Symptoms started in September 2013, just after I turned 19 and was starting university. I was getting diarrhea and cramps about once a month (sometimes less, sometimes more) but kept putting it down to having drunk too much on a night out, or just thinking it was a random bug. After about 6 months I started thinking I should visit a doctor, but kept putting it off because I wasn't convinced my symptoms were bad enough, or that there was anything really wrong. By summer 2014 I finally got round to it and saw my GP at home where my parents live. She ordered a stool sample and blood tests but they all came back clear except for anaemia. She then prescribed me iron tablets (told me they might upset my stomach!) and gave me some leaflets about IBS and that was it. September 2014 I came back to university and went to see my regular GP here. He wasn't happy with what the first GP had done (thankfully) and decided to refer me to a gastroentorologist at the hospital. That was at the end of September and my appointment is 20th January 2015... My symptoms have been getting worse recently, horrible cramps and diarrhea nearly every two weeks and lots of days where I have pain and can have a BM three or four times. The worst incident occurred a week ago, 5 days of pain, fever and diarrhea with one night where I had 15 episodes of diarrhea between 22:30 and 4:30 (no sleep until 5AM, horrible!). My weight also fluctuates a lot, I'm not underweight by any means, but it can change by half a stone in the space of a couple of weeks. While I'm sure that this isn't 'all in my head' I often feel like my symptoms aren't serious enough for this to be IBD. Anyone think it could be, or am I overeacting to a bit of IBS?! Can't wait for answers in January...
Also thought I'd add that I have extreme fatigue a lot of the time, can easily sleep for 10-12 hours in a night and still have a nap during the day... Friends keep telling me that I'm getting too much sleep which is why I'm tired, could that be the case?

 

[FrozenGirl]

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad you have a GI referral, those do sound similar to symptoms a lot of us have. Even of it isn't IBD a check is a good idea, with that severity of symptoms it is clearly something that needs to be dealt with.

 

[DEmberton]

Does all sound familiar, and whilst IBS can cause lots of nasty symptoms it shouldn't cause anaemia or weight loss. Chances are the GI will want to do a colonoscopy to see what's going on, so that probably means you'll be waiting a few more months before you have any answers, but at least you're on the right road.

Fatigue is a symptom of IBD, but also anaemia.

I wonder: did you diet change significantly when you started university? That probably is the case for most people, and if that's when the problems started there may be a connection.

 

[marthapmr]

Hi, thanks for the replies I know there's not much point speculating over what it could be until I see the GI, but my appointment has just been changed for the second time and it's becoming so frustrating not knowing what's going on. I was referred to the hospital at the start of October and my appointment was first scheduled for 30th December 2014. This then got cancelled (by the hospital, not me!) and moved to 20th January 2015 which I didn't mind too much about as I'm home for Xmas and would have had to make a 10 hour round trip back to my university town for the appointment. But just after I came home for Xmas I received another letter saying that the appointment had been cancelled AGAIN and moved another month to 17th Feb 2015. I have no idea why these appointments keep being moved but I think I have a right to complain. Under the NHS guidelines in the UK I have a right to start treatment 18 weeks from referral from the GP. The February appointment will be 19 weeks after referral and it's only an initial consultation, no tests or investigations and certainly not the start of treatment! I'll get in touch after Xmas and see if they can find me a cancellation, I desperately want to know what this is and start treating it, even if it's just IBS!

 

[marthapmr]

Does all sound familiar, and whilst IBS can cause lots of nasty symptoms it shouldn't cause anaemia or weight loss. Chances are the GI will want to do a colonoscopy to see what's going on, so that probably means you'll be waiting a few more months before you have any answers, but at least you're on the right road.

Fatigue is a symptom of IBD, but also anaemia.

I wonder: did you diet change significantly when you started university? That probably is the case for most people, and if that's when the problems started there may be a connection.

Hi, thanks for the reply. While my diet probably has changed a little since starting university I don't believe it's changed enough to warrant these symptoms. I occasionally eat takeaways and unhealthy food, but in general I cook for myself and eat plenty of fruit and veg. I eat far more healthily than many of the people I live with and I'd be pretty annoyed if it was my diet causing this when they're all healthy! But generally I don't think my diet has changed dramatically at all.

 

[DEmberton]

I thought you might be in the UK with the talk of a 4 month wait to see a consultant.

Fruit and vegetables often cause problems for the likes of us with Crohns. It's weird, but you might be better off eating more unhealthily, at least in the short term. Fibre especially, so not eating skins or seeds, and stick to white bread. Everyone's different, so it's worth experimenting, and if you're really disciplined keep a diary of what you eat and see if you can work out what makes things worse. It won't cure you of an IBD, if that is the problem, but it might alleviate the symptoms. And it'll give you something to do whilst waiting for the NHS.

 

[StarlyteLass]

Ah the good old NHS for you. I had the exact same issue when I first had issues (talking a few years ago now when I was 14), I would definitely try to see if there's the possibility of a slot cancellation if you can- though if you're still held to the latest date, I'd possibly recommend having a chat with the PALs team of the hospital. The sad truth is that dr's don't really believe what teens say (e.g. diet, the fact they have an issue cause they are young and so on). It's bizarrely taken me 7 years of pinging between different consultants leaping through hoops over and over again before I met a decent Gastro dr who referred me to St Mark's, but yeah hopefully you being an older teen they'll hopefully listen to you sooner!