Speaker 1: 0:00

IBS is a BS diagnosis. Ibs isn't real. Ibs is a wastebasket diagnosis. Ibs is default diagnosis.

Speaker 1: 0:08

Ibs is what doctors call it when they don't really know what's wrong with you. And you know I find it really annoying when people slay IBS and basically say it's not a real condition because you know they say it's all in your head. How can it possibly be a genuine condition if different people have different sets of symptoms or you know they have different experiences of IBS? How can it possibly be a real condition? And you know what these people let's say IBS is a BS diagnosis are not helping us. They're basically taking away the legitimacy of your struggles and dismissing the real physical and emotional toll it can have on your life and the people around you and they're hindering you from moving on and taking positive action against this condition. So they're not really being very helpful at all when they're saying that kind of stuff. But I also hear the person with IBS saying commonly the doctor must have missed something. It can't possibly be IBS, making me feel this horrendous and this is awful for you feeling like this and it's unsettling thinking that you have something wrong with you and you're worried. The doctors have mucked things up and you know they've missed something. And this can end up nasty, because the person with IBS goes back to their doctor and requests more and more tests and investigations and the doctor may want to put your mind at ease, so they oblige. Or the doctor may lack confidence in the diagnosis of IBS, and I'll cover why this may be the case for some doctors in a second. So they go ahead and they request more investigations. These can be invasive, like having an endoscopy or colonoscopy, and you know they're not very comfortable either and quite embarrassing as well for some people and the doctor may then prescribe you some different medications or some extra medications to try and manage your symptoms, or offer you some quick and simple dietary advice like the classic eat more fibre, drink more fluids, avoid alcohol, alcohol, that kind of thing, so you can have these extra tests and investigations done.

Speaker 1: 2:08

You maybe take some medications, some new medications, and maybe you don't get on very well with them and you feel worse than what you did before, so you stop taking them and then you go back to the doctor to get an alternative. So you're backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards to the doctors, still struggling with symptoms and still not feeling any better and actually getting more and more pissed off, probably with everything that's going on, and you know it's really frustrating and stressful and you're probably making symptoms worse as well throughout the whole thing. And you're probably also hating on your doctor as well, because you know they can't find what's wrong with you. You've got all this going on and they don't always seem like they're listening to you or that they care. So you can just go on and on in this vicious cycle and unfortunately, many people with IBS go through this horrendous experience. And then, throughout all of this, you're maybe trying different diets and remedies and supplements and different therapies in an attempt to fix IBS yourself, as well as trying to be a detective and hunt down the real diagnosis, because you don't believe that it is IBS that's causing such horrific symptoms and having such an impact on your life. And then you've got all these other people telling you you know IBS is a bullshit diagnosis. So you then start trying various commercial tests or maybe even turn into alternative practitioners because you feel the medical system has failed you. But, as a point to note, there are risks involved with alternative medicine, as their methods and treatments may not be scientifically supported or based on reliable evidence, which can lead to misdiagnosis and delays in receiving appropriate medical care. So what do we need to do? Well, we need to back up a bit. Ibs isn't a bullshit diagnosis. For starters, ibs is a medically recognised condition. You've just got to read the mountains of research into the condition, look at all the medical books and you know all the literature on IBS and you'll see it really is a condition. Ibs doesn't cause physical damage or harm to the body, so IBS isn't going to show up.

Speaker 1: 4:08

If doctors do scans bloods, poo tests, biopsies, where they take tissue samples for testing and this goes on to what I was on about earlier with the doctor who may lack confidence in the diagnosis although it's not always just the doctor that can lack confidence, because you can feel uncertain about your diagnosis too, because the doctor maybe hasn't conveyed that confidence in the diagnosis and also because the doctor hasn't found any physical damage or abnormality. Your examinations, blood scans have all thankfully come back normal, phew. But you know people, not that they want something wrong with them, but you know, if the doctors found, for example, raised inflammatory markers in your blood or your poo, if they saw some ulcers or damage inside the bowel, then there's so-called real evidence that something is wrong with you. But that's not the case with IBS and people seem to naturally think that only legitimate conditions have some form of actual physical abnormality, like, for example, in celiac disease, where the lining of the small intestine gets damaged when the person eats gluten. Doctors can test for this, but they can't test for IBS.

Speaker 1: 5:17

So the doctor and the person can feel uncertain about the diagnosis and thankfully doctors do check you haven't got something like bowel cancer or celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, by them doing these tests. This doesn't mean that they haven't got a clue what's wrong with you. It means they're showing due diligence and working in your best interest by looking to see if you have got these other conditions and then obviously you can get appropriate treatment if you have. And they'll look for alarm signs and symptoms like have you got red blood in your poo? Is your poo black and tarry? Have you lost a load of weight unintentionally? Do you wake in the night to have a poo? Have you got family members with gut conditions? And are you over 50 years old? Because the older you get, the increased risk of bowel cancer. So consequently and thankfully, they'll want to do some extra investigations, like a colonoscopy, to rule that out and, you know, to see if you have got it and then obviously they can take appropriate action. To add to all this, symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, wind or, if you it gas they can be symptoms of a shed load of different gut conditions. So you can't just assume it's IBS and definitely definitely don't self-diagnose.

Speaker 1: 6:33

So, as you can tell from all what I've said, it can be challenging to diagnose IBS. But how is IBS diagnosed? Well, firstly, by seeing your doctor. The doctor will want to know about you and your situation and what's been going on. So they'll ask you a load of questions and they need to know your medical history, if you're taking any medications or remedies. They want to know about your lifestyle, obviously ask you about your symptoms, like when they first started, what symptoms you get, how often you get them, and they're looking to see if you meet specific criteria, so Rome 4 criteria.

Speaker 1: 7:10

So in the last three months have you regularly had stomach pains at least once a week, and is it associated with diarrhoea, constipation or both, and do you have any bloating as well?

Speaker 1: 7:17

So they'll ask you all about your symptoms to see what's been going on. They'll also ask you about those alarm signs and things that I mentioned earlier whether or not anyone else in your family has any gut issues, if you've noticed any blood in your poo and if you've unintentionally lost weight recently. So they'll want to examine your tummy as well and they'll want to take some bloods. And, yeah, depending on how old you are, they may also want to do some additional tests as well and then, based on all of this, the doctor can give you a diagnosis. But regardless of whether or not it's IBS, without a diagnosis and if you don't accept a diagnosis, you can't move on and get the right help and treatment that you need to manage your condition. So if you have been diagnosed with IBS, you need to accept it and take ownership so you can then seek reliable information and support from trusted health professionals, and remember not to self-diagnose because of the risk of harmful consequences to your health. I hope you found this helpful. Catch you soon.