Potential IBS diagnosis
Hi everyone. My GP diagnosed me with IBS mid may. I'm a 35 year old female and have suffered with anxiety and depression since my early 20's. Mostly controlled with antidepressants but like everyone I get up and down days. At the beginning of may I had to have my twelve year old dog put to sleep. As you can imagine this took a huge toll on my mental health. Shortly after this I developed a sharp pain in the left side of my pelvis. My GP tested my urine and it was positive for a urine infection so I was given antibiotics. It cleared up and the pain went away but a week or so later the pain came back in the left side of my pelvis. I did another urine sample and it was clear. My GP asked about my bowel habits and I advised I had recently experienced some diarrhea for a few days. My stomach was also making loud gurgling noises after eating. She examined my abdomen and said everything felt fine and it's likely IBS. She prescribed mebeverine which helped a little. I had a week of no stomach issues but then had mild constipation one day, followed by diarrhea the next. The pain in the left side of my pelvis also returned and I experienced some cramping around my belly button area, which eased off with a hot water bottle. I've had the pelvic pain for the last two days and it's been quite severe. Does anyone else get left sided pelvic pain with their IBS? I'm not entirely convinced that it is IBS but my GP said it is and she's the medical professional so I just have to go with what she says.
I'm so sorry about your dog, that must have been so hard. 🙁
I agree with the comment above, it would be best to do some testing before accepting the IBS diagnosis. In my case, I did stool and blood tests to check for infections and inflammation, but didn't need a colonoscopy because the tests came back clear.
Since your symptoms appeared at such a difficult time in your life, they could be triggered by your mental health. That's the case for me and I'm always doing best when I manage to keep my anxiety at bay (I personally use gut-directed hypnotherapy: https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/hypnotherapy-app and EFT). However, during stressful times, I just know that I won't feel all that well despite all my efforts.
Eating a very simple diet of only safe foods helps. Testing out the Low FODMAP diet (https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/posts/ibs-diet) and/or keeping a food diary might be helpful in any case. You can also try avoiding common triggers such as dairy, gluten, caffeine, and fatty foods and see if that does anything. It's very individual though and you might be fine with all of them.
Since you also mentioned that you took antibiotics right before the symptoms started, I'd definitely insist on testing for infections such as C.diff that can happen after antibiotics. As suggested above, probiotics could help rebalance your microbiome after antibiotics. You can ask your local pharmacist and they should be able to recommend something.
All the best, Karina (team member)
