On Thu, 25 Sep 1997  Heidi Loncosky <[log in to unmask]> said:
IBS can also be triggered by nerves.  It's been about a year since we
discovered his milk allergy and the diarrhea doesn't happen nearly as
much as it used to.

IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a catch all term that is used by
doctors to loosely "describe" (without really defining) what can be one
of a host of intestinal problems, such as a food intolerance of one kind
or another, parasites, a yeast infection, a gallbladder problem, sprue,
malabsorption, etc. and so on.  Since doctors can still make money by
just skimming over a problem instead of actually investigating and
dealing with it, they often choose to call intestinal complaints IBS.
This leaves the patient basically knowing no more after the appointment
than when they went in with the irritable intestinal complaints---except
they have a lighter wallet of course.

When doctors choose to skim over intestinal complaints because they
don't know what to do or they don't want to take the time to do it, the
patient must educate themself to what might be the cause of the IBS.  If
the patient thinks that an allergy serology, parasite tests, or other
tests could shed light on the problem, they should ask for them and
explain why they think they are needed.  In these days of "Medical Care
in Crisis", it is not a good idea to just give yourself or your child up
to a doctor and expect that they are going to invest the proper amount
of time required to deal with a complaint.  More often than not, the
patient will get shortchanged and in my experience, it is up to the
individual to steer the boat and not give the wheel entirely over to the
doctor.

Take a look at the IBS Page for links to other IBS websites:
http://www.panix.com/~ibs/

Read the article 'Millions Suffer From Irritable Bowel Syndrome, But New
Survey Reveals Most Have Never Heard Of It --IBS is America's Hidden
Health Problem' at:
http://www.prnewswire.com:80/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/oracle/dbtmp/107722&EDATE=

Also, read the article LEAKY GUT AND ALTERED IMMUNITY by Zoltan P. Rona
MD, MSc at:
http://www.naturallink.com/homepages/zoltan_rona/leaky/index.html

There is a lot of information out there and if you do not know what IBS
is, you should become informed as soon as possible and also realize that
milk allergy can cause intestinal villi damage, leaky gut and IBS
symptoms, and that most doctors are not taking this problem as seriously
as they should and that it may turn into immune dysfunction.

I also wanted to comment on Heidi's statement that "IBS can also be
triggered by nerves".  In my own experience, a person with IBS is less
able to handle stressful or nervous situations because of their impaired
digestive tract -- not the other way around.  Doctors are constantly
trying to blame patients for their illnesses by saying that they are
being caused by nerves or stress.  It is time to stop that brainwashing
and realize that people with damaged intestinal villi will have weaker
immune systems and respond more poorly to stress.  It is time to give us
poor people a break and take our complaints seriously.  If doctors
refuse to, then that is what this support group is for.

By the way, I got an IBS diagnosis and told it was from stress about 25
years ago from about 5 doctors, when in fact I had about 6 different
parasite infections that were uncovered by one doctor that actually did
his job, instead of bouncing me around like a tennis ball.  Is that
where the expression "racket" comes from?

Thanks,

Explorer