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Summary - Irritable Bowel Syndrome

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

I recently visited some forums/message boards for IBS - Irritable Bowel
Syndrome. This is what I was diagnosed with previous to Celiac disease. It
disturbed me to read about their symptoms - gastro symptoms of course, but
also joint pain, arthritis-type symptoms, fatigue, brain fog, muscle aches,
abdominal pain, bloating, depression, anxiety, panic attacks. It sounded to
me like they all were celiac. Any thoughts on this?

RESPONSES:

Received 46 responses.

5 said IBS and Celiac have the same symptoms but they are NOT the same
thing Comparisons of the two were made such as: both respond to a gf diet;
both have same symptoms but it's not celiac unless biopsy diagnosed;
diagnosed years ago with IBS and then recently diagnosed with Celiac, but
insists they are different things; one has celiac and also IBS brought on
by stress.

5 said it may be something else such as: candida albicans, candidiasis
(Yeast overgrowth) leaky gut syndrome, chronic constipation, parasites,
hypoglycemia,  disturbed gut flora, disturbed digestion/absorption,
inflammation, microscopic colitis.

36 suggested IBS is undiagnosed Celiac. Here are some responses:

You are exactly correct.  Anyone diagnosed with IBS
should have the blood tests for CD.  Most, if not all,
will be celiac..

I read on this board that it takes ten years to get a diagnosis of CD.  I
think many of us have the IBS diagnosis for many of those ten years.

One would think the health insurance companies would catch on that it is
cheaper to test for celiac than to treat IBS unsuccessfully for years in
all of those people who are misdiagnosed!

IBS is used instead of celiac so drugs can be used. Celiac gets to the root
of the problem which is gluten. Diet is used. There is $ in drugs and not
much in diet. Drugs cover up the problem/diet solves the problem.

If they were living in Europe, the doc would do a celiac blood test in a
second. Here -- sheesh. Likely they will be told they have IBS and also
worry too much, unless they are skinny and have bloody diarrhea. Or luck
out and get an enlightened doctor. It disturbs me too. The more I read,
the more convinced I am this is a COMMON disorder.

I am one of those people that was misdiagnosed.  First, I was told that I
had an ulcer... then it was IBS.

There are lots of scam diseases (chronic fatique is another one) around
with the same symptoms that I suspect are really just plain old Celiac
and the doctors are making millions diagnosing other non existent
diseases and treating them with non existent and non helpful treatments.

Dr. Cynthia Rudert stated at a celiac conference I went to 2 years ago that
there is probably no such thing as IBS..they are celiacs.  Of course, tell
that to the doctors who make sooo much money off visits, etc., and the drug
companies!

I've been thinking about the same problem - all the people out there that
have been misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome as well as other
problems.

I was diagnosed with IBS 17 years ago, and have probably had thousands of
diarrhea attacks since then, plus neurological damage (I was only diagnosed
with celiac 2 months ago after becoming extremely ill and finally figuring
it out myself) .

During a recent visit with my internist, he commented that he now tests
all patients previously diagnosed with IBS for Celiac Disease.

YES - IBS is celiac Disease.

I was also diagnosed with IBS when I was 13...after being told to eat more
fiber - i obviously didn't feel better.  by the time i was 15 i went to a
specialist and after many, many tests i'm told i have IBS again, and i was
also mis diagnosed with chrons.  i was finally diagnosed with celiac  right
before my 18th birthday...by that time i was about to kill myself from all
that was going on with my body.  i've been on the diet successfully for a
year...my joint pains and diareaha are pretty much gone but i still get
bouts of stomache aches...they're becoming more frequent lately and i'm
told once again that i might have IBS as well as celiac

Irritable Bowel Syndrome's definition is ( I don't care to look any further)
You are probably right.

My gut reaction, no pun intended, is that they are. That a lot of docs
not knowing about Celiac, or thinking it to be so 'rare' have
misdiagnosed the poor folks!

Ahhh, my very favorite rant!  :-)
MD:  "You have Irritable Bowel."

Pt:  "OK doc;  why is it irritable?"

MD:  "What?  You expect me to find out WHY?  It's "Irritable Bowel
Syndrome"!

 That means I'm too darned lazy/busy to figure out why, because it would
mean taking a diet history and actually speaking to you, which means I
couldn't see 43 patients an hour at $100 a minute!"

Kind of like "Fibromyalgia" (painful muscles/ bones);  WHY are they
painful?

Irritable Bowel isn't a disease, it's a symptom (as is Fibromyalgia),
and you can tell me I'm nuts but I think our medical community is just
too lazy/ busy to bother to figure out why.

In summary:  I agree with you.  They probably all have undiagnosed CD.
<sigh>