NB NICE Guidelines to GPs state they must test for Coeliac disease before giving a diagnosis of IBS.
If you have not had this go back to your GP and request it or a referral to a Gastroenterologist. Below is a useful recent article which may be of help to sufferers of IBS type symptoms (which could also be Coeliac or Crohn's):
"At a recent London conference entitled ‘Mythbusting the Bloat,’ over 70 experts on nutrition and gastrointestinal health got together to discuss bloating, in an attempt to try to clear up some of the theories and myths surrounding this common condition.
So what is bloating, and who gets it?
The conference attendees came up with a good description of bloating – ‘an uncomfortable abdominal sensation of fullness’ - which is something I think we can all relate to. The surprising thing is that over 20% of us regularly suffer from bloating, and it’s twice as likely to happen to women as to men.
While almost anyone can experience bloating at any point in their lives, some factors do seem to increase the likelihood of an episode. These include:
Having an underlying gastrointestinal condition such as coeliac disease or IBS
Being overweight or obese
Being pre-menstrual
Not getting regular exercise
Being constipated
Having anxiety or depression, anorexia or bulimia
Having certain other conditions or diseases, such as ovarian tumours or gallstones
Other influences on our "gut feeling" can be more temporary, like food poisoning, a bacterial infection, or transient lactose intolerance, but the symptoms are the same: an uncomfortable build-up of gas in the intestinal tract that can leave us feeling downright miserable.
Is food the problem?
To a certain degree, yes; certain types of food and food ingredients have been implicated when it comes to bloating. However, no-one actually knows precisely what causes it – mainly because the triggers for it can differ greatly between people. What leads to excess gas build-up in one person may have no effect on another, which could be due to an over-sensitivity of the gut to triggers, a genetic predisposition or something else altogether.
Over the years, researchers have identified many potential food culprits, including:
Wheat (especially bread)
Gluten
Milk (lactose)
Fibre-rich foods
Beans and pulses
Some fruits and vegetables
Onions
Garlic
However, science hasn’t found any simple answers, and no one food is the "smoking gun" that causes bloating in everyone. For example, a recent review by the British Nutrition Foundation, looking specifically at bread, found no evidence that regular consumption of bread caused bloating, nor did the way that bread is produced have any effect.
Scientists are currently looking in more detail at the component ingredients of foods such as bread to see whether it’s something within the food, rather than the food itself, that's causing the problem. Ingredients like yeast, fructans, gluten, wheat and many others are being investigated in-depth to try to get to the bottom of this uncomfortable issue.
Fighting the bloat
Because everyone is so different, the first step toward feeling better is to look at your lifestyle to try to identify your particular triggers.
Clearly, if you've been diagnosed with a condition where bloating is a symptom, such as coeliac disease, you have a clear path of action – remove gluten from your diet completely, and you will hopefully see a big improvement. You will need help with this via the Coeliac UK website.
If you have IBS, on the other hand, your triggers could be more variable - anything from gluten to lactose, beans, legumes, onions, and more. In this case, getting input from a dietitian is imperative to ensure that you're restricting your diet carefully and making sure you still get the nutrition you need.
Make note of everything you eat and what makes your symptoms worse - to take to the GP/Consultant.
(Recent advances in our understanding of IBS have led to the development of the FODMAP diet, which could be a real help if you follow it,,,, under medical supervision.)"
