IBS - diagnosis of last resort?
by Frann LeachA friend of mine went to the doctor recently. He had been a bit secretive about what was wrong with him, but when he came back after his appointment he was absolutely scathing. The doctor had said he had IBS and had given him a list of symptoms - including both constipation and diarrhea. I'm afraid the doctor's credibility was gone for good with that one act.
When you look at a list of symptoms for irritable bowel syndrome or IBS, it looks as if someone has just lumped all possible difficulties connected with the gut together under one heading and then stuck a label on it. Two of the main indicators are listed as constipation or diarrhea. How, you may ask, can such completely opposing symptoms be indicative of the same condition? It's not surprising that patients diagnosed as having this problem are often more than a little disbelieving.
In fact, there are at least three different types of IBS: referred to as IBS-C, IBS-D and IBS-A. The initials stand for the main symptom which characterises a particular patient's condition: constipation (IBS-C), diarrhea (IBS-D) or alternating between the two (IBS-A). In the last-named group, patients experience rapid changes in bowel habit, short periods of symptoms being followed by periods of remission.
Celiac disease has similar symptoms to IBS, accompanied by an intolerance to gluten which can often be picked up by a blood test (the older test involved a rectal biopsy, and was not as reliable). In the US, 73% of celiac patients were originally diagnosed with IBS, and it's likely that a similar percentage occurs in the UK. It is believed that up to 5% of patients diagnosed with IBS are in fact suffering from undiagnosed celiac disease.
This is well known to those patients who surf the net. A quick google search will find many forums where this is discussed, such as http://www.glutenfreeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=36422 where patients chat about having been misdiagnosed with IBS when they had celiac disease or at least were strongly gluten intolerant, as demonstrated by massive improvements on changing their diet to exclude gluten.
Dr. Scot Lewey, The Food Doc, reports that leaky gut may be triggered by gluten even in the intestine of people who are not suffering from any of the known conditions known to be associated with this symptom (these include rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease). This allows gliadins to enter the blood stream, and "may activate latent celiac disease [and] IBS may develop, especially after a bowel infection". He warns that damage from ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) seems to increase the risk of this occurring.
Research published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology in July 2005 reported tests on 132 IBS patients showing high levels of antibodies to certain foods, when compared to the control group of 43 people who did not suffer from IBS. Sufferers with IBS-C had much higher antibody levels for wheat, lamb, beef, and pork; those with IBS-D for wheat, beef, pork, and soybean; and those with IBS-A for wheat, beef, and pork. You may notice that all three lists include wheat, the main source of gluten in the diet.
Another study carried out by the University Hospital of South Manchester in the UK tested the effects of a diet excluding all foods for which antibodies were detected. For patients who followed the diet carefully, the results showed a 26% decrease in symptoms and a correspondingly improved quality of life.
Obviously, not all of us have access to antibody tests. However, in the light of both anecdotal and scientific evidence, it seems that wheat may be a prime suspect in at least some cases of IBS. Keeping a food diary will help to pinpoint the particular foods involved in individual cases.
For more information about gluten and gluten-free recipes, visit Free-Easy Publications
©2008 Frann Leach. All rights reserved.
This article is included in weekly Factsheet number 19, which also includes a recipe for Chinese rice dumplings (T'ang t'uan)
Other articles you may find interesting:
Allergy? Food intolerance? What's in a name?
by Frann LeachLots of people think that allergy and food intolerance are just two expressions meaning the same thing. This even includes some Doctors! In fact, there is a big difference.
There is one thing allergies and food intolerances have in common: both can cause physical reactions, ranging from mild to severe. But
Read this article in full
Can I include fibre in a gluten free diet?
by Frann LeachTo keep your digestive system working properly and avoid constipation, it's important to include fibre in your diet. There are also studies that show increasing fibre intake reduces the risk of various types of cancer and other serious health problems such as ischaemic heart disease.
When people talk about including fibre
Read this article in full
Can't Eat Gluten, Can't Eat Lactose? What CAN I Eat?
by Tara CattMore and more people are suddenly finding themselves either unable to handle gluten in their diets, or unable to handle lactose, or both.
It is a known fact that most animals can't handle cows milk, and that it is quite bad for adult humans to drink, so why is so
Read this article in full
Could gluten be damaging your health?
by Frann LeachDo you suffer from some or all of these problems: IBS, depression, difficulties with your weight, aches and pains in your bones and joints, chronic fatigue? If so, you may be gluten intolerant.
Gluten is a protein found in cereals, specifically, wheat (the main culprit), barley and rye. A similar protein
Read this article in full
Could your weight problem be caused by gluten intolerance?
by Frann LeachThe Establishment always denies anything that doesn't match the current dogma. Look what it did to Galileo for saying the Earth went round the Sun. That's probably why there's so much misinformation out there about obesity and its connection to gluten intolerance.
There are many people that say, if you're
Read this article in full
Diagnosing food intolerance
by Frann LeachFood intolerance used to be called 'food allergies'. However, there is a world of difference between a true food allergy, such as the infamous peanut allergy, which can kill almost instantly, and an intolerance to, for example, gluten leading to general poor health and obesity.
Food intolerance is not the same
Read this article in full
Do bacon sandwiches make you depressed?
by Frann LeachDepression is one of those things that people don't really talk about, and even when they do, it's often obvious they don't really understand it (even if they have experienced it themselves).
The misunderstanding arises because of a problem with the English language. We use metaphors and similes without even thinking
Read this article in full
Eating Out Gluten Free
by Frann LeachMost of us like to go out for a meal or get a take out once in a while. But for coeliacs and others on a gluten free diet, buying food ready cooked can be a bit of a minefield.
For starters, most take away food will be a problem. For
Read this article in full
Gluten and Depression - How does that work?
by Frann LeachFor a lot of years, there has been anecdotal evidence linking depression with gluten (along with more serious mental disorders, up to and including schizophrenia). The problem is, scientists in general, and doctors in particular pay little or no attention to evidence of this type. However, new discoveries have begun
Read this article in full
Gluten Dairy Free: Who needs it?
by Frann LeachThis diet is not for the faint hearted, nor for anybody who doesn't need to follow it. It is not a weight loss diet, for example. So if you don't have a problem with gluten and dairy, there's no point in following a gluten dairy free diet.
That sounds like a
Read this article in full
Gluten Free Desserts - Forget about the "Free From" Shelf
by Frann LeachWhen it comes to gluten free desserts, you're best to stay away from the "Free From" shelves. Well, to be honest, apart from pasta, I would give those a miss anyway. Most of the products are very much below par, and very pricey indeed.
But when it comes to desserts, really,
Read this article in full
How can you find out if you are gluten intolerant?
by Frann LeachMany people suffer for years with the symptoms of gluten-intolerance, without any idea that their ill health is caused by bread, pasta, and other flour-based foods we all eat every day.
If you suffer from symptoms such as irritable bowel syndrome,
wind, general aches and pains and even obesity -
Read this article in full
How Gluten Can Affect Your Mental Health
by Frann LeachIt's well known that gluten is the primary factor in celiac disease (CD), the primary symptoms of which mainly involve the digestive system. (CD, in fact, is the only disease where gluten is the undisputed cause.)
But CD has other symptoms apart from wind, stomach pains and constipation or diarrhea. Other
Read this article in full
I stopped eating gluten and the weight just fell off
by Frann LeachEver wondered why low-carb diets work really well for 6 months, and then quite often, with no change in eating pattern, the weight piles back on again? Seems we may be missing something here.
One thing about low-carb is that in the process of cutting out the carbs, most people end
Read this article in full
I'm going gluten-free - what can I eat?
by Frann LeachGood question.
It would be easier to say what you can't eat!
But the question is, what can you eat. So let's start there.
Well, for a start, obviously you can eat meat, poultry and game. That's unprocessed meat. Avoid burgers, sausages, grillsteaks and similar items, as they almost always contain filler
Read this article in full
Is there a connection between Chronic Fatigue and Gluten?
by Frann LeachCFS or chronic fatigue syndrome is a growing problem. But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are: "no physical signs that identify CFS... no diagnostic laboratory tests for CFS... no known cure for CFS [and] no single therapy exists that helps all CFS patients." In
Read this article in full
Keeping a food diary
by Frann LeachA food diary is a way of discovering hidden causes of your health problems. After you have kept it for a while, you will be able to detect patterns that you were never able to see before. In fact, the whole process of finding out what is going on becomes,
Read this article in full
Living with Gluten Intolerance
by Frann LeachMany people suffer from embarrassing wind, chronic pain from stomach upsets, muscle cramps or joint pains, or other seemingly unshakable complaints that seem to have no cause. Surprisingly often, eliminating gluten from the diet results in a marked improvement - even the complete elimination - of ailments of many years'
Read this article in full
Master of Disguise: How Gluten Hides Where You Least Expect It
by Frann LeachHere's a list of 14 places you might not expect to find gluten:
- Sausages contain breadcrumbs (the bread is one of the ways in which the texture of the sausage is obtained, without including an unacceptably high proportion of fat), except the most high class variety of butcher's sausage, and even
Read this article in fullQuick and Easy Meals without Gluten
by Frann LeachSomeone asked me the other day, "how do i keep my meals easy/simple but without gluten?" Sounds like an easy question, doesn't it? But if you're gluten intolerant, you will know it's not so simple.
I used to keep some ready meals for when I was in a hurry or too
Read this article in fullRheumatoid Arthritis and the Gluten Factor
by Frann LeachThough your General Practitioner may not have caught up with recent research (we all know how busy they are), over the last 10 years some interesting discoveries have been made linking diet with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Not only that, but it seems that orthodox treatments for this disease, while dealing
Read this article in fullWhat is gluten intolerance?
by Frann LeachGluten intolerance affects a large proportion of the population. Yet many people who may be affected aren't even sure what it is. This article sets out to explain what gluten intolerance is, how it can affect you, and, just as important, what it is not.
Let's start by looking at what
Read this article in fullWhat makes you think you're gluten intolerant?
by Frann LeachAwareness of gluten intolerance is rising. Lots of people who have had obvious symptoms, with no really obvious cause are waking up to the fact that they might be a sufferer, as well.
I grew up thinking that regular diarrhea was normal. It's not, of course, but it's not something you
Read this article in full
Tell a Friend Links Add URL About us Articles Privacy Disclaimer
