Colitis vs. IBS
#17164 - 08/13/03 10:25 AM
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WS
Reged: 08/09/03
Posts: 53
Loc: California
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Can anyone differentiate between plain colitis and IBS? no blood involved)
Thanks, WS
Wspencer815@cs.com
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Hi- Check the Crohn's and Colitis board here for a thread on tnis topic. In a nutshell, colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease. IBS is a functional gut disorder. But, IBS in the past has been called "colitis", which is a misnomer.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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I have mild imflammation, can I treat it as I am doing, like IBS?
WS
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Have you been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis? If that's the case, then the IBS diet will help, but you may need medical help (like anti-inflammatory drugs) as well.
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Hi, WS --
Heather's right about the difference between IBS and colitis. I would just add a couple of things: diet has more of an impact on the "management" of IBS than on the "treatment / cure" of colitis. While there are certain foods and beverages to avoid if you have an inflammatory bowel disease like colitis, you can pretty much eat a normal, healthy diet. IBS, however, as you may have already discovered, requires more of a trial & error process to find out which are your particular trigger foods, aside from the ones that seem to be no-no's for everyone with IBS. Regarding colitis: there are several forms of colitis and they're not all "ulcerative", although that's the type we all hear about. I was diagnosed with "mild acute colitis" in April and was put on a course of Asacol. The dx was made after a colonoscopy which showed healthy tissue to the naked eye - but microscopic inflammation. In fact, my GE said that it was SO microscopic that the pathologist couldn't pin down which of the two types of microscopic colitis it actually was! The medicine, Asacol, is an anti-inflammatory by the way. At my recent checkup, the GE decided I could discontinue the Asacol since the chronic diarrhea has disappeared. Now, if I don't follow the IBS diet carefully, I WILL have some IBS symptoms, including diarrhea - but the colitis apparently has cleared up. While you can manage the IBS yourself - a la Heather's diet, exercise, stress reduction, etc - after a physician has ruled out anything more serious - you should probably be followed by a physician, preferably a gastroenterologist, for the "inflammation" - because it can indicate a serious but treatable condition. By the way, did you learn of the inflammation from a colonoscopy? If you've never had one, you may want to consider asking your doctor about whether or not it would be an appropriate test for you. I'm 51, so it was a no-brainer! -- Hope this is helpful.
Blessings,
Kaybee C
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Thank you kaybeeC. You seem to have pretty much what I have. Yes. I had a colonoscopy and it showed no bacteria, no parasites, no blood and a milder inflammation. They tried to give me Asacol and librex but the side effects were very awful for me. So I stopped them! I think if one keeps the diarrhea under control, the inflammation will also
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Hi,
No ulcerative colitis - no blood, no bacteria, no parasite. Just a milder form of inflammation and bad diarrhea.
WS
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Hi, I just wanted to comment, because last year when my IBS got bad, I was bleeding and was in hospital for a night. My doctor was convinced I had colitis. Then I saw a gastroantoloigist, he said my colonoscopy was negative, so he didn't find anything.
I constanly have inflamation. I'm wondering now if the doctor were right in the first place.
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Just a thought ... your doctor ought to be able to tell you something more specific than just "mild inflammation" - is it "microscopic" - is it "acute" rather than "chronic" - does the inflammation cause the diarrhea or does the diarrhea from the IBS cause the inflammation? My doctor who was aware of the IBS-D before the colonoscopy indicated that the sudden increase in diarrhea episodes was due to the colitis. (It didn't matter what I ate, it was going to go through me - and with some considerable pain!). Now that I've had a round of the Asacol (which fortunately doesn't seem to bother me), the acute episodes of diarrhea have disappeared and I am bothered only when I neglect my IBS diet. So, just wondering if it would put your mind at ease if your doctor could make things a little bit more clear to you -- and could s/he find a medication that would clear up the inflammation without giving you the side effects? Just hope you've let your doctor know that you're not taking the meds anymore? My doctor made it really clear to me that I HAD to take the meds. Maybe your situation is different.... anyway, I'm hoping you're healing just fine!
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Hi WS. I have ulcerative colitis/IBS-D. I was diagnosed with IBS approx. 11 yrs. ago. Diagnosed with the usual testing; scopes up & down; blood tests and drinking a solution to test for lactose intolerant, which I am. Tested for celiac, no. About 5 yrs ago, I started with the painful D., and then the mucus started then the bleeding. Of course thinking the worse of having cancer, I went to a specialist and after a sigmoidscope in his office he said it was a mild case of UC. Started the asacol tablets. Wasn't working so he upped the asacol.Still wasn't stopping the bleeding so with the asacol he decided to try a Cortosteriod; Cortifoam which is directed into the rectum. this together stopped the bleeding but still continued with frequent D. I could handle the D. The bleeding came back after a bad bout of D. Switched to Dipentum, capsules, 2cap. 3 x a day. Seen another specialist he switched cortifoam to Pentasa,enema form. Along with both of these meds. I am able to control the bleeding to a minumun. Of course if I have a bad attack of D from IBS the bleeding restarts. With having many bm or D it is hard on the colon and doesn't give the colon time to heal. Just want to say, to keep an eye out. If you find your D is worse or blood in stool, or sometimes just bleeding rectally please see your Dr. Sue
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