Hi and welcome 
Though no one really knows what causes IBS, one theory is that many people develop it after "an insult to the gut" - ie. something insults your gut, and a stomach virus is the most common insult here, and your gut never really recovers... and, IBS.
About the upper GI procedure, it's really not bad at all. They will probably ask you to not eat for a few hours before to make sure the upper part of your digestive system is empty. For the procedure, basically the radiologist or nurse will give you a cup of pretty bad tasting liquid (barium) to drink - it's pretty gross but not the end of the world, kind of chalky tasting. It's also really carbonated so it will make you balloon up like crazy. Then, after you wait a bit for it to go through your system, they will have you stand in front of an x-ray machine and have a look at your upper GI system - you just have to stand there. (The barium is what shows up on the x-ray). It's certainly not pleasant but it's not too bad at all.
Really though, your doctor should be doing a complete GI series to test for IBS - and this includes a lower GI. Now, this procedure is a lot less easy to handle. The lower GI is the equivalent of a colonoscopy, so your intestines/bowels have to be totally empty before you can do the procedure (i.e. you take a laxative the night before and get, well, emptied... this is probably the worst part). For the procedure, the insert a tube into your anus and fill you up with barium - so basically just like the upper GI but you're not drinking it...  It's not pleasant no, and I don't mean to scare you away from it here, but it really is necessary to getting a proper IBS diagnosis, ie. ruling out anything else it might be - lots of things can look like IBS but actually be more serious and require immediate medical attention.
There are also other tests you should get too - Heather lists them here.
Anyway, hope this was helpful to you, and once again welcome! (Glad you found us, but sorry you had to )
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Re: Hello - Im New--Question about Upper GI Barrium Procedure
