Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: symptoms waking you at night

Hi - It is certainly possible for pain, diarrhea, or other IBS symptoms to wake someone up at night. It's listed as a red flag because IBS shouldn't be waking you up every night, or more nights than not. This is a possible symptom of an inflammatory bowel disease.

This is interesting - for many years, it was said by most doctors and diagnostic descriptions of IBS that it was IMPOSSIBLE to wake up at night with symptoms. I can remember my pediatrician arguing with me when I was about ten years old that the pain was not waking me up suddenly in the middle of the night. Well, it was - and I couldn't figure out why she cared so much that the pain was at night when it hit me just the same during the day. It was many years later I found out that IBS was considered psychological at that time, and therefore when your conscious mind is out of the picture (as when you're asleep) you shouldn't have symptoms. Basically, my doc didn't think there was anything wrong with me, and my nighttime symptoms suggested otherwise, so she was trying to insist that they just did not exist.

Nowadays, it is a well-documented fact that IBS is physical, and so symptoms can certainly wake someone up in the dead of night. After all, your colon is functioning even when you're asleep. But, if this is a really common symptom for you, it warrants some good medical investigation, as it's more likely to happen with other GI disorders than IBS and can point to a really serious problem.

Best,
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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