Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: food allergies and intolerances

It sounds like Dr. Wangen is really saying there's no such thing as IBS. That is, people are being (mis)diagnosed with IBS when they really have:

food allergies
food intolerances
intestinal bacteria (I assume he means SIBO)
intestinal yeast infections and/or overgrowth
intestinal parasites

I don't agree with Dr. Wangen. I believe there is a condition called IBS that is not any of the above conditions. I agree, though, that people with one of those conditions - and many other conditions - can be and have been misdiagnosed and told they have IBS. However, since IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion, if you have one of the above conditions and treating that condition gets rid of your symptoms, you don't have IBS.

If you've tried Heather's approach and it's not helping then I would definitely pursue other avenues. Food allergies and bacterial parasites are something your local allergist and/or GI guy could test for. SIBO was a hot topic a few months ago and you should be able to find out a fair amount about that by doing a couple of Searches on here. Look across all Boards with no time limit for:

SIBO
small bacteria

You can see what research there is, what luck people have had with the treatment, what the tests are, and so on.

If food allergies, parasites, and SIBO aren't the problem, then I'd consider some less-mainstream tests for food intolerances and/or intestinal yeast infections. (I was, in fact, on the verge of either doing just that or trying Lotronex when I found this Website.) Whether I'd go to Dr. Wangen rather than a more local practitioner would depend on his prices and whether he offered any type of (money back) guarantee.

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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