Suggest Treatment For Abdominal Pain And Anxiety

Posted on Mon, 21 Apr 2014

Question: I am 52 year old woman who was diagnosed with ibs 7 years ago when my colonoscopy showed nothing abnormal. For several years I was fine but around 8 months ago I started having frequent urge to have bowel movement regardless of the normal bowel movement in the morning. I visited GI specialist several times in the past few months and after examination of my stomach and rectal exam he said that it is only ibs. I also ha amps copy done and all he found was hemmorhoids . I also had stool culture and nothing was found. GI doctor claims that I need no colonoscopy yet because he thinks nothing is wrong but ibs . But the sensation to go during the day in spite of the morning bowel movement which is pretty normal only sometimes soft. Once in a while I have if you can say so, a perfectly shaped bowel movement and on those occasions I usually have calm stomach during that day. What shall I do? How XXXXXXX can this be? I also suffer from anxiety. Please advise.

Answered by Dr. Enrique Molina (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: not XXXXXXX Detailed Answer: hi i will try to help, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is not a XXXXXXX situation, however it carries a lot of symptoms and discomfort to the patients, although it is never life threatening. The fact that you have been seen by a gastroenterologist and he has determined that everything has been ok, including a colonoscopy in the past is reassuring. repeating colonoscopy is usually not indicated unless something changes. You are 52 years old and you would need a screening colonoscopy (to look for polyps) 10 years after your last colonoscopy. Bowel movements may vary throughout time, and medications can be given based on how are your stools (watery and frequent, vs not often and hard). If abdominal pain is the predominant symptom, then there are alternative medications (such as anti spasmodics, medications for neuropathic abdominal pain, etc). All these medications are prescribed, and should be given by the gastroenterologist. Some anti-anxiety medications work very well for the intestines as well (such as trazodone, amytriptiline, etc). Hope that helps, let me know if you have any further questions or concerns

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar