# Can IBS be diagnosed with barium enema?



## Victoria01 (Mar 6, 2001)

I'm finally getting up my courage to find out what's really happening inside me--tenderness, bloating, constipated. I just got a call from my GI specialist's nurse, and they want to schedule me for a barium enema. I asked her why not a colonoscopy, and she said at my age (36), that probably wouldn't be necessary yet. She said they can tell a "great deal" from the results of the enema. I'm disappointed they don't want to do the colonoscopy 'cause I thought that's supposed to be where they'll get the best look inside me. Any advice whether I should get a second opinion? (I do like this specialist; he seems to know what he's doing.)


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## Cigarello (Jun 17, 2000)

Hi: IBS is a diagnosis that is made when disease processes are ruled out with testing. I would ask the doctor this question: since the prep for the barium enema is the same as for the colonoscopy, why not have the colonoscopy- Even though you are under 50 and probably don't need to have the colonoscopy, why not do it if it is a more definitive test and the prep is the same? I had a barium enema years ago and it was not a big deal. It is less invasive and you won't need to be anesthetized. That may be the reason they would rather go the barium enema route. Good luck


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There is no test that will prove you have IBS.However various tests will rule out other things. Which tests are appropriate for you will in some part depend on your age, symptoms, other health issues.There is no one absolute this is the test you must have sort of rule. So it ends up being a judgement call by the doctor. All tests have risks and I don't know the relative risk of a colonoscopy (the scope can rupture you and there is always a risk when you are sedated) vs a barium enema. The risk vs the benefit is part of what is taken into account when deciding tests.If a lower risk test is as likely to give as much information for a given individual as a higher risk test then they may go with the lower risk test, even if it can't see everything the higher risk test can. It depends on what the symptoms lead you to believe is going on. If there is a fair amount of symptomatic evidence for Inflamatory Bowel problems then a scoping where they can take biopsies may be more appropriate than the barium. However some people with Inflamatory problems end up doing barium for the upper GI because there are parts of the small intestine that no scope gets to and the only way to see it is the barium (although the swallowed camera may get parts of that).A friend of mine had a tumor that bled out in her small intestine. They did all the high tech scopes first rather than the lower tech barium tests and it ended up that the only thing that showed it was the low tech older cheaper test. So it can be a #### shoot to get the right test for the job. High tech isn't always better than older low tech for somethings.K.


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