# Confused about terminology etc



## Vicz1991 (Jul 19, 2013)

Hi, sorry this is my first post so not sure if I am doing it right or even in the right place!

My boyfriend has been suffering with what we assumed to be acid reflux and ibs for a couple of years now. He has been on Omeprezole for at least a year, and is now up to 40mg a day. The doctor sent him for an endoscopy last week and the results show he has Barrett's mucosa and a hiatus hernia.

Firstly, I would like someone to explain what these are as google etc are very confusing and not worded well for people who don't like big words!

Secondly, I have been reading online and would like to know what all these things are please and basically anything you know about them and how they might relate to each other!

-dysphagia

-gerd/gord

-ibs/urgency to use the toilet

The doctor is seeing us in a couple of weeks to discuss the results etc and has suggested he will send my boyfriend for a colonoscopy as well due to him not being able to hold it when he needs the toilet and it comes with no warning at all.

If anyone can help me/explain things/give advice I would be very grateful thank you!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

-dysphagia Difficulty swallowing, can be a functional problem like IBS (so no obvious anatomical issues, no infection/acute illness causing it and no obvious "organic" chronic illness when you look at tests specifically for those other illnesses. There are some things that show up in research as "not normal" but nothing used as a diagnostic test to prove a functional illness)

-gerd/gord is chronic acid reflux. This can lead to damage in the esophagus that can cause anatomical reasons for a problem with swallowing.

Both of the above are issues in the upper GI tract and not symptoms of IBS which is the lower GI tract. That being said, a lot of times being prone to functional GI problems in one part of the system seems to make you more likely than anyone else to have issues in other parts of the GI tract.

-ibs/urgency to use the toilet IBS is combination of abdominal pain or discomfort (like excessive urgency) and an alteration of stool consistency or frequency. Something like 70% or so of people with IBS have rectal hypersensitivity. So when it fills up instead of a gentle reminder that one might need to go to the bathroom sometimes relatively soon you get a "MUST GO NOW!!!!!!" signal that often comes with pain and those symptoms generally subside (may not go completely away but get go down) when you empty the rectum with a Bowel movement.


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