# Extreme cycle of IBS



## AdayLate (Jul 26, 2002)

My granddaughter, age 8, who has IBS, has been in and out of the doctor's office over the past 2 weeks with diarrhea, constipation, bloody stools, mucous, navel area pain, radiating to the left side and some nausea. She is also having mucous producing gas and has had several accidents. She has been under a lot of stress (Mom and Dad getting divorced, Mom is acting nuts) but the nurse keeps insisting that these symptoms may not be IBS related - BUT the more I read, the more I believe they are and that the stress triggered the current "extreme" cycle of IBS. I just got back from the hospital, dropping off another stool sample. I would love some imput on children and IBS and a stress related episode.


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## wmchick (Jan 21, 2001)

Hi, I definately believe stress will agravate IBS. I have it and my son has it. When I am on vacation I am fine, but when I go back to work, all the symptoms come back. With my son, age 14, he is in perfect health during summer vacation and as soon as school starts, he starts having alot of sick days and misses a lot of classes. School has been back in for a week now , and already he has missed 3 days. I am taking him to the doc tomorrow to find out what type of medications might help him. If you find anything that helps , please let me know.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Bloody stools are not a symptom of IBS, no matter how severe the IBS.Now sometimes constipation or diarrhea will bother hemaroids or anal tissue to the point they bleed, but the bloody stools may mean that Inflamtory Bowel Diseases need to be checked for.Stress makes ALL diseases worse, not JUST IBS. Stress can play a role in flare ups of IBD's just like it can for IBS, so just because someone is under a great deal of stress doesn't mean you overlook "red flag" symptoms.Red Flag Symptoms.Bloody stoolsInexplicable weight lossAnemiaElevated Sedimentation Rate (this is a pretty easy blood test and at minimum I think this should be done to try to begin sorting out if it is Inflamation causing the bleeding).Pain that wakes someone up from a sound sleep at night (not just pain at bedtime that makes it harder to fall asleep). Also diarrhea in the night, usually with IBS the colon goes through the normal "go to sleep" thing at night and is much less obnoxious. Sometimes it doesn't. Inflamatory stuff doesn't tend to shut down at night like functional stuff mostly does.K.


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