# Does IBS get worse with age???



## Guest (Aug 25, 2000)

I was 17 when I started having "attacks." I have been pretty much fine for a few years, but now I am 30 yrs old and my severe cramping and other IBS symptoms are back. I am getting approximately one severe attack a month. On other days I seem to have "small" attacks. I generally have not been feeling well from IBS. Does anyone have information on IBS getting worse with age? I am concerned because I was fine for so long and now I'm having more frequent trouble.


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## Delta (Aug 17, 2000)

The information I read said it usually gets better with age. (I believe I may have read it on this site - not sure where though).Of course because it differs from person to person who can say for sure? But because you're still young maybe by "better with age" they mean much older than 30.I'm 28 and was only recently diagnosed but based on my discussions with my GI I've had it for a long time but just didn't know it. The worst of it has been the last 6 months.Delta


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

HI OTP.In some it worsens with age, which does not mean the same thing as "progresses". IBS is not a syndrome that predisposes you to cancer or Chrohns or some more devastating disease. Many patients who do not identify what the underlying precipitating factors of their symptoms are tend to find the problems slowly worsening simply as the body ages and the system remains unstable...oversimplifying, if you kee rubbing salt in a wound it tends to get more aggravated as time goes by. However, once a person is able to achive a stable-state and minimizes those things found to precipitate symptoms THEN they tend to stay stable as long as they approach it properly (ie: if food triggers are identified they rotate their safe foods so as to not overconsume them and develop new allergenic foods...thus defeating the whole purpose).Mine got progressively worse from the age of 10 to the age of 40, and was complicated by the development of diverticuli due to the chronic and severe spasmodic activity...these then would become intermittently infected leading to diverticulitis which was becoming refractory to drugs and a resection was contemplated. Then I got serious about investigating causal factors and eliminating them. So, now am 'stable', and symptomatic only when I stupidly or accidntally do an "oral challenge". But I also can tell that as my body ages it less ble to withstand the "precipitating stimuli" I placed upon it when younger. A much smaller amount of an offending substance is needed to elicit an episode. I must be more careful. Casual observation of the history and management of hundreds of IBS patients by MD's I have been around suggests this occurs more often than people talk about. In those I have seen, almost all the older patients report the "symptoms" to be "worse" with age during history and physicial exam.Not that many seemed during workup to show "progression" into diverticulosis or other bowel troubles (**except the frequency incidence of GERD reported seems to increase with age).The last are just personal observations, not "published data".[This message has been edited by Mike NoLomotil (edited 08-25-2000).]


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## me3 (Jul 21, 2000)

I am 50 and have had IBS since I was about 13, but I wasn't diagnosed till about a few years ago. I self-treated myself in that I figured out what worked and what didn't for what I called "allergies". So while it didn't go away, it was better once I connected it to foods and watched what I ate.But in March 2000, I found I was suddenly able to spend less time being a Mom and more time on myself. I decided to get really aggressive about my IBS. I started a new medication (Dicetel) and found this BB. I am happy to say, I feel the best I have felt in years! Except when I cause a problem by eating something I shouldn't, my symtoms are gone.I have to say I would have been better sooner if I wasn't so reluctant to give up my favourite foods (self-denial of the facts) such as pasta, sweets, and COFFEE! So while I am not "cured", with age I am treating the symtoms more effectively. I hope this sort of makes sense....


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## Nicol (Aug 13, 2000)

Well I have had this since I was 14 and after my first baby when I was 23, things got worse. After my second baby things progressed. So here I am at 29 with blood in my stool and no answers to explain it.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2000)

I am 66 years old and had IBS for 36 years.Had most of the problems found on the board.I too blamed every food eaten previous to an episode,which occurred about two times a week for years. I never could pinpoint a certain food for sure because one food I would blame one time would be ok the next time I ate it. I took early retirement at age 50 and once away from the school house the IBS improved tremendously and when it does occur,it is never as bad as it was before retirement. My conclussion then is that my IBS was 98% triggered by anxiety and panic syndrome.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2000)

In a word...YES







well im my case anyway! Getting through the menopause was bad enough







without having to cope with IBS as well. Then finding out you have an Haitus Hernia







and now bloody Haemorrhoids, life is not a picnic at the moment. Still.....as the song says " things can only get better" hope so anyway! ://www.allfreeclipart.com/people/oldlady.gif ------------------ bluebird


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

HI NICOL.What did your GI doc do to investigate the "bloody stool"? Is it occult blood or obvious, like red and "there"? Were you scoped? You know, bloody stool unexplained is a point of attention, thats all. (?)Have a DFD, CU tomorrow. Sky is clear..I be outta here!MNL


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## Epona (Jul 27, 2000)

Hi. I started around age 15 or thereabouts with IBS. (I am 43 now). It seems to come and go quite a bit, but within the last 2 years it has gotten much worse. But, I have had a lot of stress in my life during that time too, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and shortly after that my symptoms got worse. For me I think the stress/anxiety definitely plays a factor in my IBS.Renee


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## Nicol (Aug 13, 2000)

Hi Mike,Yes I have been scoped, enemaed and scanned. So far they can't explain it. I mean none of them have even said it was hemmroids and the blood is from black stool or dark and red bloody clots. I have fissures the odd time but this blood is different than that. I do have some more tests in September but so far they still say it is IBS. I say they because I have been to 4 different GIs. My GP thinks that it is IBD but not the GIs, so no diagnosis except IBS.


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2000)

I too have read that IBS usually gets better as you age. Perhaps it is just that once you know what you have, you begin to find ways of controlling it. I have had IBS-C probably since the age of 8. I was not diagnosed until I was in college. I had horrible bouts in school (of C, cramps, and swings to D), triggered mostly by stress. Once I got out of school, knew more about my problem, and figured out what I could eat and not eat, the IBS did get better. I am now 28 and the IBS-C is not totally gone, but I have learned to manage it alot better. Look at what is going on in your life now, though IBS is a real ailment, it also can be triggered and made worse by stress.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

HI NICOL.Well if (4) separate GI docs have found occult blood of indeterminate etiology (translation: they don't know where it came from) and it was determined to be indeterminate after a complete differential, what can I say?.What "more tests" are scheduled for 9/00, and why did your GP say he thought it was IBD (other than the obvious).This is what might be coldly called in the Friday morning rounds a "fascinoma".Have a DFD...gotta stock the hurricane-closet today! its that time of year againMNL


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## Nicol (Aug 13, 2000)

I think I am having an endoscopy and a sigmoid, I forget since it was scheduled quite awhile ago. Anyway, I should get the prep directions in the mail soon. I have not had a scope since the bleeding got really started, I had only bled once or twice before then. I have had a barium enema since though. My GP thinks it is IBD because he knows the blood is not from hemmroids or fissures and he is taking into account all of my symptoms and my history. I have had 2 obstructions, IBS since I was 13, two c-sections, I have arthritis, insomnia, as well as nausea, pain and slight jaundice. He also knows that my pain tolerance is quite high and basically he just knows me. At his request I have been calling my GP's office everytime something happens, like if I bleed or have a bad reaction to a food. He keeps sending me for tests or to see another GI, it has been 2 years of this. According to one GI I saw, he said that IBD can take years to manifest and that I very well may have it but they probably aren't going to find it until I need surgery.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

HI NICOL.As the paint-by-numbers picture gets filled in it keeps making more sense why he suspects possible IBD. And no scope since the bleeding started...good idea to have a colonoscopy done to rule-out other things. Thanks for answering my curiosity and very best of luck with the procedure. Let (us) know how it goes.MNL


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## Nicol (Aug 13, 2000)

I will definately let you know what is happening. Thanks for the luck, I think I am going to need it lol. Feel free to email me anytime your curious.


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