‘To boldly go where no man has gone before.’ Exploring the gas clouds of inner space with the IBS voyager.
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 American science fiction film, starring Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasance as the crew of the submarine/spaceship, Proteus, that is able to shrink to … Continue reading
IBS: is it a case of too much medicine?
50 years ago, we hadn’t heard of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome. That’s not to say it didn’t exist. Unexplained illnesses affecting the bowels had been known every since the beginning … Continue reading
But could I have done more?
I have not seen Peter for 10 years, since he and Mary bought their villa in Spain. They have kept in touch by Christmas cards and the occasional post card. … Continue reading
IBS and The Wandering Womb; could they both be endometriosis?
The endometrium is the lining of the womb. It is made of special cells which shed each month by bleeding. In endometriosis these cells are found in other parts of … Continue reading
IBS: many diseases awaiting discovery or another bowel upset?
What do we know about IBS? The answer is surprisingly little. There is no definitive cause, no specific pathology and no single effective treatment. It is and always was a … Continue reading
With IBS, the rule is: ‘there are no rules’
…. there is only the patient. Mandy wrote to me recently to tell me how much better her diarrhoea had been since she started taking Questran, a ion exchange resin … Continue reading
Faecal Calprotectin: a simple stool test to rule out colitis?
This is not so much a test for IBS but a test for not-IBS. Faecal Calprotectin (FC) is a marker released from white blood cells (leukocytes) that are exuded … Continue reading
Does you doctor always know best or can you sort something out between you?
Doctors are men who prescribe medicines, of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing. Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet) … Continue reading
When you and your doctor should be concerned.
A woman came up to me at The Allergy and Free-from Show recently. She looked embarrassed and deeply unhappy. ‘Sometimes when I get an urge to go to the … Continue reading
At last; a positive test for IBS?
You’ve heard it all before. IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion. If you have ongoing symptoms of bowel irritability; abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea or frustrated defaecation, then your doctor should … Continue reading
The Sensitive Gut 