flatulence along with ocassional sour and sometimes only frothy burps, coupled with discomfort and occasional pain in the region between the navel and chest bone be a sign of malignancy ?
I have symptoms of IBS for over 10 years now. It comes on only with my periods. This time round it started with my last period and continued until the next one. Pain was severe on the first day of the second period.
A ultra sound in April showed nothing wrong. An endoscopy a couple of years back was normal too.
Stools are normal. There is no weight loss. Medicines are giving only temperory relief. IBS does not turn malignant; it is not a cancer. What you are describing sounds more like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This is different from IBS but can occur in conjunction. You can rule this out with a 24-hour pH study and an upper GI endoscopy. If the burping is a recent development, this would be the first line of inquiry.
Another possibility is inflammatory bowel disease (most likely Crohn disease) or celiac disease. These can also co-occur with IBS. A camera endoscopy can find these problems in the upper gut, while a barium x-ray study and/or colonoscopy can find them in the lower gut. However, I would rule these out because your stool patterns are normal.
Talk to your doctor about using Xifaxan, a non-absorbable antibiotic. It has been shown clinically effective in reducing symptoms of IBS. Because it is expensive and only approved for treatment of traveler's diarrhea, it might not be covered by insurance. That might clear everything up. |
