Diagnosis

Monday 21 April 2014 | Andreia Nogueira at 03:43 |

The first time I went to the hospital, I said that I had heartaches after a meal and I even did medical exams to see what was wrong with my heart ... ¡When someone is so small, the location of her organs becomes even harder!

The symptoms are usually enough to diagnose IBS and there is no specific exam to detect the problem. However, there are some medical exams to screen for other diseases with similar symptoms, taking into account your medical history:

- A lactose-free diet for two weeks can help your doctor assess if you have lactose deficiency

- Blood tests to see if you have anemia

- Cultures of feces to rule out an infection 

- It can be likewise necessary to do other medical exams, such as a colonoscopy or a sigmoidoscopy, if you are more than 50 years old when you start to feel IBS symptoms, if you lose weight, if you found blood in your feces or if you have anemia (low blood cell count, low hemoglobin), in order to rule out other diseases.

In any case, if you experience symptoms of IBS for a long period, it's important to talk to your doctor, not only to try to cope your medical condition and recover quality of life, but also to calm down and/or cure other disease.

Credits: Khunaspix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Sources:

- Http://www.minhavida.com.br/saude/temas/sindrome-do-intestino-irritavel (16th April 2014)
- Http://saude.sapo.pt/saude-medicina/medicacao-doencas/doencas/sindrome-do-colon-irritavel.html (16th April 2014)
- Http://www.fbg.org.br (16th April 2014)
- Http://pt.wikipedia.org (16th April 2014)