Take the “Do I Have IBS Quiz” & Learn Food / Supplements for IBS
If you have been suffering from digestive or gut problems, you might be wondering, “Do I have IBS?” or is it something else? Take our IBS quiz and find out not only whether you may have irritable bowel syndrome but also the ways in which you can take action to relieve your symptoms – and why NHS IBS treatments or tablets might not be the best approach long term.
IBS Quiz – IBS Symptoms Test from NHS GP Dr Leke
I’m Dr Leke, an NHS GP and a Functional Medicine Doctor with a specialism in gut health. I’ve developed this short IBS quiz to help you understand your symptoms and what to do about them.
Green Flag IBS questions:
For each YES answer, give yourself 1 point.
Which of the following symptoms have you been experiencing at least once per week for the last few months:
1. Bloating and/or gas?
2. Abdominal pain, cramps or discomfort?
3. Diarrhoea (or alternating between constipation and diarrhoea) ?
4. Mucus in your stool?
5. Have you noticed your symptoms get worse when you are stressed?
6. Do your symptoms seem to occur after eating certain foods?
7. Did your symptoms seem to start after a bout of gastroenteritis or food poisoning in the past?
8. Do you have a sudden uncontrollable need to have a bowel movement?
9. Have you been experiencing lower back pain, especially at night?
If you scored 3 or more on our IBS quiz above, then you may have irritable bowel syndrome and you may want to book an appointment with your NHS GP.
However, to find the root cause of your IBS and not just treat your symptoms with a tablet, book a consultation or a free call to see if I can help.
It’s important to note that this IBS quiz is for information purposes only and does not constitute a diagnosis or medical advice.
Red Flag IBS questions:
Have you experienced unexplained weight loss that coincides with your symptoms?
Have you noticed blood in your stool?
Are you over 60 with a sudden change in bowel habits?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you may want to request a FIT test from your NHS GP. FIT stands for Faecal Immunochemical Test. It looks for traces of blood that can’t be seen with the naked eye. A positive FIT test usually means a referral for a camera test (sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy) to rule out cancer or other pathologies.
If your FIT test is negative and nothing is found on your camera test, book a consultation or a free call to see if I can help.
IBS NHS Treatment & Diagnosis
IBS is a common diagnosis in the NHS. IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion, and there is no irritable bowel syndrome test or IBS blood test per se. Most commonly, people presenting to their GP with symptoms listed in the first section of the quiz above would be diagnosed with IBS without any testing.
This is a purely symptomatic approach, where the GP treats the symptoms rather than looking for the origin of the symptoms. This is the way the NHS normally approaches IBS treatment.
Once a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome is made by your GP, you would most likely be prescribed various IBS relief tablets. These include medications that relax your gut wall (Mebeverine, Buscopan) or an acid suppressor (Lansoprazole, Omeprazole). You might also be prescribed drugs for your mental health (Amitriptyline, Fluoxetine, Citalopram etc).
While IBS tablets can work for a percentage of patients, IBS doesn’t usually go away on its own – so, stopping the tablets means the symptoms of IBS flare up. And the IBS tablets don’t work for everyone, meaning the remaining percentage of people suffer miserably.
The latest treatment for IBS
Recently, more and more people have been turning to functional medicine as the latest way to treat IBS. That’s because unlike the traditional NHS approach of treating the symptoms, functional medicine aims to find and tackle the root cause of IBS symptoms.
If you have a leaking roof, you wouldn’t simply paint over the water stain – you would fix the leak or else the next time it rains, you’d get another water stain. And another… and another…
Potential root causes of irritable bowel syndrome from a functional medicine perspective include the following:
Dysbiosis (Alteration in the gut microbiome)
Small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (called SIBO).
Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (Reduced enzyme production by the pancreas)
Poorly functioning migrating motor complex (MMC)
Each of the root causes above has a different treatment approach. So, instead of taking IBS tablets for your symptoms, you would have personalised treatment depending on your root cause. I work with clients to identify their own root cause in my gut health clinic every day.
But for all cases, a functional medicine approach using diet, lifestyle modification and supplementation is key.
Find out how to fix your IBS
Book a gut health consultation with Dr. Leke, one of the UK’s leading gut health experts. Or if you have questions before booking, you can schedule a free 30-minute call first.
Best foods for IBS
The best foods for IBS are those that do not contain dairy, gluten or sugar in any form. I usually suggest starting with an elimination diet as all three categories are common allergens that trigger IBS symptoms.
People with irritable bowel syndrome may also find that a low FODMAP diet helps[1]. FODMAPs are Fermentable, Oligo-saccharides, Di-saccharides, Mono-saccharides and Polyols – broadly speaking, these foods are not easily absorbed or digested, and some people appear to be sensitive to the changes that take place in the large intestine when eating high levels of these substances.
Since FODMAPs include dairy, gluten and sugars, this is why excluding these categories of foods and sticking to IBS safe food is normally a good starting point. You can find a more detailed list of high FODMAP foods to avoid for IBS here.
The best IBS supplements (UK)
There are potentially numerous supplements for IBS depending on the root cause. However, first and foremost I always recommend probiotics to clients with IBS symptoms. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria or fungi, taken in capsules or liquid. They help replenish your good gut microbes, hence optimising the gut microbiome. Choosing the right probiotic as your IBS supplement is key to start improving your gut health.
In clients with SIBO, getting rid of the bacteria overgrowth is paramount. This can be done with herb-based supplements that have antimicrobial properties. Digestive enzymes or pancreatic enzymes are also beneficial in a category of clients with SIBO.
For those with a sluggish MMC, ginger and artichoke-based herbal extracts are a good option.
One of my clients took early retirement as a bus driver because of her IBS. She had seen her GP multiple times as well as a gastroenterologist, but her symptoms remained. I recommended she give a particular supplement a go, as she was at the end of her tether. Miraculously, she came back a week later thanking me profusely due to the impact it had made.
Living with IBS is hardly living
IBS symptoms can cause embarrassment and the ongoing nature of the symptoms can take a real toll on mental health. People often avoid going out for fear of an IBS flare up. This can create stress, which can then feed into the IBS symptoms, creating a vicious cycle.
Lifestyle changes help your body revert from a state of fight or flight to rest and digest. Common lifestyle changes include meditation, movement (Tai Chi, Yoga), walking, and much more. These increase endorphins in the brain that make us feel good and can relieve stress.
Are IBS and IBD the same?
IBS and IBD are not the same. IBD or Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of conditions that cause severe inflammation of the digestive tract. The two main IBDs are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Crohn’s disease can affect any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, while ulcerative colitis only involves the colon (large intestine). Both conditions are autoimmune diseases. In other words, an overactivity of the immune system causes the body to attack itself.
We don’t exactly know why this happens, but there is an interplay between diet, genetics and environmental factors, like allergens, chronic stress or toxins. These factors affect the quality and quantity of our gut microbiome.
Common symptoms of IBD include abdominal pain or cramping, bloody diarrhoea, fatigue, and weight loss. The conventional medical treatment approach for IBD is high-dose steroids and immunosuppressants. In severe cases, part of your gut will be removed.
The functional medicine approach for IBD places heavy emphasis on nutrition. This differentiates it from the conventional approach where diet is hardly ever mentioned! This is a serious oversight in my opinion. Countless times when I have asked patients about diet, I have got the answer, “The consultant said I can eat anything”.
Lifestyle modification is also key in IBD, and of course supplements. IBD is a much more difficult condition to treat, but it is always worth trying the functional medicine approach in my opinion. That said, you can indeed do both.
Does IBS go away?
As mentioned, finding the root cause of your irritable bowel syndrome is key. Once you find the root cause of IBS and address it, your IBS will go. This is the beauty of the functional medicine approach.
About the Author
Dr. Leke is an NHS GP and Functional Medicine Doctor with deep expertise in gut health. His approach emphasises the relationship between the gut and overall wellness.
More from my gut health blog…
