Many years ago when my daughter ended up in A&E with abdominal pain, the doctor on duty asked her about her history.  When she explained that she had been given the diagnosis of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), he replied “There is no such thing as IBS”. 

You might be thinking ‘What the heck?’

What he meant by this, is that ‘IBS’ is a name given to a set of symptoms. It's a syndrome and doesn't describe the cause of the abdominal discomfort or the contributing factors. 

IBS can be triggered by many different things, including poor digestion, dietary triggers or food sensitivities, lack of digestive enzymes, hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), gut dysbiosis (an abnormal balance of bacteria, viruses or fungi in the gut), thyroid issues, stress, parasites…

Therefore the diagnosis of ‘IBS’ requires further investigation.