Why is my stomach gurgling?

I have severe bloating, stomach gurgling, diarrhea and some cramping. Help!?

• Ok so I have had these symptoms for a very long time (Like years and years and years) and i've been to the doctors countless times and no medication he gives me seems to work. The doctor thought i may have IBS and so he prescribed Colpermin tablets, which i suppose made me look less bloated sometimes, but overall it didn't really help that much. I thought maybe i needed to change the drug so the doctor gave me mebeverine tablets, which didnt seem to work in the slightest. I went back to the Doctors and he decided that maybe i have dyspepsia and not IBS due to the stomach gurgling. So he gave me Metoclopramide and lansoprazole to take together daily. These tablets made me feel even worse, making me very very tired and causing numbess in my body (Esecially my hands). Due to the fact i have exams coming up i had to stop this medication quickly because of how tired and weird i was feeling. In the time i was taking them i felt no different anyway, but i was wondering if that was just because i hadn't taken them for long enough. After that i thought i'd try changes in my diet. I have been cutting out gluten (Like bread and wheat based product) and dairy from my diet. I have also been drinking peppermint tea and taking aloe vera tablets daily. Nothing seems to work. In fact if anything, i think i've gotten worse. Usually i am not bloated in the morning, but the last couple of days i look like im pregnant, the cramps have worsened and im still having diarrhea. The gurgling is worse than ever. I am really stumped on this one and it's beginning to get me really frustrated. I still don't actually know whether i have IBS or dyspepsia. I have exams coming up and this is Bennington to get in the way of revision due to discomfort. I really need help. Extra details: I am 17 years old, i have a healthy diet, i exercise regularly and i am currently not on any other medication. thanks a lot if you can help.

• Answer:

  The problem with conditions like IBS and Coeliac Disease is that symptoms amongst sufferers can be contradictory - so some will have diarrhoea and others awful constipation. Added to which, sadly, a great number of GP's lack sufficient knowledge on the subject to help. Some people wait 10 years before they get a Coeliac Disease diagnosis for instance. IBS is a kind of catch-all diagnosis when it's not really known what's going on but something is - stress often compunds the symptoms greatly. Have you had a blood test to check for Coeliac Disease so you can properly eliminate this as the cause? The one where they check for antibodies and then if positive they follow up with further investigation? I know that you say you've tried eliminating bread and wheat based products for a period but you'd be amazed at what gluten occurs in. My husband had most of your symptoms (severe cramps, bloating, constant stomach gurgling, etc) and at first he was treated as if it was a possible stomach ulcer, the medication made him much worse and didn't address the root cause. Then following a blood test he had a endoscopy which showed he did indeed have some damage to the villi within the intestine associated with Coeliac Disease. Guidance from a nutritionist at the hospital helped him switch his diet properly and other than the odd contamination issue at restaurants he has been fine since. If you haven't had the blood test it's worth asking your doctor for one and if negative, pushing him/her, for a referral for further tests to see if you can get to the bottom of this. Good luck.