Although it affects roughly 15 percent of the American population, those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome often feel alone, frustrated and in pain especially when the road to diagnosis feels long.
“Despite its prevalence, it’s a tough diagnosis to make,” says Dr. Todd Garrett, internal medicine physician with Intermountain Medical Group in Cedar City. “Unlike diabetes or high blood pressure or something that you can run a blood test and get a diagnosis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome is typically diagnosed on the basis of exclusion, relying on a constellation of symptoms and ruling out potential causes. There’s just no specific test or measurement that says, ‘this is IBS.’”