Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Heather, how do you know the difference?

If you feel spasms like that, my guess is that you're not having a lack of motility but too much - that's what giving you the charley horse feeling, and constipation is resulting because your colon is clenched so tightly nothing is moving through. Most folks with low motility don't feel spasms - just constipation, often a lot of bloating.

They can actually do a GI motility test where you swallow a marker and they follow it through your system to measure transit time. Other than that, I don't know how you would know for sure if you've got IBS- C or just slow motility (which is actually not exactly the same thing as IBS, but there's so much gray area here and overlap that I'm not sure it's worth splitting hairs over the difference).

The other clue could just be how you react to the anti-spasmodic meds - do they help or make your c worse?

- H

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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