409- Working With Your Healthcare Provider

Working with your healthcare provider can help make managing your condition easier A partnership between a patient and healthcare provider is essential when managing all chronic illnesses. Because the time spent with your healthcare provider is both limited and valuable, you can maximize it by following some simple guidelines before and after the visit. Learn […]

421- Personal Daily Diary for All GI Disorders

Using a Personal Daily Symptom Diary for 2–4 weeks can help you learn more about how your body may be reacting to certain things in your life, such as diet, exercise, stress, and sleep. A Daily Diary aims to help you better understand your gastrointestinal (GI) illness. When you keep a detailed record of stool […]

411 How to Qualify for Social Security Benefits

Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders are more common than people think. Even though almost everyone has occasional bouts of GI issues, thousands of people have chronic and severe GI disorders that can make it impossible for them to work. If you have worked in the past but can’t work now because of a GI disorder that you expect to last a year or more, you can file a […]

Centrally Mediated Abdominal Pain Syndrome (CAPS)

People with functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders can have a variety of symptoms that range from painless diarrhea or constipation to pain associated with diarrhea and/or constipation (usually called irritable bowel syndrome). There is another, less common condition of abdominal pain that is chronic or frequently recurring; it is not associated with changes in bowel pattern […]

Common Questions About Centrally Mediated Abdominal Pain Syndrome (CAPS)

What is CAPS? Centrally mediated abdominal pain syndrome (CAPS), formerly known as Functional abdominal pain syndrome (FAPS), is a condition of abdominal (belly) pain that is long-term or keeps coming back. The pain is not linked with changes in bowel pattern – constipation and/or diarrhea. It occurs because of abnormal functioning of nerve impulses in […]

Patient Story FAPS and IBS C

An illness experience story from IFFGD advocate and registered dietitian, Erin Slater. Learn about Erin’s journey from symptom onset, to diagnosis, and finally treatment.

Presented during the Nancy and Bill Norton Patient Education Series Event at the University of Michigan Food for Life Kitchen.

440-FGIMDs and the Military Service Member

There is an old Civil War saying, “It takes good guts to be a soldier.” While this was most likely an adage that described the grit and bravery required to be a warfighter, it also described the chronic bowel problems the service member faced from poor nutrition and uninhabitable living conditions. However, this adage also applies to the present day where there are a number of common chronic gastrointestinal (GI) disorders which today’s service members may experience. At the top of the list are functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional dyspepsia, functional constipation, and functional abdominal pain syndrome (FAPS). While these disorders occur frequently in the civilian population, there are some unique aspects that can affect the active service member and veteran.

827- Functional Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children

Without thinking much about it, most of us expect that doctors will be able to “explain” our aches, pains, and complaints by finding some sort of tissue damage or disease that causes our discomfort. Despite such expectations, many of us have learned that not all physical suffering can be neatly explained by a physical examination or by medical tests and procedures. Doctors call physical disorders that are real but not caused by tissue damage “functional” disorders. Children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) and their families struggle with this sometimes frustrating and confusing situation every day. This article reviews characteristics, causes, and treatments.

116 – Doctor – Patient Communication

Functional GI disorders present a special challenge to the doctor-patient interaction for several reasons. First, functional GI disorders are characterized, in most cases, by vague symptoms of variable intensity. Many times, these symptoms involve the most intimate anatomic areas of the body. The sensitivity of these issues can complicate the task for the patient who needs to express them in terms that the physician can interpret to formulate a diagnosis. Secondly, the physician is hampered by the absence of obvious structural lesions that often lessens the likelihood of devising a specific medical intervention that is successful. In some cases, the physician’s own anxiety can be increased by the lack of a symptom complex that leads to well-understood disease entity, such as parasites or lactose intolerance. This deficiency, in turn, often leads both physician and patient to over-investigate the symptoms. So what are the ingredients that comprise successful doctor-patient communication about the functional GI disorders?

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