EC Clinical and Medical Case Reports

Case Report: A twenty year old young male, having symptoms of anxiety neurosis for last six months due to familial problems, presented with clinical features of Irritable bowel syndrome (I.B.S) and was evaluated for the same but all his baseline investigations including blood sugar, thyroid profile, viral screen and serum IgAttg antibody for wheat allergy were found to be normal. He was symptomatically treated with rifaximin, probiotics, anti-anxiety drugs but was very worried for mucus in stools which can be there even in I.B.S. He was not responding to treatment and was assuming this mucus to be marker of malignancy. He even brought photograph of mucus sticking on his hand and ultimately to allay his fear, colonoscopy was done which was as expected found to be normal. But this changed the thought process of the patient, made him mentally calm and within period of few months, showed significant symptomatic relief.

Conclusion: Majority of patients of irritable bowel syndrome are having baseline anxiety and depression features which makes over interpretation of their symptoms. The colonoscopy which is usually not indicated in IBS but sometimes even normal colonoscopy can become beneficial in recovery of patients, as in our case.

Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Colonoscopy; Mucus; Anxiety Neurosis; Probiotics

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