Does Colonoscopy rule out Inflammatory Bowel Disease

It would rule out both those things as well as coeliac disease. Mine came back clear (I'm coeliac but we already knew that ). But now I'm under the care of the dietician and she put me on the FODMAP diet which is a huge pain in the neck but us making a welcome difference to my problems.

Yes. Doesn’t rule out functional disorders like IBS but if you have Crohn’s or IBD at least part of your bowel is not going to look normal and healthy. I have found haemorrhoids themselves (particularly if they are internal) can upset bowel motility particularly if they are in an acute phase. So I would try some self-help stuff to try and keep them down. So a brilliant result and you can relax.

Hi my consultant said that there is about 18ft of intestine that can’t be seen during a colonoscopy so I’m having the pill cam and also an endoscopy as ibs does not cause inflammation in your poo, he also told me that a colonoscopy can present normal but can be inflamed next time as it can come and go, so I’d ask for further tests, good luck

Couple of things for information primarily to Mumoffour but which you may wish to read too Paul. The 18 ft that cannot be seen is your Small Intestine (probably 20 ft actually) not your Colon which is 5 ft long. It is very rare that the Small Intestine is the cause of trouble. I have had the Pill Camera. I suggest anyone having Pill camera asks for the Dummy one first which they give you a couple of days before. This makes sure the Pill Camera can travel through successfully and if Dummy cam gets stuck (e.g. by a bowel obstruction) it can dissolves. It is a bit bigger than the real Pill Camera. THE REAL PILL CAMERA CANNOT DISSOLVE IF IT GETS STUCK. The consultant who said to Mumoffour that you can be clear of inflammation at one test but can have it at another test is obviously right. The second test may be years later. Anything can happen. That is why they suggest you repeat the colonoscopy anything between 1 and 10 years later as they recommend. I am sure the consultant was NOT suggesting someone kept having colonoscopies very frequently unless there was some reason, otherwise you could be having them all the time and that would be plain silly.

Mumoffour - we may be at cross-purposes and I suspect we are but Ulcerative Colitis is found only in the COLON. The word colitis means "OF THE COLON". Crohn's disease can affect any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, so it may be that they are checking for. When found, it is most often in the ILEUM, the bit of the small intestine just before the Colon starts. I very much hope you don't have it.The test is painless and you can leave the hospital usually: the belt is a bit of a bore in bed but I did manage to get some sleep. Pictures are amazing. Good luck! If it is specifically Crohn's they are looking for then they may not fear any actual obstruction so that's probably why they are not using Dummy Cam first.

Thank you all so much for your responses. Some interesting, albeit conflicting information there.

From my perspective, I did have an endoscopy some time ago and everything there was normal as well. I don't have any of the common symptoms of Crohn's Disease other than bloating but not even this is a constant factor, certainly no ulcerating of any of the areas that have been investigated so far. I'm just confused as to why I had two separate faecal calprotectin results, and why there is this daily feeling of being slightly ill everyday, although even this isn't all day, and can change in severity from feeling fine, to being very mild, to then feeling moderate in the space of hours.

Ask for the numbers from your two tests. They should be expressed as mg/kg. Tests can give false positives and there’s a gray area which may be the reason you were trested again. Readings between 50 and 100 are considered gray. Readings of 100mg/kg or over are taken as positive. Calprotectin levels between 150/200 and 500 mg/kg indicate “moderate disease activity” and values above that “high disease activity”. Severe IBD can give readings in the thousands. Get the numbers as they may put your mind at rest. Don't forget that haemorrhoids are inflammation so maybe the test results were reflecting that.