Doctors are still unbelievably bad with diagnosing GI issues.I'm also 20 and female and, for most of my life, I had dealt with pain, fainting, shaking uncontrollably, and chronic diarrhea. All of my symptoms (besides the diarrhea because as a child I didn't really question whether or not I was having healthy bowel movements) we're known to my PCP and completely ignored. I had been hospitalized several times due to these issues and taken to specialists who just couldn't determine anything. This summer I worked at a very fancy restaurant and was under a lot of pressure to appear perfect. During the short time I worked there, I had dropped 15 pounds (from 112 to 97 pounds), was I constant and chronic pain, had chronic diarrhea, and constantly nauseous. I strayed from my PCP and went to another doctor who almost immediately diagnosed me with IBS and GERD and it completely explained a lot of my issues. Tomorrow I have a colonoscopy and an endoscopy to make sure it's not Crohn's or Colitis.
I am sorry to hear about your problem with IBS , I have this problem for 4 years and I couldn't get answer from 5 Doctors, sometimes I wish I could die, it was really bad, I was missing work and sick almost everyday,the Doctors did all tests, Liver test, Thyroid, gastrodoudenoscopy, barium swallow, several ultra sounds to my abdomen and uterus, Colonoscopy, name it, for a period of 4 years, I had so many medications in my house, I could open a pharmacy, I tried probiotics, Prebatiocs, Bowel cleanse, name it , I tried it, I was referred to Urology, OBgyn, G I, nothing works, until 2 months ago, my job changed insurance to Kaiser, I went to see the Doctor, and he said, that my problem sounds like IBS, he gave some Protonics and Imodium but 3 days later, I was still in pain, with diarrhea today, constipation tomorrow, then he gave me Busporine and Effexor, I challenged that because I know that the medications are used for anxiety, I asked him that he think I am crazy or making all these up, he told me that it is true that it is commonly used for anxiety and that he doesn't think I am crazy or making it up, he explained that the medicine is also good for IBS, I agreed to try it, because at this point, I will try anything as long as it was prescribed by the Doctor, he warned me that it could take about 2 to 3 weeks before I see relieve, it,s been 6 weeks since I started, I have no more symptoms, none at all, I came to this site to share my experience with everyone that is how I came across your post, talk to your Doctor and see if these medications will help you, I want you to also Google " Buspurine for IBS " and read it, basically, IBS is a disease that you feel in the stomach and intestine but there is something in the brain that needs to be corrected, because the nerves sending message from the brain to the G I , messed up and need to be reset, Like I said earlier, talk to your Doctor, Good Luck and I pray that you get a healing from this horrible disease