22nd July 2023

A 29-year-old lawyer presents to her local urgent care centre with a 6-month history of intermittent cramping lower abdominal pain

A 29-year-old lawyer presents to her local urgent care centre with a 6-month history of intermittent cramping lower abdominal pain. When the pain is present, she reports significant abdominal bloating and loose bowel motions. These symptoms seem to resolve once she has opened her bowels. The episodes used to occur once a week but are now present almost every day, causing her additional stress on top of her busy work schedule. She denies PR bleeding, weight loss, anorexia, vomiting, fever or dyspepsia. She has tried eliminating certain foods from her diet, including wheat and dairy, however, this did not improve her symptoms. She has a history of generalised anxiety disorder, for which she takes Sertraline. There is no family history of GI disease, including cancer. She has not travelled abroad for over 2 years due to the constraints of her job. Clinical examination, including abdominal exam, is unremarkable.

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