Published: 12:51 BST, 2 September 2026 | Updated: 13:01 BST, 2 September 2026
After almost two years of worsening stomach pain, Sam Launder was told he had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Then aged 27, he thought it was something he simply had to learn to live with.
But a year later the doctors discovered he had a far more serious condition, which meant Sam needed his bowel, including his rectum, removed.
He says now, however, he's ‘in the best place I’ve been for a long time’.
It all started with more frequent bowel movements, about four to five times a day, as Sam, now 33, recalls. ‘At first, this didn’t worry me – I was fit, active and healthy, and was working in a busy role as a restaurant assistant manager.’
He also squeezed in going to the gym four times a week and competed in ballroom and Latin dance competitions.
‘But gradually, the frequency of needing to go increased to six to seven times a day, and so did the urgency – I had to run to the bathroom to get there in time,’ he says.
‘Still, I put off going to the doctors for a while because I had a feeling it might be IBS and that there wasn’t much that could be done,’ says Sam, a commercial director, who lives in Abingdon-on-Thames with partner Ellie, 25, and their two-year-old daughter Evie.
After two years of worsening stomach pain and increased bowel movements, Sam was diagnosed with IBS by a GP, who told him to keep a food diary and avoid fatty and spicy foods
Sure enough, the GP diagnosed IBS and told him to keep a food diary to identify possible triggers, avoid fatty and spicy foods and to drink plenty of fluid.
IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome, is one of the most common gut conditions, affecting around one in five adults in the UK.
There is no test for it. Under NICE guidelines the IBS diagnosis is based on symptoms, alongside simple blood and stool tests if there are red-flag symptoms – to exclude conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and coeliac disease (but more on this later).
‘You will not be diagnosed with IBS if you don’t experience its key symptom – abdominal pain,’ says Professor Anthony Hobson, a gastrointestinal scientist and clinical director at The Functional Gut Clinic in London.
‘But abdominal pain alone does not necessarily mean you have IBS.’
He adds: ‘The other most common symptom is bloating. Related symptoms include diarrhoea, constipation or alternating bowel habit [i.e. experiencing both].’
