If, like 10-15 per cent of the global population, you have been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), you are likely female and young. If your symptoms remain unresolved despite your best dietary restriction efforts, immediately request referral for non-routine testing. You may have an undiagnosed illness – because your pain has been sold to you as a product of ‘stress’. In other words, you have just been diagnosed with hysteria.