Life Insurance With Constipation Or Bloating
Everybody has been constipated or bloated. Saying so on an application is not usually what a question is reaching for.
What a medical history actually contains is whatever was done about it: the blood tests, the referral, the camera test, and the conclusion if there was one.
This page is about that, and about the conditions these symptoms are commonly checked against.
The short answer
Constipation and bloating are symptoms, not diagnoses, which is why the useful answer on an application is rarely the symptom itself. It is what was looked into. Persistent bowel symptoms are commonly investigated with blood tests for coeliac disease and anaemia, and sometimes with a colonoscopy, and those investigations are the part of the history with substance in them.
What it is
Constipation is infrequent or difficult bowel movements; bloating is a sensation of abdominal fullness or visible distension. Both are extremely common and often related to diet, fluid, activity, medication or stress.
When they persist, they are usually investigated rather than simply treated, because the same symptoms can belong to irritable bowel syndrome, coeliac disease, thyroid underactivity and, less often, something more serious. Treatment ranges from dietary change through laxatives to management of whatever is found.
Why it comes up on an application
- Irritable bowel syndrome is the common conclusion, and it is a diagnosis with a name rather than just symptoms. If you were given it, say so.
- Coeliac screening blood tests are routinely done for these symptoms. A negative result is still a test, and a positive one changes the entry entirely.
- Thyroid function is often checked too, because an underactive thyroid can cause constipation. Another test, another result worth knowing.
- A colonoscopy is a significant investigation and is sometimes done, particularly with any bleeding or change in bowel habit over 50. It belongs in an answer about tests whatever it found.
What we would ask you
- How long the symptoms have been going on, and whether they come and go
- Whether you were given a diagnosis such as irritable bowel syndrome
- What tests you have had, including coeliac blood tests, thyroid tests or a colonoscopy
- Whether there has ever been any bleeding or weight loss alongside it
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
Answer With What Was Ruled Out
This is the single most useful idea on this page and it applies to every symptom-based entry on an application.
A form asking about bowel conditions is not really asking whether you have ever been constipated. It is trying to establish whether there is an investigated condition in your history. The informative answer is therefore the investigation: blood tests for coeliac disease, thyroid function, perhaps a colonoscopy, and what each showed.
An answer of "bloating, investigated, coeliac and thyroid tests normal, told it was IBS" tells us far more than "bloating" and takes the same breath to say.
Anything Still Being Looked Into Is Different
There is one circumstance that genuinely changes the position, and it is worth being straight about.
If you are currently waiting on a test, an appointment or a result, that is a specific question on our journey and on most applications. An investigation in progress is not the same as one that concluded, and it is the sort of thing that is far better declared at the outset than discovered later.
The same goes for symptoms that include bleeding or unexplained weight loss, which are usually investigated more urgently. Those belong on the form in their own words rather than inside a general answer about bloating.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point. Symptoms that were investigated and explained are a different picture from symptoms still being looked into.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition. These symptoms are not one, and the definitions are worth reading before you commit.
Replaces earnings if illness or injury stops you working. Irritable bowel syndrome is occasionally disruptive enough to affect work, and if yours has, say so.
Common questions
Do I need to declare constipation or bloating?+
Answer what you are asked, and lead with any investigation or diagnosis. A form asking about bowel conditions is trying to find an investigated condition, so tests and conclusions are the informative part rather than the symptom.
I was told it was IBS. Is that a condition?+
Yes, it is a diagnosis with a name and worth declaring as such. It is also usually a conclusion reached after other things were ruled out, so the tests behind it are useful information to give alongside it.
My coeliac test was negative. Do I still mention it?+
Yes. A question about tests asks whether they happened, and a negative coeliac screen is a genuinely useful piece of information. Leaving out tests because they were normal is how applications end up incomplete.
I am waiting for a colonoscopy. What do I do?+
Say so. Whether you are waiting on tests, appointments or treatment is a direct question on our journey and on most applications, and an investigation in progress is a materially different position from one that concluded.
Does bloating affect life insurance?+
On its own it is rarely the interesting part of an application, and what any insurer decides rests on your whole picture rather than one symptom. What matters is whether anything was found when it was looked into.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.