Can a colonoscopy cause IBS?

Irritable bowel syndrome is a condition of gastrointestinal hypersensitivity.  Basically, that means that we still don't understand it and therefore don't have truly effective treatments (although we're learning more).  We grade it according to the Rome criteria for research purposes.  But more importantly, we don't know what causes it.  However, we're pretty sure that a colonoscopy can't cause it since, given the number of colonoscopies performed annually, if there were a link, we'd have noted it by now.

However, colonoscopies aren't risk free.  There's a very small but real risk of perforation which could lead to abdominal pain.  So it's best to go seek medical attention since a perforation could lead to a really nasty infection (even if you don't have any signs currently).  Good luck!