On The Irritable Bowel Syndrome: stuff to remember

To everybody suffering of irritable bowel syndrome, there are some things to keep in mind when dealing with it:

#IBS is a disorder that interferes with the normal functions of the colon. The symptoms are crampy abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea.

#IBS is a common disorder found more often in women than men.

#People with IBS have colons that are more sensitive and reactive to things that might not bother other people, such as stress, large meals, gas, medicines, certain foods, caffeine, or alcohol.

#IBS is diagnosed by its signs and symptoms and by the absence of other diseases.

#Most people can control their symptoms by taking medicines such as laxatives, antidiarrhea medicines, antispasmodics, or antidepressants; reducing stress; and changing their diet.

#IBS does not harm the intestines and does not lead to cancer. It is not related to Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

How Does Stress Affect IBS?

Stress is one of the factors which affect the bowel and can cause quite some damage in many areas. If you are wondering how can stress affect the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), we have some answers!

Stress (feeling mentally or emotionally tense, troubled, angry, or overwhelmed) can stimulate colon spasms in people with IBS. The colon has many nerves that connect it to the brain. Like the heart and the lungs, the colon is partly controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which responds to stress. These nerves control the normal contractions of the colon and cause abdominal discomfort at stressful times. People often experience cramps or “butterflies” when they are nervous or upset. In people with IBS, the colon can be overly responsive to even slight conflict or stress. Stress makes the mind more aware of the sensations that arise in the colon, making the person perceive these sensations as unpleasant.

Some evidence suggests that IBS is affected by the immune system, which fights infection in the body. The immune system is affected by stress. For all these reasons, stress management is an important part of treatment for IBS. Stress management options include:

* stress reduction (relaxation) training and relaxation therapies such as meditation
* counseling and support
* regular exercise such as walking or yoga
* changes to the stressful situations in your life
* adequate sleep

General Facts about IBS

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS):

* IBS is one of the most common functional disorders seen in gastroenterological practice.
* It is characterized by abdominal pain/discomfort associated with bowel habit disturbances, bloating, and other symptoms usually defined as unrelated to any organic abnormality.

Diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome:
IBS investigators have identified a set of symptoms that provide physicians with guidelines toward a diagnosis of IBS. These are called the Rome Criteria.

The Rome criteria:
1. Continuous or recurrent symptoms of abdominal pain or discomfort that
A) may be relieved with defecation,
B) may be associated with a change in frequency, or
C) May be associated with a change in the consistency of stools.

2. Two or more of the following are present at least 25 percent of the time:
A) Altered stool frequency (greater than 3 bowel movement per day or less than 3 bowel movements per week)
B) Altered stool form (hard or loose watery stools or poorly formed stools)
C) Passage of mucous stools
D) Bloating (feeling of abdominal distention)

Many patients experience other symptoms that are consistent with irritable bowel syndrome. However, the Rome criteria do assist researchers and clinicians by correlating and describing symptoms uniformly.

Other important factors are the presence or absence of pain at night, gastrointestinal bleeding, fevers, chills, sweats, weight loss, etc. The presence of these types of symptoms suggest alternative diagnoses. These complaints do not exclude an underlying diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome but suggest other diagnoses that may have other treatments. Thus, IBS may be coexistent with other acute or chronic gastrointestinal illnesses.

Lab diagnosis (for physicians, students):

* patients with IBS have an increased number of inflammatory cells in the ileum and colorectum. These inflammatory cells have been documented to be closely apposed to nerves supplying the intestinal mucosa and to release a wide array of inflammatory mediators, thus providing a morphological basis for the hypothesis that inflammation may perturb gut sensorimotor function.
* The cause of the low-grade intestinal inflammatory response is as yet unknown and may involve a number of factors, including, for example, undiagnosed food allergies, changes in bacterial microflora, genetic factors (polymorphism leading to decreased anti-inflammatory cytokine synthesis), or bile acid malabsorption.
* A peculiar form of IBS has been related to a previous episode of acute gastroenteritis (i.e., postinfectious IBS).

Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

It’s time to talk a little bit about irritable bowel syndrome symptoms or IBS symptoms because there is one thing that should always be remembered when it comes to digestive system related problem like this one: symptoms can vary from person to person and only your doctor should exactly analyze them for you, in order to make sure you get a proper diagnosis.

However, there are a few symptoms of the irritable bowel syndrome that usually stand out of the pack and these are: bloating, constipation (or diarrhea) and abdominal pain or discomfort in the lower right part of the abdomen (or the lower left part). Since I am a constipation IBS “owner”, I can tell you out of my own experience that you can generally try to have a bowel movement without managing to eliminate anything and that’s a common thing. Also, you can have cramps or feel spasms of your bowel, but these things usually go away after defecation. However, it is common for people with IBS to leave the bathroom with the feeling of not emptying the waste (actually, this was one of the most clear signs for me!)

Other irritable bowel syndrome symptoms can be excessive bloating and swelling of the abdomen and even the need to pass more wind. Together with these might come other symptoms like headaches, tiredness, backache and muscle pains. After all, there are many people who associate stress with IBS and they might be right.

Any of these symptoms might come mixed up with others, too and they can also completely go away for a few months, just to return as if nothing happened. Actually, that is one of the main things regarding the irritable bowel syndrome: symptoms come and go and usually change in between, especially from constipation to diarrhea. But one thing is clear: even though you can generally tell for yourself, after reading the list above, if you have IBS or not, the best thing to do is to go and ask your doctor.

And, if you have the power to do so, watch a pretty funny Youtube video I found today which kind of goes hand in hand with our topic of symptoms for IBS. If you are easily offended, don’t watch it!