What is Irritable bowel syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder between the autonomic nervous system and the intestinal muscles.
"Irritable bowel syndrome" is the most frequently diagnosed gastrointestinal disease. Women are affected twice as often as men. The symptoms range from nausea, abdominal pain, flatulence, a feeling of pressure and fullness to diarrhea or constipation. A specific trigger for the digestive problems is not found in most cases. But it is not uncommon for those affected not to be systematically examined for other diseases and, experts criticize, to be prematurely confronted with the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome and left alone. In fact, many people with such symptoms have a treatable cause, such as an allergy.
Definition: What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
According to current understanding, irritable bowel syndrome is a disorder of the gut-brain axis. The interaction of the intestinal nervous system ("abdominal brain") with the central and vegetative nervous system is changed (more on this in the Causes section). It is difficult to say how often irritable bowel syndrome actually occurs, since studies on the frequency come to very different conclusions. However, around ten percent of people worldwide could be affected. Irritable bowel syndrome can resolve spontaneously, but often takes a chronic course. More women than men are affected.
Causes of IBS
If irritable bowel syndrome is present, this can severely limit the quality of life. For some people, stress literally hits their stomachs and intestines. The intestinal nerves get into a kind of permanent state of excitement, get confused with the regulation of the intestinal movements and report to the brain: "Pain!"
A disturbed intestinal flora can be partly responsible : antibiotics or severe gastrointestinal infections disturb the natural mixture of beneficial bacteria in the intestine. After a salmonella infection, for example, the risk of IBS is eight times higher. If the intestinal flora has been damaged over a long period of time (so-called dysbiosis), the intestinal mucosa can also change. It gets "holes", so to speak, so it becomes more permeable for toxins and pathogens. As a result, some IBS sufferers have more immune cells and their pro-inflammatory messenger substances in the gut - which in turn irritates the gut nerves.
Irritable bowel syndrome often occurs together with other diseases. This includes:
•Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
•Fibromyalgia Syndrome
••Irritable stomach (functional dyspepsia)
•Tension headache
••Depression
•Anxiety disorders
••Eating disorder
Classification of the different irritable bowel subtypes
- Irritable bowel, which is predominantly associated with constipation (IBS-C)
- Irritable bowel where diarrhea predominates (IBS-D)
- Irritable bowel associated with alternating constipation and diarrhea (IBS-M)
- Irritable bowel that does not currently fit the top three types (IBS-U)
do you know when you have constipation or diarrhea, and what else is normal? For this purpose, the so-called Bristol Stool Form Scale was developed, a scale that differentiates between seven different chair types according to the composition of the chair:
- Type 1 and Type 2 (Constipation): Solitary, fairly hard lumps or coherent but composed of lumps, difficult to pass
- Type 3 and Type 4 (normal): Soft sausages, with cracks or smooth surface
- Type 5: Discontinuous, soft lumps, easily excreted
- Type 6 and Type 7 (diarrhea): Loose, fluffy pieces, mushy or watery, runny
Causes: How does an irritable bowel develop?
Irritable bowel syndrome is a disease with many faces. There may not be "the" irritable bowel, but several subgroups. This is supported by the fact that researchers have now identified several irritable bowel subtypes in which the main symptoms differ. Second, different triggers could come into question, which in turn set in motion different pathogenic mechanisms in the intestine. Irritable bowel syndrome can also occur as a side effect of other diseases (see definition section). However, there is increasing evidence of which mechanisms in the body could play a role in the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
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