Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), also called "irritable bowel," "irritable colon" or "spastic colon," is a common condition that affects between 25 and 55 million Americans, the majority of whom are women. The condition most often occurs in people in their late teens to early 40s.
In essence, the condition is a combination of abdominal discomfort or pain and altered bowel habits: either altered frequency (diarrhea or constipation) or altered stool form (thin, hard, or soft and liquid).
IBS is not a life-threatening condition and it does not make a person more likely to develop other colon conditions, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, or colon cancer or any diseases of the heart or nerves. Yet IBS can be a chronic probelm that can significantly impair quality of life in those that have it. For example, people with IBS miss work 3 times more than people without IBS and the condition is associated with absenteeism from school, decreased participation in activities of daily living, alterations of one's work setting (shifting to working at home, changing hours) or giving up work altogether.
Among the symptoms associated with IBS are:
Some people with IBS have other symptoms not related to their digestive tract, such as urinary symptoms or sexual problems.
Symptoms of IBS tend to worsen with stress.
People with IBS have traditionally been described as having "constipation-predominant," "diarrhea-predominant," or an alternating pattern of constipation and diarrhea. Each type represents about a third of the overall IBS population.
Two hundred years after the condition was first described, experts still don't completely understand what causes IBS symptoms.
Many experts think that it is a problem of bowel motility -- the muscles in the bowels don't contract normally -- affecting the movement of stool. But some studies don't show that the poor bowel motility correlates with symptoms. Also, drugs that alter motility don't seem to benefit most people with IBS.
Newer studies suggest that in IBS, the colon is hypersensitive, overreacting to mild stimulation by going into spasms. Instead of slow, rhythmic muscle contractions, the bowel muscles spasm. That can either cause diarrhea or constipation.
Another theory suggests that a number of substances that regulate the transmission of nerve signals between the brain and GI tract may be involved. These include serotonin, gastrin, motolin and others.
Some have also suggested that there is a hormonal component to the condition, as it occurs in women much more frequently than in men. So far, studies have not borne this out.
A number of factors can "trigger" IBS, including certain foods, medicines, the presence of gas or stool and emotional stress.
Upper Cervical Care has been known to help patients with IBS and other bowel conditions without the use of drugs or surgery.
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