Recurrent diarrhoea, constipation and other tummy upsets.
Approximately 1:5 people have symptoms of IBS at some time in their life. Of these 1:5 people mose would not view themselves as sick, indeed around 80% of the people with symptoms do not see a doctor about them. So, it's still estimated taht one in 20 of all visits to a general paractioner in Australia concerns IBS.
IBS is more common in women than men. Women are also moe likely to seek help.
Some doctors regard IBS as n unimportant medical condition that requires little attention and may even dismiss the complaints of the patients who come to them for help as unimportant. This is not a view shared by many of the thousands of Australians who have abdominal pain and bloating and troubles with their bowels!
IBS causes a great deal of suffering to those who have it and yet it doesn't ever require surgery, can't kill you or lead to cancer. There are no abnormalities on physical examination, bllod tests, x-rays or on examination of the bowel using colonoscopy. An abnormal test result usually means you haven't got irritable bowel syndrome.
Classic IBS symptoms
- Abdominal pain associated with an alteration of bowel habit, where the pain usually gets worse when the bowel habit is most abnormal. there may be diarrhoea with loose, explosive motions, which can be very 'urgent'. (You really need to find a toilet and you need to find it NOW!)
- There may be constipation with difficulty passing a motion. The motions are often an unusual shape - like little pellets or 'pencils'.
- There may be a combination of the two - sometimes diarrhoea, sometimes constipation, with no clear reason for the sudden change.
- Other symptoms include abdominal bloating, lots of wind and very loud tumy rumbles (the medical term for this is borborygmi). Although the symptoms are well defined, individuals may find their lives affected in a variety of ways.
IBS often comes on for the first time during the teenage years or early adulthood. Generally there is no clear reason that troubles started at a particular time but sometimes IBS seems to have developed after a gut infection, such as gastroenteritis, or food poisoning or after a course of antibiotics.
What's in a name?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome has been known by a number of other names over the years.
Some reflect theories about the cause of the proble, others mirror the common symptoms.
Other names for IBS that you may have heard include are:
- spastic colon
- functional bowel disease
- mucous colitis
- nervous diarrhoea
What causes thes abnormalities?
No one know for sure, but there are several theories.
- Inadequate dietary fibre - doctors believed it to be poor diet. People with IBS did not eat enough fibre or drink enough water. IBS was thought to be uncommon in countries where the diet ocntains more fruit and vegetables and fewer refined foods than teh diet of people in developed countries such as Australia where IBS affects 20% of the population. Most IBS sufferers have very good diets, and those who don't may notimproe even after they start to eat better. It also seems that IBS is common in african and Asian countries - it's just that these parts of the world have so many other health problems that IBS has not received much attention.
- Psychological problems - Some doctors believe that the fundamental problem lies with the personality of people with IBS, and that psychological problems may be responsible for abnormal bowel habits.
