Day 1 - Living

Inform Yourself ~ Know the Enemy

Clearly, it means that IBS is indisputably a physical problem. Simply put, the brain-gut interaction of people with IBS influences their bowel pain perception and motility. In a nutshell, the processing of pain information within the central nervous system varies between normal individuals and those of us with IBS, with the result that we can experience even normal GI contractions as painful. The interactions between our brains, central nervous systems, and GI systems are just not functioning properly. We have colons that react to stimuli that do not affect normal colons, and our reactions are much more severe.

The end result is heightened pain sensitivity and abnormal gut motility, in the form of irregular or increased GI muscle contractions. It is this gut overreaction and altered pain perception that cause the lower abdominal cramping and accompanying diarrhea and/or constipation that characterize IBS. Lucky us.

Interestingly, the origins of IBS may really be in our brains, and not in our bowels. Given that for many years people with IBS were dismissively told their problem was "all in their heads", it's ironic that, in the end, this may be factually true. The underlying problem might well be in our brains – but it's absolutely not in our imaginations. Why are we the chosen not-so-few? No one really yet knows exactly why some people develop IBS and others don't. There is mounting evidence that for some IBS sufferers the condition is precipitated by some type of grievous insult to the gut – dysentery, food poisoning, intestinal flu, abdominal surgery, even pregnancy. The theory goes that even after full physical recovery from these traumatic events, the nerves within the gut retain a "memory" of the insult and remain hyper-sensitive to further stimulation, as well as prone to subsequent over-reaction. You likely know if you experienced any abdominal trauma immediately prior to the onset of your IBS symptoms, and if you did it's probably nice to have a logical explanation for what has happened to your GI tract and why. There are those of us who are exceptions to this theory, however, who suffered no gut insult prior to the onset of IBS symptoms, and we're still patiently waiting for our explanation. Day 1 Summary ~ Although IBS is a functional disorder of the GI tract and not a disease, it is a physical problem with serious and even debilitating symptoms. You need and deserve information, support, and consideration to deal with it. Click here to continue reading First Year: IBS. All content is copyrighted by Heather Van Vorous and MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED without permission.