IBS and Non-GI Functional Disorders
""Unexplained" Symptoms and "Functional" Disorders
Patients usually go to doctors with symptoms, not with the names of diseases or conditions (diagnoses). The doctor's task is to make sense of the patient's complaints within the framework of medical diagnoses and recognized diseases. This is accomplished by a process of "history taking" (interview), physical examination, and diagnostic testing. The process is completed when the symptoms are resolved into the diagnosis of a specific disease, which is then treated with varying degrees of success.
http://www.aboutibs.org/site/about-ibs/other-disorders/ibs-non-gi-disorders
IBS - Beyond the Bowel: The Meaning of Co-Existing Medical
IBS – Beyond the Bowel:
The Meaning of Co-existing Medical Problems
Olafur S. Palsson, Psy.D. and William E. Whitehead, Ph.D.
UNC Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder that is defined by a specific pattern of
gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in the absence of abnormal physical findings. The latest
diagnostic criteria for IBS -- the Rome II criteria created by an international team of
experts -- require that the patient have abdominal pain for at least 12 weeks within the
past 12 months and that the pain meets two of the following three criteria: it is relieved
after bowel movement, associated with change in stool frequency, or associated with
stool form. It is becoming clear, however, that these bowel symptoms do not tell the
whole story of symptoms experienced by IBS patients. People with this disorder often
have many uncomfortable non-gastrointestinal (non-GI) symptoms and other health
problems in addition to their intestinal troubles
SYMPTOMS ALL OVER THE BODY IN IBS
Several research reports have established that IBS patients report non-bowel symptoms
more frequently than other GI patients and general medical patients. For example, four
studies that have asked IBS patients about a wide variety of body symptoms(1-4) all found
headaches (reported by 23-45% of IBS patients), back pain (28-81%), and frequent
urination (20-56%) to be unusually common in individuals with IBS compared to other
people. Fatigue (36-63%) and bad breath or unpleasant taste in the mouth (16-63%) were
found in three of these four studies to be more common among IBS patients, as well.
Furthermore, a large number of other symptoms have been reported to occur with
unusually high frequency in single studies. In our recent systematic review of the medical
literature(5), we found a total 26 different symptoms, listed in Table 1, that are reported to
be more common in IBS patients than comparison groups in at least one study.
Table 1. Non-gastrointestinal symptoms more common in irritable bowel syndrome
patients than in comparison groups(5).
1. Headache
2. Dizziness
3. Heart palpitations or racing heart
4. Back pain
5. Shortness of breath
6. Muscle ache
7. Frequent urinating
8. Difficulty urinating
9. Sensitivity to heat or cold
10. Constant tiredness
11. Pain during intercourse (sex)
12. Trembling hands
13. Sleeping difficulties
14. Bad breath/unpleasant taste in
mouth
15. Grinding your teeth
16. Jaw pain
17. Flushing of your face and neck
18. Dry mouth
19. Weak or wobbly legs
20. Scratchy throat
21. Tightness or pressure in chest
http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/ibs_beyond_the_bowel.pdf
There is a higher prevelance of Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatique syndromes comorbid along with IBS.
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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com
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IBS and Non-GI Functional Disorders
