Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - Repeated IBS attacks over the long run (we're talking years), especially if coupled with a low fiber diet, can lead to diverticulosis. This is where the colon walls "pouch out" between the colon muscles. Basically, the spasms of severe IBS attacks can sort of force these little pouches to form. If those pouches then become inflamed, you'll have diverticulitis.

Other than that, because IBS is a condition and not actually a disease, it is not progressive. It in no way compares to inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, where there is actual physical damage taking place to the gut as a result of the disease. The symptoms of IBS are transient - the muscle spasms come and go. The underlying pathology of the disorder (a dysfunction of the gut's nervous system and that system's interaction with the brain) is always there, but it's not causing any damage on its own. This is why if you can keep the attacks from happening, or at least keep them under control so they're less frequent and less severe, you're really not risking a greater likelihood of diverticulosis (or anything else). You're certainly not risking intestinal inflammation and scarring, bowel resection surgery, or colon cancer, as you would be with inflammatory bowel diseases. You'll also not be faced with the serious steroids and other drugs IBD folks have to resort to in order to control their flares.

The side benefit of the high soluble fiber diet that will help prevent IBS attacks is that it will also help prevent diverticulosis - a disease basically unheard of outside of Western countries with low fiber diets.

Best,
Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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