Irritable Bowel Syndrome
The statistics show that a 15 to 50% of the adult population suffers from IBS, which is short for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The majority are women of childbearing age, but it can be found in all ages from children to adults. Why are there so many that are suffering from this disease and is there anything that can be done to reverse these numbers?
There are many who don't even know that they have this and have never been diagnosed. The statistics also tell us that no more than 10% of the total of IBS patients ever call the doctor to actually get diagnosed.
What is Irritable Bowel Syndrome? This is when the intestinal receptors become irritated and eventually causes functional disorder in the colon. This usually occurs when there is a problem dealing with milk products for those who are lactose intolerant, sugar, problem with fatty acids, and laxatives.
Some of the most common symptoms are lower abdominal cramping, stomach pain, and mucus in the stools, gas along with constipation and diarrhea and at times, bowel control. There is often a confusion of IBS with inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis, which cause inflammation of the large intestine. With IBS, there is not inflammation and is not as serious as Colitis.
There are some things that can help decrease the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and they would be cutting down caffeine and increasing fiber. A balanced diet along with some medications helping with some stress relief, can often help to alleviate a lot of the symptoms. But there are some symptoms that can prevent people from traveling or even walking.
The intestinal muscle wall will contract trying to bring about a bowel movement and is normally affected by hormones in the walls of the colon. The colon is not the only place that can be affected by irritable bowel syndrome. There are some that can start suddenly after having a simple infectious fever and diarrhea or positive stool culture.
The exact cause of Irritable bowel syndrome is still a mystery, even today with all of our medical technology. But we do know the risk factors that can trigger it and they are things like poor diet, a lot of stress which in turn causes hormonal changes. Gassy foods can aggravate the problem in someone that already suffers form IBS. There have been some cases of infectious diarrhea that have been the beginning of IBS. Another cause can be genetics as irritable bowel syndrome can involve all members of a family.
|