Irritable Bowel Syndrome: symptoms, causes and treatment

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder associated with prolonged psychological stress., which causes abdominal pain and also causes changes in intestinal regulation.

What is IBS will be explained in more detail below, and then we will see what is known about its causes, ending with the contribution of information about their treatment and some guidelines that can be included in people's daily routine in order to alleviate their symptom.

• Related article: "Digestive system: anatomy, parts and functioning"

What is irritable bowel syndrome?

Irritable bowel syndrome is a disorder affects the functioning of the intestinal tract, which is why it is considered a disorder of the gastrointestinal system and, as such, it is known to be related to both physical and psychological factors associated with the stress suffered by the person for a time dragged on.

When researcher Hans Selye conducted his research on stress, developing the so-called Stress Theory, he discovered that stress sympathetic nervous system

It innervates the stomach, and that is why, as a result of this discovery, it is now known that the activation of the SNS causes an impact on this organ.

This relationship between IBS and stress is demonstrated because the brain is interconnected with the gut through nerve and hormonal signals. Therefore, these signals affect the functioning of the intestine.

Thus, when the person is undergoing prolonged stress over time, those nerve signals that the brain transmits to the stomach tend to be more active and intense, and this can make the intestines weak, causing an upset stomach and the intestinal rhythms are out of adjustment, reason why it can get to suffer diarrhea or constipation.

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Causes

The causes of irritable bowel syndrome are unknown, but what is proven is that has a strong relationship with stress, since according to some research between 50 and 85% of patients diagnosed with IBS were suffering from high levels of stress and it has also been found in another study that these patients usually have high levels of depression, neuroticism, anxiety and hypochondria.

The way in which IBS is explored and diagnosed is through the observation of the most common symptoms, which we will see later, and also through a medical examination in which the state of their physical health is explored, in addition to carrying out an analysis of blood.

Irritable bowel syndrome develops chronically, but it is not present in the life of the patient in a constant way, but it emerges in the form of intermittent outbreaks; or what is the same, their symptoms disappear completely, or to a great extent at certain times and, in others in which the patient is under a lot of stress or is not leading a healthy lifestyle, may return to arise. As well as, when the patient takes care of her habits, she can keep the symptoms of IBS at bay, so they do not cause her as much discomfort.

Studies have also found that, when symptoms have subsided or are under control, this syndrome could be triggered again by various factors related to lifestyle habits, such as alcohol consumption, from caffeine, suffer stress and eat certain foods such as chocolate, soft drinks, pastries, as well as any ultra-processed food that is rich in sugars and saturated fats.

Symptoms

Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are as follows:

• Abdominal pain; which usually reverses when you have your bowel movements.
• Distended abdomen, and in some cases it may even be swollen.
• Gases
• Changes changes in biorhythms in relation to defecation. If you have diarrhea, we would be talking about IBS-D, while if you have constipation, you would have IBS-C.
• Change in the appearance of your bowel movements; normally presenting a bad appearance.

These symptoms usually appear in situations in which the patient experiences greater stress and overload of which he normally suffers.

It should also be noted that patients with IBS, in general, tend to show greater concern for their health and value their physical and psychological state more negatively than other patients. Hence, the symptoms of hypochondria.

It has even been identified that these patients have a very distinctive behavioral pattern known among health professionals as “learned behavior from chronic disease” and this is characterized by an inordinate concern for the problems of his illness and, consequently, they go to medical consultation with great frequency.

Epidemiology of this syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome it is the most common disorder among those that affect the proper functioning of the digestive system, since its diagnosis ranges between 30 and 70% of the patients who attend the outpatient consultation of the doctors specializing in the device digestive system and approximately 25% of those who go to see their family doctor for digestive problems or, what is the same, 1 in 4 persons.

Within the general population it has been estimated that between 10 and 25% could have symptoms compatible with irritable bowel syndrome, and among them, far less than half (25-40%) seek help professional.

According to epidemiological data from studies related to irritable bowel syndrome, it is a health problem that can be up to two or even three times more common in women than in men.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Treatment

According to the medical literature specialized in irritable bowel syndrome to date there is no treatment that achieves complete suppression of symptoms permanently or prolonged in the weather.

Because this disease cannot be completely eradicated, the main objective of your treatment is to improve the functionality of the subject so that you can lead an active and satisfying life as possible and, given the high frequency with which these patients present symptoms of depression and anxiety, treatment is of great importance psychological.

The treatment that should be used the most to address all the symptoms of these patients is multidisciplinary, combining medical supervision with the prescription of drugs to alleviate symptoms and psychotherapy.

While it is true that there are specialized studies that found evidence of greater efficacy in treating IBS in psychological treatment than in medical treatment and, more specifically, it is multicomponent cognitive therapy that has been able to demonstrate the most empirical validity (Pérez et al., 2006). However, more research on psychological treatments for IBS remains to be done.

On the other hand, psychological treatment is more expensive, and that is why today it is difficult to use it in a generalized way in patients with IBS. For this reason, the most widely used treatment is the doctor, with outpatient consultations and drug prescription.

1. Medical treatment

Medical treatment addresses motor and sensory disturbances in the physiology of the intestine, as well as a possible intolerance to certain food groups (eg lactose, gluten, etc.).

However, there is no clear evidence that there is a single primary abnormality in the digestive system in children. cases of IBS, but it could be a systemic disease, affecting several structures of the organism.

Regarding the pharmacology used to alleviate some symptoms, there is the prescription of antispasmodics In order to alleviate the pain suffered by these in some cases it is combined with antidepressants; since these have anticholinergic effects that help in cases in which the pain is more severe. There is research that assures that the most useful would be the combination of the use of drugs with psychological therapy.

Below we will do a brief review of some of the psychological techniques used to deal with IBS.

2. Muscle relaxation

The goal of this technique is to relax the different muscle groups separately., in order for the patient to enter a state of relaxation as a measure to alleviate or prevent stress symptoms that cause a worsening of IBS symptoms.

The components of this technique are the following:

• Contract a muscle group for a few seconds, followed by a relaxation of it.
• Concentrate on the sensations produced by the contraction and relaxation of each of the muscle groups.

It has been shown that, the more contracted the muscle is while the subject is focused on the sensations that this action produces, the greater a state of relaxation will be able to reach.

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3. Biofeedback

The biofeedback It is a technique that is usually used in combination with relaxation techniques, and what is intended to be achieved by training both techniques is that the patient learns to voluntarily control some physiological states of his body seeking to generate a state of relaxation.

And this is thanks to the fact that with biofeedback techniques you can learn to be aware of the changes that are taking place in the state of your body.

The biofeedback most used to control stress through general relaxation of the patient are:

• Electromyographic: it is used to measure the muscular tension that is experienced.
• Temperature: used to detect temperature as an indicator of blood flow.
• Electrodermal: used to detect changes in the action of the sweat glands.
• From respiration: it is used to check the rhythm and location of the breath.

4. Meditation

The most used technique for relaxation is Mindfulness, with the aim of teaching the patient to focus her attention on the present moment and not reinforce the anguish, without issuing any personal assessment of what he feels or perceives around him at that moment.

This technique is based on a perspective that understands that thoughts cannot be controlled and that when people struggle to try to control them, the only thing that achieve is that those thoughts generate discomfort are taken with greater importance than they deserve and this generates even more stress than the one they were suffering at first moment.

In short, through Mindfulness it is intended to eradicate efforts to control internal events (negative thoughts and emotions) that people who suffer from stress and discomfort try to carry out. As may be the case for people with irritable bowel syndrome.

Life habits that improve the course of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

There are habits that the patient can incorporate into their daily routine in order to leading a healthier life that may help you keep IBS under control, relieving your symptoms. These habits are as follows:

• Get a sufficient number of hours sleep at night and maintain a stable sleep schedule so that your biorhythms do not get out of hand.
• Stay physically active, being able to do light physical exercise (for example, walk at least 30 minutes a day).
• Eat foods rich in fiber (p. g., oats, lentils, vegetables and fruits).