What You Need to Know About Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) And Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract by Adam Rise

Irritable bowel syndrome is a very common gastrointestinal disease in the United States. But as common as it is, not a lot of people know so much about the disease and those who are familiar with the disease seem to have little knowledge about it.

This presents a problem to a lot of people. They may already be suffering the symptoms yet they do not know that it could be IBS already. Or for those who already have irritable bowel syndrome, they do not know what precautions to take to avoid irritable bowel syndrome flare-ups.

For you to be able to avoid these kinds of situations, you need to know more about this condition.

IBS is a functional disorder of the GI tract or gastrointestinal tract.

When you say functional disorder, this means that there is a problem with the function of the organ but not the structure of the organ. The physical structure of the organ is perfectly normal but there is just something wrong with the way it is functioning.

The problem sometimes with IBS is that its symptoms are very general and that it is the reason why people have a tendency to take it lightly. The common symptoms of this syndrome can be abdominal pain, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and constipation. But the very basic symptom that can more or less make IBS obvious is the changes in bowel movement patterns.

The best approach to knowing what set off this syndrome flare ups is by knowing what causes irritable bowel syndrome. The only problem with this is that the cause/s of IBS is unclear as of yet. Fortunately, studies about it are continually going on.

Remember, that study a few decades ago consider this disease as a psychological disease rather than a physiologic one. This finding was established due to the fact that there are no abnormalities observed in any of the structure of the organs in the GI tract. This also led to the theory that stress is a strong factor that could trigger irritable bowel syndrome in a person. The mode of treatment during this time is psychotherapy and some even resort to hypnotherapy.

In the early 90s, another research about this syndrome theorized that the immune system of the human body also plays a big role in the development of IBS. And recently, there are researches on this disease that try to establish that this syndrome is caused by infectious agents.

IBS flare-ups can be caused by something that you do or it could be set off with the condition you are in. These are some risk factors that could be the reasons that set off irritable bowel syndrome flare-ups.

It has, throughout the years, been believed that emotions are a strong trigger to set off IBS flare-ups. Some even believe that these emotions are also the cause of irritable bowel syndrome itself.

The wall of the intestines is lined with nerve cells that are connected to the brain. Strong emotions or stress can cause the muscle of the intestines to spasm. This can lead to either constipation or diarrhea that are two of the symptoms of it.

Another risk factor that may set off IBS flare ups is the kind of food that you eat. It has been believed that there are certain foods that can cause IBS or worsen the condition. Fructose, artificial sweeteners, fatty food, alcohol, chocolate, sodas, and dairy products are just some of the types of food considered to cause or aggravate irritable bowel syndrome.