Irritable Bowel Syndrome: symptoms, causes and treatment

Let's see what Irritable Bowel Syndrome is and what can be done to mitigate its symptoms.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder associated with the suffering of prolonged psychological stress, which causes abdominal pain and also provokes changes in the digestive system.It causes abdominal pain and also leads to changes in bowel regulation.

The following will explain in more detail what IBS is, and then we will see what is known about its causes, ending with information about its treatment and some guidelines that can be included in the daily routine of people in order to alleviate their symptoms.

What is the Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

The syndrome of the irritable intestine is a disorder that affects the functioning of the intestinal tract.It is therefore 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 prolonged period of time.

When the researcher Hans Selye conducted his research on stress, developing what is known as the Stress Theory, he discovered that the sympathetic nervous system innervates the stomach, and that is why, as a result of this discovery, it is now known that the activation of the SNS has an impact on this organ.

This relationship between IBS and stress is demonstrated by the fact that the brain is interconnected with the intestine through nervous and hormonal signals.. Therefore, these signals affect the functioning of the intestine.

Thus, when the person is suffering prolonged stress in time, those nerve signals transmitted by the brain to the stomach are usually more active and intense, and this can cause the intestines to weaken, so that the person suffers from stomach discomfort and the intestinal rhythms are misaligned, so you may suffer from diarrhea or constipation.

Causes

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

The way in which IBS is explored and diagnosed is through the observation of the most common symptoms, which we will see below, and also through a medical examination in which the state of your physical health is explored, in addition to the performance of a Blood test.

Irritable bowel syndrome develops chronically, but is not present in your life.However, it is not present in the patient's life constantly, but appears in the form of intermittent outbreaks; in other words, its symptoms disappear completely, or to a large extent at certain times and, at other times when the patient suffers a lot of stress or is not leading a healthy lifestyle, they may reappear. Also, when the patient takes care of his habits, he can keep the IBS symptoms at bay, so that they do not cause him so much discomfort.

Studies have also found that when symptoms have subsided or are under control, the syndrome may be triggered again by various lifestyle factors such as alcohol, caffeine, stress, and eating certain foods such as chocolate, soft drinks, pastries, as well as any ultra-processed foods that are high in sugars and saturated fats.

Symptoms

The symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are the following:

• Abdominal pain; which usually reverses when you have a bowel movement.
• Distended abdomen, and in some cases may even be bloated.
• Gas.
• Changes in biorhythms in relation to defecation. If you have diarrhea we would be talking about an IBS-D, while if you have constipation you would present an IBS-E.
• Change in the appearance of his stools; usually presenting a bad appearance.

These symptoms usually appear in situations in which the patient experiences greater stress and overload than he/she normally suffers. and overload than they normally experience.

It should also be noted that IBS patients, in general, tend to show greater concern about their health and have a more negative assessment of their physical and psychological state than other patients. Hence, hypochondriasis symptoms are very frequent.

It has even been identified that these patients have a very distinctive pattern of behavior known among health professionals as "learned chronic illness behavior", characterized by an inordinate preoccupation with the problems of their disease and, consequently and, as a result, they are very frequent visitors to the doctor's office.

Epidemiology of this syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common disorder affecting the proper functioning of the digestive system.In the general population, it has been estimated that between 30 and 70% of patients attending the outpatient consultation of digestive system specialists and approximately 25% of those who consult their family doctor for digestive problems or, in other words, 1 out of every 4 people.

Within the general population, it has been estimated that 10-25% may have symptoms compatible with irritable bowel syndrome, and among these, well under half (25-40%) seek professional help.

According to epidemiological data from studies related to irritable bowel syndrome is a health problem which up to two or even three times more frequent in women than in men..

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Treatment

According to the medical literature on irritable bowel syndrome, there is currently no treatment that can completely suppress the symptoms either permanently or for a prolonged period of time.

Since it is not possible to completely eradicate this disease, the main objective of its treatment is to improve the functionality of the subject and, given the high frequency with which these patients present symptoms of depression and anxiety, psychological treatment is of great importance.

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

Although 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, multicomponent cognitive therapy has demonstrated the greatest 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 costly, which is why its widespread use in patients with IBS is still difficult. For this reason, the most commonly used treatment is medical treatment, with outpatient consultations and prescription of drugs.

Medical treatment

Medical treatment addresses motor and sensory disturbances of the bowel physiology as well as possible intolerance to certain food groups (e.g. lactose, gluten, gluten-free foods). (e.g. lactose, gluten, etc.).

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

As for the pharmacology used to alleviate some symptoms, the following can be found the prescription of antispasmodic drugs with the purpose of alleviating the pain that these suffer in some cases is combined with antidepressants; since these possess anticholinergic effects that help in the cases in which the pain is more serious. There are investigations that assure that the most useful would be the combination of the use of drugs with psychological therapy.

The following is a brief review of some of the psychological techniques used to treat IBS.

Muscle relaxation

The aim of this technique is to relax the different muscle groups separately.The purpose of this technique is to help the patient enter into a state of relaxation as a measure to alleviate or prevent the stress symptoms that cause a worsening of IBS symptoms.

The components of this technique are as follows:

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

It has been demonstrated that, the more the muscle is contracted while the subject is concentrating on the sensations produced by this action, the greater the state of relaxation he/she will be able to reach. can be reached.

3. Biofeedback

Biofeedback 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. seeking to generate a state of relaxation.

And this is thanks to the fact that with biofeedback techniques he can learn to be aware of the changes that are occurring in the state of his organism.

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

• Electromyographic: used to measure the muscular tension experienced.
• Temperature: used to detect temperature as an indicator of blood flow.
• Electrodermal: used to detect changes in the action of the sweat glands.
• Breathing: used to check the rhythm and location of breathing.

4. Meditation

The most commonly used technique for relaxation is Mindfulness, with the objective of teaching the patient to focus his attention on the present moment and not to reinforce the anguish.This technique is based on a perspective that understands that thoughts cannot be controlled and that, when people make an effort to try to control their thoughts, they are not able to control them.

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

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

Lifestyle habits that improve the course of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

There are habits that the patient can incorporate into his or her daily routine in order to healthy lifestyle that may help keep IBS under control, alleviating its symptoms.by alleviating its symptoms. These habits are the following:

• Getting a sufficient number of hours of sleep at night and maintaining a stable sleep schedule so that your biorhythms are not disrupted.
• Keep physically active, being able to do light physical exercise (e.g., walking at least 30 minutes a day).
• Eat foods rich in fiber (e.g., oatmeal, lentils, vegetables and fruits).