Ibs (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
...of cramps, excessive gas, bloating, diahrrea, and constipation. Many patients diagnosed with IBS, suffer from at least two or three of these symptoms. More people suffer from IBS than either asthma or diabetes. Douglas A. Drossman, M.D., of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill was reported saying, "That in about 65 percent of the population with IBS, the condition isn't severe enough to prompt them to see a doctor". This means that there are a large number of people who have IBS who don't even know they have it.
Doctors have misdiagnosed IBS for years, labeling it as a form of disease of the colon. Such a diagnosis is inaccurate because colitis causes inflammation and IBS does not. What actually causes ulcerative colitis is unknown, and while there are theories none so far have been proven. The most popular theory is that the body's immune system reacts to a virus or a bacterium by causing ongoing inflammation in the intestinal wall. People with ulcerative colitis have abnormalities of the immune system, but doctors do not know whether these abnormalities are a cause or a result of the disease.
What we know about ulcerative colitis is that it is not caused by emotional distress or sensitivity to certain foods or food products, but these factors may trigger symptoms in some people. Such factors are also found among IBS sufferers. However unlike IBS, ulcerative colitis may also cause problems such as arthritis, inflammation of the eye, liver disease (hepatitis, cirrhosis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis), osteoporosis, skin rashes, and anemia. Scientists think these complications may occur when the immune system triggers inflammation in other parts of the body. Some of these problems go away when the colitis is treated.
The reason for this theory that IBS is a form of colitis is because the irritation takes place in the colon as fecal materials pass...
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