Cause of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable
bowel syndrome is believed to be caused by a dysfunction
in the
gastrointestinal tract. It is sometimes caused by a muscular
disfunction and other times it can be from the nervous control withint
the colon itself.
When it is due to nervous control of the gastrointestinal tract, it can
be a bit more complicated. This is because a system of nerves runs
the entire length of the
gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the anus in the
muscular walls of the organs.
These nerves communicate with the other
nerves that travel to and from the spinal cord. Nerves within
the spinal cord, in turn, travel to and from the brain. (The
gastrointestinal tract is exceeded in the numbers of nerves
it contains only by the spinal cord and brain.)
Thus, the
abnormal function of the nervous system in IBS may occur in a
gastrointestinal muscular organ, the spinal cord, or the
brain. This is what makes IBS so elusive to most doctors.
The nervous system that controls the gastrointestinal organs,
as with most other organs, contains both sensory and motor
nerves. The sensory nerves continuously sense what is
happening within the organ and relay this information to nerves in the
organ's wall.
From there, information can be relayed to the
spinal cord and brain. The information is received and
processed in the organ's wall, the spinal cord, or the brain.
Then, based on this sensory input and the way the input is
processed, commands (responses) are sent to the organ over
the motor nerves.
Two of the most common motor responses in
the intestine are contraction or relaxation of the muscle of
the organ and secretion of fluid and/or mucus into the organ.
As already mentioned, abnormal function of the nerves of the
gastrointestinal organs, at least theoretically, might occur in the
organ, spinal cord, or brain. Moreover, the abnormalities
might occur in the sensory nerves, the motor nerves, or at
processing centers in the intestine, spinal cord, or brain.
Some researchers argue that the cause of functional diseases
is abnormalities in the function of the sensory nerves. For
example, normal activities, such as stretching of the small
intestine by food, may give rise to abnormal sensory signals
that are sent to the spinal cord and brain, where they are
perceived as pain.
Other researchers argue that the cause of functional diseases
is abnormalities in the function of the motor nerves. For
example, abnormal commands through the motor nerves might produce a
painful spasm (contraction) of the muscles.
Still others
argue that abnormally functioning processing centers are
responsible for functional diseases because they misinterpret
normal sensations or send abnormal commands to the organ. In
fact, some functional diseases may be due to sensory dysfunction,
motor dysfunction, or both sensory and motor dysfunction.
Still others may be due to abnormalities within the
processing centers One area that is receiving a great deal of
scientific attention is the potential role of gas produced by
intestinal bacteria in patients with IBS. Studies have
demonstrated that patients with IBS produce larger amounts of
gas than individuals without IBS, and the gas may be retained
longer in the small intestine.
Among patients with IBS, abdominal
size increases over the day, reaching a maximum in the
evening and returning to baseline by the following morning.
In individuals without IBS, there is no increase in abdominal
size during the day.
There has been a great deal of controversy over the role that
poor digestion and/or absorption of dietary sugars may play
in aggravating the symptoms of IBS. Poor digestion of
lactose, the sugar in milk, is very common as is poor
absorption of fructose, a sweetener found in many processed
foods. Poor digestion or absorption of these sugars could
aggravate the symptoms of IBS since unabsorbed sugars often
cause increased formation of gas.
Although these abnormalities in production and transport of
gas could give rise to some of the symptoms of IBS, much more
work will need to be done before the role of intestinal gas in IBS
is clear.
Dietary fat in healthy individuals causes food as well as gas
to move more slowly through the stomach and small intestine.
Some patients with IBS may even respond to dietary fat in an
exaggerated fashion with greater slowing. Thus, dietary fat
could--and probably does--aggravate the symptoms of IBS.
Read More About Irritable Bowel Syndrome
We have put together some articles
on Irritable
Bowel Syndrome that should help you in determining what treatment would
work best for your condition.
Cause
of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS
Medications
IBS
Treatment
Irritable
Bowel Syndrome Symptoms
Natural
IBS Treatments
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