Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptoms
The
primary
purpose of the gastrointestinal tract is to digest and absorb
food. In order to fulfill this purpose, food must be ground, mixed,
and transported through the intestines, where it is digested
and
absorbed. In addition, undigested and unabsorbed portions of
the
food must be eliminated from the body.
In functional diseases of the gastrointestinal tract such as
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptoms, the grinding, mixing, digestion,
and absorption functions are disturbed to only a minor
degree.
These functions are essentially maintained, perhaps because of
a
built-in over-capacity of the gastrointestinal tract to
perform
these functions. The most commonly affected function in these
diseases is transportation.
In the stomach and small intestine, the symptoms of slowed
transportation are nausea, vomiting, abdominal bloating, and
abdominal enlargement. The symptom of rapid transportation
usually is diarrhea. The interpretation of symptoms, however,
may
be more complicated than this.
For example, let's say that a person has abnormally rapid emptying
of the stomach. The sensing of this rapid emptying by the
intestinal sensory nerves normally brings about a motor nerve
response to slow emptying of the stomach and transportation
through the small intestine. Thus, rapid emptying of the
stomach
may give rise to symptoms of slowed transportation.
In the colon, abnormally slowed or rapid transportation
results in
constipation or diarrhea, respectively. In addition, there
may be
increased amounts of mucus coating the stool or a sense of
incomplete evacuation after a bowel movement.
As discussed previously, normal sensations may be abnormally
processed and perceived. Such an abnormality could result in
abdominal bloating and pain. Abnormally processed sensations
from
the gastrointestinal organs also might lead to motor
responses
that cause symptoms of slowed or rapid transportation.
Slowed transportation of digesting food through the small intestine
may be complicated, for example, by bacterial overgrowth. In
bacterial overgrowth, gas-producing bacteria that are normally
restricted to the colon move up into the small intestine.
There, they are exposed to greater amounts of undigested food
than in the colon, which they turn into gas. This formation of gas
can aggravate bloating and/or abdominal distention and result
in
increased amounts of flatus (passing gas, or flatulence) and
diarrhea.
The gastrointestinal tract has only a few ways of responding
to
diseases. Therefore, the symptoms often are similar regardless
of
whether the diseases are functional or non-functional.
Thus, the symptoms of both functional and non-functional
gastrointestinal diseases are nausea, vomiting, bloating, abdominal
distention, diarrhea, constipation, and pain. For this
reason,
when functional disease is being considered as a cause of
symptoms, it is important that the presence of non-functional
diseases be excluded.
In fact, the exclusion of non-functional diseases usually is
more
important in evaluating patients who are suspected of having
functional disease. This is so, in large part, because the tests
for diagnosing functional disease are complex, not readily
available, and often not very reliable. In contrast, the tests
for
diagnosing non-functional diseases are widely available and
sensitive.
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
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