Irritable bowel syndrom

Irritable bowel syndrome or functional dyspepsia?

The irritable bowel syndrome (bowel) and functional dyspepsia (gastric) are both signs of indigestion. These are the most common types of indigestion and are either chronic or recurring but not caused by any physical ailment. 30-50% of all patients' indigestion problems are due to these disorders.

The irritable bowel syndrome focuses on the affections of the upper abdominal, which quite often caused by stress. Women suffer two times more from this disorder than men. Typical complaints are:

• Feeling of fullness
• Pain/pressure in the abdominal area
• Belching
• Nausea and vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Heart burn

These complaints are very individual; regarding the degree of the pain and the occurrence of these symptoms, but also the state of the stomach. Keeping the stomach without food for too long may provoke the symptoms and eating may relieve the pain. On the other hand eating could also increase the pain.

A heavier dose of the irritable bowel syndrome is called colon irritable. It frequently occurs in the combination with the irritable bowel syndrome and causes following symptoms:

• Pain in the colon ; felt beneath the rib-cage, which usually subsides after a bowel movement.
• Irregular bowel movement; diarrhea or constipation
• Wind

But not all syptoms are connected to the digestive tract; fatigue, headache, having difficulties to concentrate and sleep disturbance can also relate to a functional dyspepsia. Compared to the functional dyspepsia the irritable bowel syndrome can cause diarrhea or constipation. The location of the pain also differs.

To diagnose one of these two disorders the physician first makes sure that the patients complaints are not caused by ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract or a food intolerance. (e.g. Lactose intolerance) This is usually achieved with the help of an ultrasonic testing of the stomach and a gastroscopy or a coloscopy (depending on the pain-area).

But why do some people actually suffer from these syndromes? There is still no answer to this question. A predestined stomach is most probably a stomach highly sensitive to pain accompanied by stronger muscle contractions. In most cases an unbalanced and irregular diet as well as certain foods such as coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, eggs, dairy products and especially fatty foods trigger the specific symptoms. Particular groups of food can be excluded of the diet in order to detect tolerable and intolerable foods. Stress is also a symptom trigger. Patients should try to avoid stressful situation or master an anti-stress technique.