Irritable bowel syndrome? a very annoying disease. During my master of science I wrote a thesis on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This is a very common complaint that unfortunately is not well understood. Knowledge is power, so I thought it would be nice for you to be briefly informed about what IBS entails.

To be clear, these texts come from my own thesis. I didn't make things up. All facts come from scientific articles. The sources are at the bottom of this post.

What is IBS?
IBS is a chronic gastrointestinal disease. Chronic means that it is for a longer duration. This is usually longer than 3 months, but research shows that with IBS it can take years. IBS affects 1 in 10 people. And especially between the ages of 15-65 and more in women than in men.

Symptoms that people can experience are

• Stomach ache
• Discomfort and changes in bowel habits
• Abnormal form of stool
• Increased frequency of defecation
• Urgency for defecation
• Feeling of incomplete defecation
• Passage of mucus and bloating

Risk factors and prognostic factors

All conditions involve risk factors. These are factors that increase the risk of developing a certain condition. With IBS these are

• An early manifestation of gastrointestinal symptoms
• A prosperous socio-economic status in childhood
• Being prenatal Infant and child trauma
• Reinforcement and modeling of disease behavior Long-term fever
• Unrest
• Depression
• Neuroticism possibly due to sexual abuse

Besides risk factors, there are also prognostic factors. These are factors that can influence the prognosis of a condition.

With IBS these are

• Social factors
• Environment and behavior
• Activity
• Psychological stress
• Nutrition
• Hormonal influence

Very interesting of course, but what can you do about this. In my thesis I went through about 15 systematic reviews to compare the possibilities of therapies to reduce these complaints. Systematic reviews are researches that compare other researches about the same topic to determine if the research question has a valid outcome. The ones that have a scientific effect I have described below.

• Antipassmodica
• Antidepressants
• Serotonin medication
• Psychology
• Probiotics
• Fermentable Oligo-, Di- and Mono-saccharides and Polyols diet
• Peppermint Oil
• Aloe vera
• Acupuncture
• Hypotherapy
• Mindfulness
• Yoga
• Osteopathy

I hope you learned something from this. If you would like more information about what IBS is, send us a message.

Questions, feedback, Ideas for new posts? Message me.

Kind regards,

Sascha Bargi BSc. Pt. & MSc. Ost. In training

Articles for this post from my thesis

Guthrie, E. and Thompson, D. (2002) ‘Abdominal pain and functional gastrointestinal disorders’, British Medical Journal, 325, pp. 701-703. 

Martínez-Vázquez, MA., Vázquez-Elizondo, G., González-González, JA., Gutiérrez-Udave, R., Maldonado-Garza, HJ. and Bosques-Padilla, FJ. (2012) ‘Effect of antispasmodic agents, alone or in combination, in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Systematic review and meta-analysis’, Revista de Gastroenterología de México, 77(2), pp. 82-90. doi: 10.1016/ j.rgmx.2012.04.002. 

Andresen, V., Montori, VM., Keller, J., West, CP., Layer, P. and Camilleri, M. (2008) ‘Effects of 5-Hydroxytryptamine (Serotonin) Type 3 Antagonists on Symptom Relief and Constipation in Nonconstipated Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials’, Clinical Gastreoenterology and Hepatology, 6, pp. 545-555. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2007.12.015. 

Flik, CE., Bakker, L., Laan, W., van Rood, YR., Smout, AJPM. and de Wit, NJ. (2007) ‘Systematic review: The placebo effect of psychological interventions in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome’, World Journal of Gastroenterology, 23(12), pp. 2223-2233. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i12.2223.

Khanna, R., MacDonald, JK. and Levesque, BG. (2014) ‘Peppermint Oil for the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis’, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 48, pp. 505–512. doi: 10.1097/MCG.0b013e3182a88357.

Hong, SW., Chun, J., Park, S., Lee, HJ., Im, JP. and Kim, JS. (2018) ‘Aloe vera Is Effective and Safe in Short-term Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta- analysis’, Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 24(4), pp. 528-535. doi: 10.5056/ jnm18077. 

Yan, J., Miao, Z., Lu, J., Ge, F., Yu, L., Shang, W., Liu, L. and Sun, Z. (2019) ‘Acupuncture plus Chinese Herbal Medicine for Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2019, pp. 7680963. doi: 10.1155/2019/7680963.

Mikolasek, M., Berg, J., Witt, CM. and Barth, J. (2017) ‘Effectiveness of Mindfulness- and Relaxation-Based eHealth Interventions for Patients with Medical Conditions: a Systematic Review and Synthesis’, International Society of Behavioral Medicine, 25(1), pp. 1-16. doi: 10.1007/s12529-017-9679-7. 

Schumann, D., Anheyer, D., Lauche, R., Dobos, G., Langhorst, J. and Cramer, H. (2016) ‘Effect of Yoga in the therapy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review’, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 14(12), pp. 1720-1731. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2016.04.026. 

Mearin, F., Lacy., BE., Chang, L., Chey, WD., Lembo., AJ., Simren, M. and Spiller, R. (2016) ‘Bowel disorders’, Gastroenterology, S0016-5085(16)00222-5. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro. 2016.02.031. 

Jones, J., Boorman, J., Cann, P., Forbes, A., Gomborone, J., Heaton, K., Hungin, P., Kumar, D., Libby, G., Spiller, R., Read, N., Slik, D. and Whorwell, P. (2000) ‘British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines for the management of the irritable bowel syndrome’, Gut, 47(suppl 2), pp. ii1-ii19. doi: 10.1136/gut.47.suppl_2.ii1. 

Thabane, M., Kottachchi, DT. and Marshall, JK. (2007) ‘Systematic review and meta-analysis: The incidence and prognosis of post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome’, Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 26(4), pp. 535-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2007.03399.x. 

Talley, NJ., Boyce, P. and Jones, M. (1994) ‘Identification of distinct upper and lower gastrointestinal symptom groupings in an urban population’, GUT, 42(5), pp. 690-695. doi: 10.1136/gut.42.5.690. 

Chun, A.B. and Wald, A. (2006) ‘Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome’. UpToDate®.