Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: The Beginner's Guide to irritable
bowel syndrome. Are you suffering with discomfort,
irritation and pain of IBS? This condition affects around 20% of
the American population, most of them women. IBS is a type of
bowel dysfunction that causes a variety of symptoms and
problems, including diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting,
bloating, cramping, abdominal pain, painful bowel movements,
stools with undigested food particles, feelings of
incomplete defecation. Even mood conditions like anxiety,
depression, loss of appetite, poor food absorption, fatigue,
headache, and bad breath. You may experience some or all of
these symptoms at the same time or at different times. What's
important is that if you have IBS, you seek out a professional
immediately.
Some unexpected causes of IBS. The main cause of IBS is still
unknown, but there are several factors that do seem to trigger
and contribute to the development of IBS, including
chronic stress, chronic infections, antibiotic use, GI
infections, immune system malfunctions, certain
medications, like I said, antibiotics and other
medications as well. Changes in hormone levels or hormone
imbalances, mood disorders, anxiety, depression, and brain
chemical imbalances, particularly serotonin. So if
you have an imbalance and symptoms of IBS, make sure
you're looking at your lifestyle for triggers, and then talk to
your doctor about testing for IBS.
How your doctor diagnosis IBS? IBS symptoms come and go. And
that's very frequent and common, but it can be both debilitating
and embarrassing as well. IBS, irritable bowel syndrome should
be suspected in patients who have chronic abdominal pain,
alternating constipation and diarrhea as well. A clinical
diagnosis of IBS requires the fulfillment of a symptom based
diagnostic criteria, as well as a limited evaluation to exclude
other underlying organic diseases. IBS is defined as
recurrent abdominal pain on average, at least one day per
week, and the last three months associated with two or more of
the following criteria related to defecation, associated with a
change in stool frequency, and number three associated with a
change in stool form, which is the appearance. And so here are
some tests that your doctors may order if they suspect that you
have IBS, in order to rule out other disease processes. Blood
tests to rule out other conditions, stool samples to
rule out infections, or colonoscopy, food allergy tests
to test for allergies or food sensitivities. These tests may
be invasive, however, they're an essential step in identifying
the underlying problem of what's going on in your body and what
can be done about it.
The link between adrenal fatigue and IBS. Adrenal Fatigue is
caused by chronic stress, often physical stress that's caused by
poor toxins, diet, recurrent infections, overuse of
medications, antibiotics and excessive alcohol consumption.
Now, when you're stressed for over a long period of time, your
body works overtime to produce cortisol. High cortisol can
cause the gut to be more leaky as your gut tight junctions
begin to leak. High cortisol them will allow more toxins to
also penetrate your gut lining. As your gut has many immune
cells, it recognizes these toxins that are leaking through
and also starts to attack them. And so gastrointestinal
disruptions are a common symptom of adrenal fatigue as well as
other issues such as food sensitivities and drug
sensitivities. A lot of people start saying I keep noticing
that I have more and more food sensitivities. So then this can
lead to increased bowel irritation, digestive issues,
and can compound all the other issues that's going on already.
So adrenal fatigue also causes rapid inflammation throughout
the body. And inflammation is a key contributor to IBS as well
as other chronic health conditions.
Lifestyle changes that can help manage the symptoms of IBS.
Addressing and alleviating the symptoms of IBS can help improve
the quality of your life, as well as your health. So it's
very important to get to the root cause of what might be
causing it. Here are some ways that you can do to start
improving IBS symptoms. Adopt strategies that will reduce your
stress levels. Eat a balanced diet that's free of sugar,
processed foods, caffeine and hydrogenated oils. Low FODMAP
diet can be helpful in some circumstances. Also exclusion of
gas producing foods. Patients with IBS should be advised to
exclude foods that increase flatulence such as beans,
onions, celery, carrots, raisins, bananas, apricots,
prunes, brussel sprouts, wheat germ, pretzels and bagels. Along
with alcohol and caffeine. I know that a long list of foods
but avoid some of them that can help. These short chain
carbohydrates are also poorly absorbed. And so that's why they
can lead to more bloating. So that's why the low FODMAP diet
can help. Fiber and those who have IBS constipation can help
moderate exercise every day. Work on thinking positively, and
then talk about your doctor about supplements and natural
medications that might help. And make sure you can also aware
that your healthcare practitioner is aware of adrenal
fatigue if you do have that, that is commonly associated with
IBS. So thank you for listening today and we hope that you've
learned something helpful. And so subscribe if you'd like to
hear more great tips. Also, please like and share this video
if you found this content helpful so that other people can
learn from it. Remember that we're here to empower you to
take control of your health.