Irritable Bowel Syndrome
This is a disorder of the muscle contractions of the large intestine and the perception of those contractions by the brain. This can lead to abdominal pain, changes in bowel habit (diarrhea, constipation or both at different times), bloating, or sometimes a sensation of incomplete defecation. No definitive diagnostic tests exist. The diagnosis is made based on typical symptoms and lack of an alternative explanation for those symptoms.
When no alternative diagnosis is found, then it is likely that the brain is involved in generating or contributing to the symptoms.
Why would the brain do this? Nearly always, one or more types of stress is involved even if this is not fully recognized at first. These include:
Adverse Childhood Experiences and their long-term impact including:
a. Stressful personality traits such as focusing too much on the needs of others, excessive self-criticism, perfectionism, lack of assertiveness and many others.
b. Unrecognized negative emotions such as anger, fear, shame, grief, or guilt.
c. Triggers including people, situations or events that remind you of stressful situations.
Current life stresses
Depression, Anxiety or Post-Traumatic Stress
The good news is that all these sources of stress can be successfully diagnosed and treated.
To learn more about whether you might have these issues, try taking the self-diagnostic quiz below. It has 12 ‘Yes or No’ questions. The more questions to which you answer ‘Yes’, the more likely it is that the resources on this website will help you.