29 Dec 2011
They share similar chronic symptoms – abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhoea – and their victims are often young adults.
But inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is not the same as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Unlike IBD, IBS is not a disease. Imaging tests show there is nothing wrong with the structure of the intestines of people suffering from IBS.
Instead, people with IBS have a functional disorder – their intestines often go into abnormal contractions, causing pain and discomfort.
While the symptoms of IBS can also be debilitating, they do not result in any permanent intestinal damage or put patients at risk of colon cancer, unlike IBD.
As with IBD, researchers are still trying to pin down the factors that trigger IBS.
One of them is thought to be stress. As there is a connection between the brain and the gut, the gut may react to stress by contracting too much, causing diarrhoea, or contracting too little, causing constipation. IBS tends to affect more women than men.
Suffering from IBS does not put one at higher risk of IBD or vice versa.
But as many more people have IBS than IBD – IBS affects about one in 10 people worldwide – it is not surprising that some with IBS will also acquire IBD.
While IBD needs medication to suppress the immune system and often surgery, IBS flare-ups can be controlled by anti-diarrhoeal or other medication.
IBS can usually also be treated with diet and lifestyle changes.
For instance, it may help to increase one’s fibre intake. This slows down the movement of food content down the gut so that more water can be resorbed and the stools formed are less watery.
It is advisable to avoid food which may stimulate the contraction of the intestines, such as caffeine; and food that is difficult to digest, such as dairy and oily food.
People with IBD may also need to avoid hard-to-digest foods, if their inflammation is active.
Otherwise, they can have a diet that is the same as anyone else’s.
Source: Dr Kelvin Thia, a consultant at the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH)
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