IRRITABLE BOWEL

The distressing symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS, =Irritable or Spastic Colon, Mucous Colitis) occur to greater or lesser degree in up to two-thirds of FMS sufferers, and up to two-thirds of IBS sufferers have Fibromyalgia Syndrome ^{1 2}.

Various patterns of recurrent abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, and gassiness affect up to a fifth of the normal population ³ . This is a benign condition, for which emotional stress is believed to be a major factor.

Women after uncomplicated cholecystectomy experienced urgency of defecation, whereas after hysterectomy they reported more symptoms of constipation ⁴ . Another study ⁵ of routine hysterectomy found that 8% of women developed constipation-dominant IBS, and a further 5% experienced a worsening of their pre-existing symptoms. However, this adverse effect was balanced by 13% whose IBS symptoms were improved by the surgery.

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• There is a 60-70% overlap between Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome

These changes in bowel functioning appear to be an exaggeration of the normal fluctuation in symptoms reported by unselected postal questionnaire ⁶.

A new study ⁷ has shown that major determinants of poor prognosis in IBS are the length of history and the number and severity of accompanying psychological symptoms.

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• The prognosis is most influenced by duration of symptoms and severity of emotional distress
  

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