Let’s Talk About the Immunology of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

Irritable Bowel Syndrome has over 180 different causes, and each individual cause will have a set pattern that triggers an inflammatory response in the gut.

Symptoms of IBS:

·       Abdominal pain or discomfort

·       Stool irregularities

·       Bloating

·       Other visceral and psychiatric comorbidities

There are 4 types of IBS:

·       IBS-C (constipation)

·       IBS- D (diarrhea)

·       IBS-M (mixed with vigorous symptoms)

·       IBS-U (unqualified – mild symptoms)

Patients often associate their IBS symptoms with eating a meal. Up to 90% of IBS patients restrict their diet to prevent or improve their symptoms. True food allergies are uncommon in IBS. Food intolerances or sensitivities are more what we see in these cases, and understanding the history behind the symptom(s) is more important than only dealing with the symptom.

Although the underlying pathogenesis is far from understood, factors include:

·       Increased gut lining permeability: this means that the gut lining has lost its tolerance to food due to ongoing inflammation, which causes a loss of glutamine in the lining.

·       Dysbiosis (imbalanced in your microbe biodiversity): was there an infection prior to the IBS symptoms, medication used, period of stress, etc.

·       Inflammation: inflammation is necessary to resolve an issue, but ongoing and unresolved inflammation isn’t.

·       Visceral hypersensitivity: gut pain is often caused by either a damaged lining, histamine intolerance, antibodies as IgG against a certain food (not a true allergy), pathogen, medication, etc. What is causing the pain will be unique to the overall biology of the person.

·       Epigenetics and genetics: family genes can be turned on or off by addressing the root cause of inflammation, the bio individuality.

·       Altered brain-gut interactions – the gut is often called the second brain, and when anxiety, depression, concussion or mild traumatic brain injury, ADHD, brain impairment of any kind, etc., the gut will be affected, causing IBS symptoms.

IBS is often given as a diagnosis, but its causes are multiple and can be complex. We must understand what caused the pathology in each individual case, the length of time the issue has been ongoing as the biology changes over time, what has been done so far, the severity of symptoms, and many more questions to be answered.  This detective work is a necessary process to be able to successfully map out a plan specific to the case and bring resolution or partial resolution if damage is greater than the ability for repair. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach!

If you know of someone who could benefit from my expertise, please share this post!

PLEASE SHARE!

ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS!

Book a Consult Today! Covered by Health Insurances