IBS – Causes

Transcript

The thing that’s hardest about IBS for most people is that we’re not really sure exactly what causes it. The current working theory is that some people have abnormal patterns of movement in their intestines. And when you have this abnormal pattern of movements, it creates areas that are more stretched or less stretched. And when you combine that with an increased sensitivity in the nerves around your intestine, it leads your body into thinking that that stretch means pain. And we’ve all had gas before, we’ve all had gas pain. So imagine if you were getting signals like that all the time from just normal things like eating or needing to go to the bathroom. And that’s a lot about how IBS works. We also know that there’s an association with anxiety and depression. Now it’s not clear if this happens because you have a rebellious GI tract and you feel bad all the time, or if there’s an association with having anxiety and depression that leads to having IBS. But we do know that having anxiety or depression will increase your risk of having overall pain. It makes you more sensitive to pain and makes you more vulnerable to pain syndromes.