Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about irritable bowel syndrome.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash IBS or in the gastroenterology section of the zero to finals medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS is caused by a disturbance of the gut-brain interaction,

resulting in troublesome abdominal and intestinal symptoms.

Symptoms can significantly impact the patient's life.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a functional disorder and this means there's no identifiable bowel disease

underlying the symptoms and the symptoms result from the abnormal

functioning of an otherwise normal bowel. IBS occurs in up to 20% of the population. It tends to

affect women more than men and is more common in younger adults.

Let's talk about the symptoms.

The three key features can be remembered with the IBS pneumonic.

I for intestinal discomfort with abdominal pain related to the bowels.

B for bowel habit abnormalities, and S for stool abnormalities, whether stools can be watery, loose, hard, or associated with mucus. The specific symptoms vary

with the individual.

Common symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation,

fluctuating bowel habit between diarrhea and constipation,

abdominal bloating, symptoms worse after eating,

and symptoms improved by opening the bowels, and passing mucus along with the stalls.

Symptoms can be triggered or worsened by anxiety, depression, stress, sleep disturbance, illness, medications, certain foods, caffeine and alcohol.

Let's talk about the differential diagnoses. It's important to exclude serious underlying pathology.

...