Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Health

On Monday I had a doctors appointment. When I eat out my stomach gets some pretty intense pains. It has been going on for a while (I mean probably like 6 months to a year, I really don't remember not having pain after I eat out). I had thought that maybe it had something to do with the way the food was prepared, since I am a vegetarian, maybe the food had some sort of meat stock in it and my body didn't like to digest it. While my mom was out here she kept telling me to make a doctors appointment, thinking that maybe it was my gull bladder or some sort of allergy. I finally gave in and made an appointment. When I met with the nurse practitioner (the doctor didn't have any openings in the late afternoon), I told her all of my symptoms, she poked around on my stomach and told me that it was IBS. Now I don't want to get into the details, because I am sure no one wants to know the gory details, but I wanted to post a little about what it is. She said that it seems to be triggered by the way that the foods are processed or prepared and gave me a suggestion of medication to take prior to eating out. We will see if anything improves.

Irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, is generally classified as a "functional" disorder. This refers to a "disorder of functioning" where the body's normal activities in terms of the movement of the intestines, the sensitivity of the nerves of the intestines, or the way in which the brain controls some of these functions is impaired. However, there are no structural abnormalities that can be seen by endoscopy, x-ray, or blood tests. Thus it is identified by the characteristics of the symptoms and infrequently, when needed, limited tests.

Irritable bowel syndrome is understood as disorder with many aspects. In people with IBS, symptoms result from what appears to be a disturbance in the interaction between the gut or intestines, the brain, and the autonomic nervous system that alters regulation of bowel motility (motor function) or sensory function.

1 comment:

jessica said...

Try doing a Whole Body Cleanse Kit (I like Enzymatic Therapy Brand in a yellow/green box). And take a good probiotic and fiber supplement. Talk to someone at the health food store! Trust me sounds like what Ive been thru and Dr after Dr never helped! I treat myself with lots of vitamins,but you gotta know what your doing. None of what I told you is harmful but a Dr will look at you like your crazy, so just do it and see what happens.