Irritable bowel syndrome and six ways to beat the pain of bloating and stomach cramps it causes
There’s no stand-out factor causing IBS, but health experts say reducing stress, cutting alcohol and coffee intake and switching to alternative foods can offer relief for the millions of sufferers worldwide
An upset stomach can be debilitating, even humiliating, and the most common gastrointestinal disorder – irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS – affects about one in seven people globally. While not life-threatening, it greatly reduces quality of life. A change in diet, though, offers hope for sufferers.
For 24-year-old Mary (not her real name), a severe bout of food poisoning triggered IBS six years ago. She had experienced occasional spells of diarrhoea before but after the food poisoning, she regularly had painful stomach cramps, bloating and gas, and had to run to the loo, especially after eating.
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“Even after a good meal like congee with no irritants, my lower abdomen will get bloated and painful. I am very petite, but I will look like I am three months pregnant. I can’t wear jeans,” she says.
“Over the past six years, there’s not a single day that I can lead a carefree existence.”
Her condition dominates her day, and she checks the location of public toilets before visiting shopping centres and other places.
While the precise cause of IBS is not known, stress, intestinal inflammation, viral infections such as gastroenteritis, and bacterial imbalance in the gut are some of the factors.