Stress and depression can bring on irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an illness many have heard about, but is still poorly understood. The chronic, often disabling gastrointestinal condition leads to crampy pain, gassiness, bloating and changes in bowel habits. It can have detrimental effects on sufferers' quality of life.

In two studies based in Hong Kong, the prevalence of IBS was found to vary between 3.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent, according to a review published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics in 2005 by Dr Kang Jin-yong of the department of gastroenterology at St George's Hospital in London. Studies from North America reported a prevalence of between 12 per cent and 25 per cent.

Dr Edwin Lam Chi-wan and Dr Cheung Ting-kin, both gastroenterologists in Hong Kong, say about half of the patients they consult have IBS. Most patients consulting specialists are worried about bowel cancer.

The diagnosis is made by recognising symptoms which have occurred for three months: lower abdominal pain; bloating; relief of pain with defecation; associated constipation or diarrhoea, or both.

Furthermore, IBS can only be diagnosed after other serious conditions have been ruled out. For example, if a patient has these symptoms but also has unintentional weight loss, investigation is needed to eliminate bowel cancer.

IBS is particularly common at times of stress or depression. This is because during prolonged periods of heightened emotional states, uncontrolled messages may be fired from the brain through the nervous system to the bowel, which may lead to uncoordinated contraction and relaxation of the muscle wall.