Irritable bowel syndrome or nervous bowel is a very common disease. It is estimated that approx. 1 in 10 Danes suffer from this disease, hereof more women than men.

Symptoms

• Stomach aches
  Colic pains and pains in the stomach, which comes and goes, often daily, often after meals. At night time the pains rarely occur.
  
  
• Irregular stools
  Varies between lumpy, normal and loose stools, often with flatulence. A sense of not being emptied properly.
  
  
• Mucus secretion
  Stools can be accompanied by mucus secretion
  
  
• Other discomforts
  The abdomen is bloated - this often happens after meals - rumbling noises from the stomach and tendency to flatulence.

These discomforts must be present for more than a quarter of the day and the symptoms must have been continuous for at least three months. Often the doctor will begin with examining whether another disease is causing the symptoms.

The disease is first and foremost located in the large intestine and rectum. With some people the problems with gas can also include the stomach, resulting in burping. Scientific studies have shown that many people with irritable bowel syndrome suffer from disturbances in the muscle and nerve functions in the wall of the large intestine. Other studies indicate that these individuals have a lower pain threshold, i.e. they respond with pain to much less distension than other people normally would.

Surprisingly it has shown that people with irritable bowel syndrome have normal amounts of gas in the intestines and the composition of the intestinal gas is also normal. There is no proof of stress being able to cause irritable bowel syndrome, but if you suffer from the disease stress might aggravate the symptoms.

A Danish research study on irritable bowel syndrome in 2006 points to that the illness is in fact hidden constipation, where the intestinal content builds up in the intestines and takes longer to pass through.

The duration of the disease varies from person to person. Most people produce symptoms a year or two, some even longer. In some cases symptoms have persisted for more than 10 years. Many people, however, will be pleased that the troublesome symptoms disappear after 1-3 years.

The severity of the symptoms can vary immensely, with weeks or months of modest symptoms to periods of great discomfort.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a very troublesome condition, but it is not dangerous and it cannot lead to cancer. The patient's lifespan is like that of any other healthy person and the disease does not affect the ability to work.

Sources:

Steen Nørby Rasmussen, Dr. Med, "Lægernes patientvejledning 2003", page 24.
Dennis Raahave, Dr. Med, Sundhed.dk, ”En årsag fundet til irritabel tyktarm”, Oct 2006.