Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Explanation

Susceptibility to motor abnormalities occurs in muscles of the small bowel and sigmoid colon. Normal segmentation mechanism activity becomes hyper, and spastic contractions with constipation occur as a result of ingestion of certain foods or drugs.

Considerations

A heightened perception of pain in the presence of normal quantity and quality of intestinal gas is common. As a hypersensitivity to the hormones gastrin and cholecystokinin is present, a dose of either of these hormones may reproduce this type of motor abnormality.

Treatment

Proctosigmoidoscopic and barium enema examinations are often necessary to rule out the underlying disorders that might be responsible for the symptoms, and the negative results of these examinations usually reassure the patients and make the total therapy more positive.