Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common medical conditions diagnosed today. It is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder that affects all aspects of the patient’s daily life. It was first recognized nearly two centuries ago, but it still remains widely misunderstood by both patients and physicians. Irritable bowel syndrome has been given a number of different names over the years, including nervous colitis, spastic colitis, mucous colitis, unstable colon and irritable colon. Today it is known that irritable bowel syndrome is a syndrome of findings rather than just a single, isolated complaint that can affect multiple areas of the gastrointestinal tract and is not limited only to the colon. Understanding of the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome has changed considerably during the past 50 years. Initially, it was thought to represent a nervous disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. However, new studies have demonstrated that irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by a single factor; rather, it is a complex disorder in which a number of physiologic processes are involved.