Autonomic Abnormalities

Thursday, 03 March 2005 13:52
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A recent study has been published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology; it looked at sympathetic nervous system activity during sleep and the results suggest that patients with IBS show the presence of autonomic abnormalities.

TESTS:

Blood tests to exclude anaemia and inflammation (inflammatory bowel disease
such as Ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease)

Faecal occult blood (to exclude GI bleed)

Flexible sigmoidoscopy: using a telescope in a tube to visualise the interior of
the gut in the lowest part of the colon.

Other tests include:

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

There is no easy solution to the problems caused by IBS.

Management approaches tend to aim at symptomatic relief at gut level,
alongside any necessary ?central' treatment to modify pain pathways in the
central nervous system.

Simple non-drug measures:

Diet:

 

 

Lifestyle:

Drug Treatments: symptomatic not curative

Laxatives

Antidiarrhoeal agents

 Antispasmodics

Antidepressants