# Relation to cold/immune system. New idea?



## IBS is killing me (Dec 13, 2004)

I have had IBS since 20 y ago and it gets worse and worse. Ironically I am a Dr myself.The most important question of my life is:WHY all of my SYMPTOMS DISAPPEAR during a period of COMMON COLD???????What I know today of own experience is that IBS is an expression for low threshold for gastrointestinal (GI) information-flow to the central nervous system(CNS). The brain apprehends the massive info-flow as if the GI-channel has got too much food, too much volume, too spicy, too cold/hot, too much watery or too little watery, too much motility/immotility of the intestine, and etc. The reaction becomes precisely as a healthy stomach would do when it has got too much of the things I mentioned. Keep in mind that the CNS gets tired and thereby whole of you become tired. (Time enough it is called chronic fatigue syndrome). If you fight back this with physical/mental activities and raise the thresholds you will not feel much of the jungle of symptoms.The question is why the thresholds are dragging down with IBS and why , at least in my case, the low-thresholds disappear when I get cold?Something is sure. The cold engages the immune system of the body.Orï¿½.Is IBS an unspecific expression of the body (telling you I am tired) to divers causes of weakness? I mean, in my case the IBS may be caused by a damaged immune system, but is it the case for other IBS sufferers?IBS is killing me. I would be very glad to receive any information about IBS. Specially of those who have noticed a relation between their IBS symptoms and common cold. I think since the whole IBS symptoms disappear when I get cold IBS should be physical disease.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

IBS is killing me What kind of doctor are you out of curiosity?IBS is related to hormones for one, but specifically to mast cells and EC cells."History of Functional Disorders http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...c;f=10;t=001046 IBS ï¿½ Beyond the Bowel:The Meaning of Co-existing Medical Problems http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...c;f=10;t=001032 2004 THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYIBSKeep following the next section at the bottom of the pages, there is a ton of info on IBS. http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/...se=43&lang_id=1 The Mayo Clinic site http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00106&si=1096 and The IFFGD aboutIBS site. http://www.aboutibs.org/ Irritable Bowel Syndrome: How far do you go in the Workup?Rome Criteria http://www.romecriteria.org/reading1.html UNC's Patinet education material. http://www.med.unc.edu/wrkunits/2depts/med...n_materials.htm Here is some more http://www.ibs.med.ucla.edu/PatientDigest.htm http://www.ibs.med.ucla.edu/PatientArticles.htm Jackson GasroenterologyIrritable Bowel Syndrome What is an Irritable Bowel? http://www.gicare.com/pated/ecdgs03.htm The NDDIC is a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health Irritable Bowel SyndromeOn this page:What causes IBS? What are the symptoms of IBS? How is IBS diagnosed? What is the treatment for IBS? How does stress affect IBS? Can changes in diet help IBS? Is IBS linked to other diseases? Hope Through Research Points to Remember For More Information http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/ibs/ Medline plusAbdominal Pain http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/abdominalpain.html "The syndrome was once thought to be simply a visceral response to stress, because doctors could find no biological explanation. As a result, many patients felt that their doctors gave their problem short shrift or, worse, implied it was all in their heads. "People with I.B.S. are sensitized to doctors' thinking they're crazy," Dr. Fisher said. Recent studies indicate that the syndrome may arise from problems in the working of the colon and in the connection between the brain and the colon. "The brain and bowels are wired with a series of nerves," Dr. Brennan M. R. Spiegel, a gastroenterologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said. "If you have I.B.S., you're wired up in a slightly different way, and that can cause diarrhea, constipation or pain."Studies have shown that people with the syndrome are more sensitive to colon pain and that their brains process the pain abnormally. Stress and anxiety can lead to symptoms or worsen them, but those factors do not cause the disorder, experts say.Abnormal functioning of serotonin in the colon also appears to promote irritable bowel syndrome. In the brain, serotonin is thought to influence mood. But in the colon, where 95 percent of the body's serotonin is found, it helps produce the normal contractions of peristalsis." http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php...c;f=10;t=001043


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