The IBS Expert presents…

The Cause of IBS

?So how is IBS caused?

***IBS is caused by a failure of the nervous system to correctly control the processes of the small intestine***

Was that enough?… OK, OK, I will give you a little more.

We will start with a really, really simple explanation…
You have IBS because your small intestine does not work properly. Now there is nothing physically wrong with the small intestine. The problems are being caused by one or more of the FIVE nervous system controllers that manage the intestine. The fault can be far away from the intestine in the brain or spinal cord, so the doctors give up and tell you that you have IBS...
"It's IBS. Sorry mate, cannot do anything for you.
 You have my sympathy".
Now sympathy is nice but it does not fix IBS! In fact the fault in the nervous system cannot be fixed (most of the time) and because there are so many controllers, it gets complicated. Yes, there are lots of types of IBS and lots of symptoms.
Bad news eh?
 Enough to make you want to crawl away into a hole?
Well for every item of bad news there is a good one.
So don't spend too long in your hole, come out and read the good stuff...
You can learn to make friends with IBS. You do this by letting only the foods that he likes pass your lips. This is the language I call IBSperanto. When he is your friend, then he becomes very useful indeed. He then becomes your personal assistant and helps you. Those people without IBS do not have an assistant. NOW you have an advantage. Your own personal assistant!!!
OK?...  That's very good news isn't it. Smile, laugh, dance, YAHOO....
Whoops, I forgot, you still have the pain.
We have not got to the healing programs yet and they take a little time to learn.
If that was enough explanation then proceed immediately to the Easy IBS Diet and eat it. IBS will immediately cease bashing you and instead start to help you. There will be no more pain, no more gurgling, constipation or diarrhoea. Unless of course you want more? If you have not had enough pain yet, then stop reading this as it may take away the pain!
OK... Now if you would like to know more about IBS,
then here is a brief attempt to explain the scientific stuff...

The small intestine is the part of your digestion that joins the stomach to the large intestine. It is the engine of your digestion. It digests all your food and absorbs the nutrients, so when it stops working correctly, you get very unhappy. It has three parts… in order, the duodenum, the jejunum and the ileum. Food is processed in batches, and each part has a brain controller to manage the movement of food soup. There is a fourth brain controller for managing the addition of digestive chemicals. These are bile salts from the gall bladder and pancreatic enzymes.
The enteric nervous system (the nerves in the gut) has a backup role. It is the fifth controller. It takes over when any brain controllers fail. It cannot do the job of the brain and instead just moves food along. When you eat cereal, legume and root vegetable fibre, if the enteric nervous system is in charge, then things go much too fast.
Now, the brain controllers often fail. IBS is a very common digestive disorder. This failure can be due to a neurotransmitter deficiency, a toxic insult to the walls of the small intestine, a failure to develop the nervous system fully in infancy, or pressure on the nerves in the neck area. There may be other causes.
When a brain controlled part follows a part controlled by the enteric nervous system, and you eat cereal, bean and root veggie fibre, then the too fast speed generated by the enteric nervous system, is sensed by the brain controller and it blocks the intestine. It is programmed to manage the speed of food so that it goes slowly. This barrier causes constipation, bloating and cramping.
When the final part of the intestine is controlled by the enteric nervous system, there is no brain controlled part following. Now food soup containing cereal, bean and root veggie fibre is moved fast into the colon. The food has not been digested properly and can contain fats, raw bile salts and raw enzymes. These cannot be tolerated in the colon and it is evacuated poste haste, causing diarrhoea.
The control systems of the small intestine are all automated. They are part of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is influenced by adrenal hormone levels. When these hormones are high the autonomic nervous system is at a high level, and when they are low the autonomic nervous system is at a low level.
There are natural daily fluctuations in the levels of adrenal hormones. They are high in the morning soon after arising, and cause the valve at the end of the small intestine to open (the morning rush), and the strength of any barrier is strong (bloating and cramping). Overnight adrenal hormones drop to low levels, and the autonomic nervous system is relaxed. This causes the valve at the end of the intestine to close firmly and any barrier to relax.

IBS causes stress. Stress is also caused by modern lifestyles. Stress raises the level of adrenal hormones, and the level of the autonomic nervous system. This makes IBS worse.
There is no possibility of a cure for IBS (except when a displaced neck vertebra is the cause), BUT you can remove most or all of your symptoms by changing your diet. This involves removing the offensive plant fibre causing your IBS, and slowing down the part(s) controlled by the enteric nervous system. You can also learn to influence the autonomic nervous system, and reduce your symptoms by doing Relaxation Therapies.
Now if that was not enough and you want the FULL MONTY, then download the 50page PDF file (450kB) from the website called The Cause of IBS. This is a complete scientific explanation, but written simply so that most can understand it.
If you are of a scientific bent and would like to read my paper, which is a concise and rigorous explanation of IBS then go to the Science Direct Database...
The small intestine and irritable bowel syndrome:
A batch process model.
Medical Hypotheses (2008), 71:781-787, Brian C. Dobson

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