Talk:Irritable bowel syndrome

Blood test
This Wikipedia article says: "Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or spastic colon is a symptom-based diagnosis….No specific laboratory or imaging test can be performed to diagnose irritable bowel syndrome."

However, this may need updating. See here.Anythingyouwant (talk) 00:35, 22 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Well, we would need to wait for this to appear in a review. Looking at the study itself, it doesn't really seem all that impressive. If you look at the results for Anti-vinculin (fig 3) you'll see all the results are overlapping. There would be no way to diagnose IBS from that. The Anti CdtB results are slightly more impressive, although it still doesn't distinguish between IBS and Celiac. As usual, this is another good example of science hyped by press release, and demonstrates precisely why we don't use primary studies (and news articles in particular) for medical claims. --sciencewatcher (talk) 00:45, 22 May 2015 (UTC)


 * For sure, science hyped press releases are not reliable sources for this Wikipedia article, but still it's worth keeping an eye on them, so that more reliable sources can be consulted later. As for celiac disease, that problem may be solved by testing for celiac disease antibodies alongside the new IBS tests, or at least so says this unreliable source.  You may want to consider simply removing the categorical statement that "No specific laboratory or imaging test can be performed to diagnose irritable bowel syndrome" without yet asserting the contrary.Anythingyouwant (talk) 00:52, 22 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Is there any update to this?
 * Not to my knowledge -- IBS remains a diagnosis of exclusion. DoctorJoeE review transgressions/ talk to me!  01:46, 14 June 2021 (UTC)
 * It is still a diagnosis of exclusion; there are no specific blood tests for IBS, other than to rule out other conditions like celiac disease.Rytyho usa (talk) 03:57, 14 June 2021 (UTC)
 * You're obviously not very familiar with ongoing research in this field. 79.201.168.182 (talk) 17:19, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

Chronic fatigue syndrome
The chronic fatigue syndrome onset is after 60 years and the IBS onset is before 45. Anyone can reliably reconcile this difference? AXO NOV (talk) ⚑ 10:36, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * "ME/CFS is most common in people between 40 and 60 years old.", but that doesn't mean ME/CFS does not occur at other ages. Nor have there been rigorous studies to explore what ages persons with ME/CFS exhibit the symptoms of IBS, that I know of anyway. As a further compounding factor, studies have used many different definitions to diagnose the patients, so there are many subgroups lumped in the umbrella term ME/CFS. In other words, the research has a lot of issues that would make it difficult to answer to your question with any certainty. Ward20 (talk) 20:00, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, then I propose to clarify that the overlap is less significant and age should be taken into account. According to cited source (review) CFS is not the only accompanying disease and found only in 51% of IBS cases, so it shouldn't be taken like a major indicator (symptom) or a disease concomitant with IBS. Btw, one review claims that the age of onset of CFS is between 20 and 45 (38 years old on average per another source, see TABLE 4: ) and is prevalent in females (3:1 - female:male ratio).  AXO NOV  (talk) ⚑ 09:41, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not very familiar with this article, but where does it state ME/CFS is a major indicator of IBS? ME/CFS is not a symptom, it is a diagnosis of an illness, so I'm not sure what needs to be clarified in the article. Would you please be specific what sentence(s) need to be changed?


 * First, the 2002 Gastroenterology Review uses cites of ME/CFS defintions from 1988 and 1994, mostly studies from the 1990s, and even uses studies of Chronic fatigue in their data about ME/CFS. The premise in the Abstract Conclusions states that, "strong comorbidity suggests a common feature important to their expression, which is most likely psychological." The study basically conculudes IBS and other cormorbid conditions associated with it are psychological. This study is so biased and out of date it shouldn't be used as a reference.


 * The '40 to 60 year old' data is from the CDC guidance which is based on the diagnostic definition of the 2015 Institute of Medicine report on ME/CFS. The '38 years old' data mentioned in the WP:Primary Source Mayo Prevalence study was published in 2012, but the Fukuda criteria they used for the diagnosic definition is from 1994 and quite different from the newer CDC symptom criteria. The 2019 ME/CFS review is good but the definition of ages where it is most common is not necessarily the same as the definition for peak age of onset.


 * To sum up, the data and citations used here need to be carefully considered before use, and terminology and definitions agreed upon by the involved editors in order to have a good result. Ward20 (talk) 21:18, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Well even though I tend to agree with you for now I propose to explicitly mention that materials backed up by are old (per WP:MEDDATE) until more WP:RS are provided.
 * I also propose to remove mentions of CFS from symptoms because it's confusing and certainly shouldn't be listed there. In the lead and § Comorbidities I'm going to explicitly mention that the source used is old by using H:RTAG. Any objections? AXO NOV  (talk) ⚑ 12:32, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a good start to me. Ward20 (talk) 21:47, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Length of article
In my humble opinion, this article is way too long and because of this is less accessible. I would suggest dramatically reducing some of the sections and/or moving some areas (e.g. dietary management of IBS) to a separate page Y2k3000 (talk) 00:55, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Health Psychology
— Assignment last updated by Nicoleschully (talk) 19:17, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

IBS and Sleep Disruptions
I am interested in adding more details to the page about the relationship between IBS and sleep irregularity. The current body of research establishes a correlative but not causal relationship between the two, specifically linking a higher frequency of sleep disorders, as well as higher rates of sleep disruption, to an IBS diagnosis. Moreover, much of the research hypothesizes the role of stress in this relationship, specifically emphasizing the role of the autonomic nervous system. I found a meta-analysis that found an significantly decreased ANS dysregulation and decreased GI symptoms following psychotherapeutic intervention  (which raised some questions for me about the current section on psychotherapeutic interventions) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/16/3447

I would appreciate input on where would be the best place to add this information onto the current page. I also think it is important to stress the psychological factors underlying sleep irregularity and its relationship to IBS. I was thinking of adding a few sentences to the signs and symptoms section, or maybe to the section on stress? Charlottebaker1 (talk) 19:12, 30 April 2024 (UTC)