Endometriosis With Ibs: Calming The Common Symptoms

While doctors do not know why women develop endometriosis with IBS, some experts think that it is triggered by an intestinal infection, a severely stressful life event or hormonal reasons.

Whatever the cause, IBS symptoms can be pretty debilitating, with spasms in the colon, the large section of the intestine before the rectum and the anus, causing constipation, diarrhea or both. And for women with endometriosis who are suffering abdominal pains having IBS can be pretty unbearable.

If you are having IBS symptoms on a regular basis, see your doctor for a formal diagnosis. With a positive diagnosis of IBS alone, your doctor might prescribe an anti-spasmodic medication such as hyoscyamine sulfate or dicyclomine. And some doctors recommend very low doses of tricyclic antidepressants such as amitryptyline or fluoxetine, which can help calm the gastrointestinal tract in some people who have severe IBS.

Statistics show that nearly 20% of the adult population in the United States are affected with IBS, the majority of whom are women. It appears that IBS is effected by hormones as most women’s symptoms worsen in the run up to and during their period.

With mild IBS, most people can prevent their symptoms if they watch what they eat and make a few lifestyle changes. Stress can be the biggest trigger for a lot of people.

Endometriosis can be a little trickier to deal with. The pain women suffering from endometriosis experience is caused by the development of tissue that is normally located in the uterus growing outside the uterus. Endometrium, the thin lining normally found in the uterus, grows aberrantly outside the uterus. Occassionally moving into the intestines. Each month as the endometrium tissue is shed it causes bleeding and scaring to the sites where it has attached itself.

Occurences of intestinal endometriosis range from 5 - 10%. The main way to diagnose if IBS is caused by endometriosis is to monitor symptoms in line with the menstrual cycle. Symptoms can be limited to during the period only or they may generally present and worsen during menstruation.

Common symptoms include a loss of appetite, feeling sick, although vomiting is not usual, diarrhea, gas, bloating, abdominal pain characterized by cramps, pain during bowel movements, and sharp stabbing pain in the rectum. Varying constipation symptoms can also be a common symptom of intestinal endometriosis as well as blood coming from the rectum during menstruation as a result of misplaced endometrium tissue shedding.

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Treatment for endometriosis with IBS may include a special diet and the usual methods of treating endometriosis such as surgery with laparoscopy and hormonal therapies.

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