Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

The chemical serotonin is majorally implicated in IBS and is used in gut function, but also as a neurotransmitter for communication from the brain to the gut.

95 percent of serotonin is stored in the gut. There is a major link between the gut and the brain and how we feel emotionally via serotonon for one.

"What would be an example of new understanding?
Well one example is that we're starting to understand how the brain is responding to the pain in IBS. There have been some studies done where they've artificially created a kind of an irritable bowel by placing a balloon to stretch the bowel, and that produces pain. Then they've compared people with IBS to non-IBS, or "normal" individuals. And what they've found is that when you stretch the bowel-and use PET scans to monitor the response-in normal individuals, certain areas of the brain that register pain respond and release chemicals called neurotransmitters that suppress and lower the pain. But it seems that doesn't happen as well in people with IBS. In fact, in people with IBS another area of the brain responds that is associated with anxiety. So what we find is that people with IBS, aside from having a bowel problem, may have some difficulty in terms of the way their brain is regulating the pain."

http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/clinicalIssues.html

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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com

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