Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Comprehensive video from stanford univ. on ibs causes

Syl, The big bang and evolution are scientific theories, two of the strongest theories in all of science.;)

I was just clairifying a hypothesis verses scientific theory. Just to make sure everyone was on the same page.

According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS):

"Science is a particular way of knowing about the world. In science, explanations are limited to those based on observations and experiments that can be substantiated by other scientists."

"Progress in science consists of the development of better explanations for the causes of natural phenomena. Scientists never can be sure that a given explanation is complete and final. Some of the hypotheses advanced by scientists turn out to be incorrect when tested by further observations or experiments. Yet, many scientific explanations have been so thoroughly tested and confirmed that they are held with great confidence."

"Truth in science, however, is never final, and what is accepted as a fact today may be modified or even discarded tomorrow. Science has been greatly successful at explaining natural processes, and this has led not only to increased understanding of the universe but also to major improvements in technology and public health and welfare."

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"To say it's just a theory is really a bit insulting to science because in science, a theory holds more weight than just a fact does.

And here I think the term "theory" needs to be looked at the way scientists consider it. A theory is not just something that we think of in the middle of the night after too much coffee and not enough sleep. That's an idea. A theory, in science, means a large body of information that's withstood a lot of testing. It probably consists of a number of different hypotheses and many different lines of evidence. Gravitation is a theory that's unlikely to be falsified, even if we saw something fall up. It might make us wonder, but we'd try to figure out what was happening rather than immediately just dismiss gravitation.

Facts are just the minutiae of science. By themselves, they can be right or wrong. But a theory is something that has been tested and tested over and over again, built on, revised. It continues to be reworked and revised.

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So we know for a fact in every human the gut brain and the brain work together. So the brain-gut axis is a fact in normal psychophysiology.

"The brain-gut dysfunction theory satisfies current observations but it may be falsified by single observation in the future."

This is unlikely since over the last ten years they keep finding more evidence for it. As that presentation pointed out. From fmri and pet scans to serotonin to the effects the brain has on the gut and the gut has on the brain. AS well as the new study showed with the fmri and structural changes. So they have found issues now in both the gut and the brain.

That was new that they found actual strutural changes in the brain.

History of Functional Disorders

"BRAIN-GUT AXIS
The concept of brain-gut interactions brings together observations relating to motility and
visceral hypersensitivity and their modulation by psychosocial factors. By integrating intestinal
and CNS central nervous system activity, the brain-gut axis explains the symptoms relating to
functional GI disorders. In other words, senses such as vision and smell, as well as enteroceptive
information (i.e. emotion and thought) have the capability to affect gastrointestinal sensation,
motility, secretion, and inflammation. Conversely, viscerotopic effects reciprocally affect central
pain perception, mood, and behavior. For example, spontaneously induced contractions of the
colon in rats leads to activation of the locus coeruleus in the pons, an area closely connected to
pain and emotional centers in the brain. Jointly, the increased arousal or anxiety is associated
with a decrease in the frequency of MMC activity of the small bowel possibly mediated by stress
hormones in the brain. Based on these observations, it is no longer rational to try to discriminate
whether physiological or psychological factors produce pain or other bowel symptoms. Instead,
the Functional GI disorders are understood in terms of dysregulation of brain-gut function, and
the task is to determine to what degree each is remediable. Therefore, a treatment approach
consistent with the concept of brain-gut dysfunction may focus on the neuropeptides and
receptors that are present in both enteric and central nervous systems."

http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/historyfunctionaldisorders.pdf

So again its highly unlikely a single experiment will falsify the brain gut axis, for one because there are a lot and I mean a lot showing the connections and dysfunctioning. So its more likely it will take on additional add ons to the theory.

"Shawneric, I presume you know that Salix Pharmaceuticals has applied to the FDA for approval for the use of Rifaximin in treating non-constipated IBS. Question. If the FDA gives them approval do you think the GI research community might have to accept that SIBO may be present in some subtypes of IBS?"

yes I do know that.

This is important sibo and IBS are different conditions. People without IBS can have sibo and sibo can cause some symptoms IBS does not. So its really not a matter of subtypes in IBS, but that some IBSers have both sibo and IBS, just like some have IBS and lactose intolerence for example. That is what is being recgonized, some IBSers also have sibo, but the majority, do not seem too. Its not turning out well for Sibo to be the "cause" of IBS.
SIBO can also be a problem stemming from other causes, regarless of IBS as well. IF sibo were the "cause" of IBS then everyone would have it.

You know DR Drossman wrote this for me years and years ago.
He is of course the chairman for the rome committe to diagnose functional gi and motlity disorders and one of the top doctors in all of this research.

"The cause of IBS is yet to be determined. However, modern research understands IBS as a disorder of increased reactivity of the bowel, visceral hypersensitivity and dysfunction of the brain-gut axis. There are subgroups being defined as well, including post-infectious IBS which can lead to IBS symptoms. Other work using brain imaging shows that the pain regulation center of the brain (cingulate cortex) can be impaired, as well as good evidence for there being abnormalities in motility which can at least in part explain the diarrhea and constipation. So finding a specific "cause" of IBS has grown out of general interest in place of understanding physiological subgroups that may become amenable to more specific treatments. Hope that helps.
Doug"

http://www.ibshealth.com/ibsfoods2.htm

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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com

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