IBD causes and Possible Diagnostic Approaches

As stated in the previous post, the exact causes of IBD is unknown. As shown in many cases, this condition may be caused by a germ or an immune system (IS)dysfunctional. This condition develops in such sequence, a yet to identify factor(s) trigger(s) the body's IS to produce an inflammation reaction (rxn) in the intestinal tract that continue uncontrollably. The continual inflammation rxn damages the intestinal wall, which causes abdominal pain and bloody stool (diarrhea) at times.


According to researchers, psychological and infectious factors are also major players which influence IBD development.


Since IBD shares symptoms with numerous other maladies, diagnosing IBD is based on a combination of exams such as blood and tissue tests, endoscopic, stool examination, and X-rays. Examination of stool might eliminate the possibility of bacterial or viral causes of diarrhea. A common blood exam, such as blood count could be used to examine the level of the white and red blood cell count. High WBC is indicative of inflammation and low RBC may suggest that the person might have been bleeding (perhaps from the damaged of the intestinal wall)) and hemoglobin level may fall (anemia). As mentioned in the previous post, two illness that are associated with IBD are Crohn's disease (more to come on this in later post) and ulcerative colitis. Endoscopic is used to determine if the patient has either of these conditions and this also reveal how much affected is the bowel. There are numerous endoscopies exams that could be used (see figure below).

X-rays exams are useful such that they provide valuable information that endoscopy cannot. For example, Colonoscopy can visualize only the stomach, the upper small intestine. Endoscopy cannot imaged most of the small intestine.

The preferable exam of choice will be based on affordability or whatever the doc might think is necessary. In other words, there is no one best diagnostic tool. All those mentioned above are valuable options. 

ALL ABOUT DIARRHEA AND BOWEL DISORDERS

Do you suffer from constant abdominal cramps and pain or bloody diarrhea at times? If you are or one of your loves is, then this blog was made specifically for you. Even if you have never experienced any of those two symptoms listed above or know no one who is suffering or has suffered from them you still need to read this blog because prevention is better than cure and as my mom always said, "knowledge is the best preventive weapon." This blog is meant to educate those who are living with IBS or IBD and to increase awareness about these and other functional gastrointestinal disorders.  



Basic info about IBS and IBD
Diarrhea, abdominal cramps & pain are some common symptoms that are associated with bowel disorders. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are two different bowel disorders that are frequently confused with each other due to their numerous shared features. IBS is a dysfunctional of the GI tract typified by periodic abdominal pain and discomfort accompanied by alternation in bowel function, bloody diarrhea or constipation at times, on average lasting any time from weeks, to months or years.IBS is more of a collection of symptoms, hence it is not a specific disease.  IBS causes are unknown. On the contrary, IBD is a term use to describe a group of disorders that cause the intestines to become inflamed (red and swollen). Unlike IBS, IBD is a chronic, nonspecific inflammation of the GI tract. Common symptoms of IBD include frequent abdominal cramps and pain, bleeding from the intestines which results in bloody diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are two types of IBD. IBD is an idiopathic disease (unknown causes). The speculation within the research communities is that a number of factors may be involved, such as environment, diet, and possibly genetics.