Is there a correlation between low back pain and Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Researchers have long argued that IBS may be caused by abnormal functioning of the nerves and muscles of the intestine. No indication or explanation is ever given as to why this malfunction could occur. To my knowledge, there has been no adequate evidence to support this assumption. Also, I have not seen, heard, or read about any studies that have been specifically implemented to test this hypothesis. Due to my own observations about my own IBS symptoms, I am inclined to believe and support this hypothesis.
Some of us who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome have tried for many years, without success, to eliminate the often debilitating effects of this mysterious disorder. Generally, those who suffer have spent a great deal of time and money, getting test after test only to be told that nothing conclusive was found.
Often, after years of expensive diagnostic procedures and tests, patients are told that nothing is wrong. His symptom complaint is dismissed as imaginary or, more correctly put in medical terms, psychosomatic. But with the increasing number of patients complaining of the same generalized list of symptoms, the medical community has been forced, at least in a small part, to recognize the disease as more than just imagined symptoms of hypochondriasis.
So what can we assume about IBS? Is it a condition or disease in itself? Or is IBS a condition caused by or a symptom of some other physical, neurological, or possibly even psychological problem that has not yet been detected or diagnosed as being related to the IBS condition? I find this to be a more plausible conclusion and will provide insight into my personal belief that IBS is a secondary condition rather than a condition in and of itself.
For years, doctors have proposed the concept of a secondary condition in relation to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Unfortunately, they have not yet been able to successfully document any evidence to conclusively say what the root cause of IBS might be. Also, I believe that there is not a single cause, but several causes, all with the same secondary symptoms, that make up what is called IBS.
Please do not think that I mean to say that the IBS condition is not real, or that the symptomatology is psychosomatic in nature. I know from painful experience that the condition and symptoms of IBS are very real. I would also go so far as to say that due to the large number of reported cases, the medical community was forced to re-evaluate their approach when dealing with patients complaining of symptoms similar to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I am simply going to state what I have personally concluded about another possible cause of IBS that may be overlooked by the medical profession.
I would also like to consider that IBS, with its list of many symptoms, may be a traceable progression of symptoms stemming from a single causality. I think in my case this is a very valid assumption. I have not yet been able to get any doctor to agree with me, at least to the point of taking the position on the registry.
Before continuing, I think it would be a good idea to review a partial list of Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms. IBS can be characterized by a combination of any or all of the following symptoms:
o Abdominal discomfort or pain, usually in the lower abdomen
o Altered bowel habit
o Chronic or recurrent diarrhea, constipation, or both. It can be mixed or alternate.
or swelling
or heartburn
Sickness
or abdominal fullness
o Feelings of an urgent need to have a bowel movement
o Sensation of “incomplete” bowel emptying
or lower back pain
headache
or fatigue
or muscle pain
or sleep disturbances
or sexual dysfunction
It is increasingly believed that IBS symptoms are caused by abnormal functioning of the nerves and muscles of the intestine. Personally, I am increasingly agreeing with this as a valid and plausible perception of at least one of the causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. With some personal observations, I hope to clarify why I believe this is a possible cause for many IBS patients. Unfortunately, what I have come to believe as causation for my particular brand of IBS will most likely not be a diagnosis for all cases of IBS.
I think that those of us who have suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome tend to minimize our symptoms and pain. We have been led to believe that aside from common sense changes in diet and exercise, there is nothing we can do because there is no cure. Many sufferers will suffer in silence for years before seeking medical treatment. By then, and I include myself in this group, we may have subconsciously diminished or even left out some of the minor symptoms that IBS causes, focusing only on the ones that cause the most pain and discomfort.
Worse yet, we are less likely to bring the symptoms to a doctor’s attention on the mere assumption that it is just another facet of our complex disorder. This could become a dangerous scenario for anyone with IBS. We may ignore persistent symptoms that have gotten worse or new symptoms that seem related just because we’re discouraged by being told that nothing can be done about it.
Doing these kinds of things could lead to serious, life-threatening symptoms being missed. Symptoms of conditions that, unlike IBS, can be treated if caught early. Things like colon cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, and many others can be missed because we want to ignore our IBS symptoms after so many trips to the doctor.
My IBS story begins more than 20 years ago, when I was a young man of 26. While helping to lift a very heavy cast iron wood stove out of the back of a pickup truck, the other person lost control and the load fell. moved downhill. on my back. I felt my back give way as the stove crashed to the floor at my feet. He knew that he had suffered a serious injury. I couldn’t stand up from the 90 degree forward leaning position I was in. I literally had to get up using my hands and arms against the side of the truck.
Being 26 and stubborn and thinking I was invincible, I asked my wife to help me home and to bed, not bothering to go to the ER. I had some painkillers left over that numbered the pain enough to allow me to sleep. When I woke up in the morning I was horrified because I couldn’t feel my legs. Both were cold and numb to the touch. I could move them, I just couldn’t feel them. After about 30 minutes of movement, the feeling started to return to my legs and at that point I knew it was time to go to the doctor.
After the exam and x-rays, what the doctor had to say was not pleasant to hear. He told me I had two options. One was going to a surgical specialist and having fusion surgery on several of my lower lumbar vertebrae because the discs between them had severely compressed. He mentioned that having this type of surgery would reduce my physical mobility by up to 30% or more. At best, he explained, the surgery was 40% effective.
My other option, he told me, was time… time allowed my body to try to heal itself. He explained that I would probably never be as well as before the accident, but that in time my body should only partially heal. He told me that the swelling that was causing the pain and partial paralysis should subside. At the age of 26, permanently losing 30% or more of my mobility was an unthinkable option. At least the second option offered some hope of recovery. He gave me muscle relaxers and pain pills and that was it.
I trusted this doctor… we were good friends. We had a good personal and professional relationship. I took him at his word. By today’s medical standards, his medical advice would probably not be valid, but more than 20 years ago, he most likely had a very good perception of my problem.
For the next 6 months, I would wake up with cold, numb legs every day, but as he said, the symptoms gradually improved. I was so focused on improving my back injury; I paid no attention to other minor things that had become annoying.
The first and most frequent symptom was a change in my bowel habit. It wasn’t a huge change, but it seemed like instead of a daily move, it was now once every other day, and it took a bit more effort. But with the back problem, it seemed minor in comparison and for several years it seemed to be the only symptom. My back continued to improve, but my gut never returned to normal.
I have always been a large person, in 1986 at the age of 26: I weighed about 220 pounds and was 6 feet tall. Slowly my weight began to increase. I attributed my initial weight gain to a decrease in physical activity during the first year or two of my back problem. By the end of the second year, my physical ability and activity had almost returned to normal. I learned to deal with the pain and my legs were no longer numb. I was able to function quite well. Only occasionally did the pain in my back become such that I couldn’t function in my “new” normal way, and it usually only lasted a day or two. I had now added 70lbs to my weight with no real explanation.
Only in the last two years (it has been more than 20 since my back injury) did I begin to consider that the original injury was related to my intestinal and stomach problems. Believing there was little I could do to rectify the situation, I did my best to handle the pain mentally. I did this well until the pain in my back started to get worse to the point where my legs started to go numb again. Not that this happened all the time, it was just occasional, but these little aches have gotten a lot worse.
Only now that back pain is impossible to ignore have I realized the cycle of events that have taken place. Now when I notice my legs starting to get numb more often, I also notice an increase in my IBS symptoms. The most frequent and painful symptoms seem to start with chronic constipation, which lasts for several days. This is followed by gas anguish fatigue, headaches, bloating, acid indigestion, heartburn, and finally explosive diarrhea. Along with other symptoms, all intertwined in a cycle that I now believe is directly related to some type of nerve injury due to my original back injury.
I have since been to a neurosurgeon and have been diagnosed with severe disc compression and degeneration and spinal stenosis in the lower lumbar region. Treatment has not yet been mapped out, but I now have at least one doctor who agrees that many, if not all, of my symptoms could be directly related to nerve dysfunction resulting from my current spinal condition.
If you’ve had a back injury or have IBS with low back pain, it may be wise to have a spinal exam to find out if an underlying back problem might be involved in causing your IBS symptoms. It is for a practical reason that if there is an injury to the spine or lower back where the nerves that control lower bowl function originate, there could also be bowel dysfunction. With intestinal dysfunction, the progression of symptoms in a logical sequence to the upper part of the digestive tract would be a very plausible scenario.
If you have IBS and low back pain, you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by getting your spine checked. At a minimum, you may find that there is nothing wrong with your column, thereby eliminating one more source.