Enhanced preattentive central nervous system reactivity in irritable bowel syndrome

Hypervigilance in irritable bowel syndrome compared with organic gastrointestinal disease

“…Compared to patients with organic GI disease, IBS patients showed signs of hypervigilance towards GI sensations and negative states of emotion as they more easily identified these types of words in an experimental situation using a tachistoscope. However, IBS patients also tended to be faster at recognizing words representing positive emotional states and possibly non-GI symptoms, which could perhaps indicate that they are generally more vigilant or attentive, which has been suggested previously [32]. No major group differences were observed in our memory test, but IBS patients tended to recall more incorrect GI words.…”

Synesthesia, Pseudo-Synesthesia, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

“…Thus, this might explain the striking difference in synesthetic type experiences reported by our patients with IBS compared to controls. As already discussed, visceral hypersensitivity is common in patients with IBS, and evidence is accumulating that this may extend beyond the gastrointestinal tract [48][49][50]. Furthermore, this hypersensitivity might also involve the central nervous system, as reflected in brain imaging studies [48,[52][53][54].…”

“…Some have even suggested that this phenomenon might even be a biological marker for the condition [46]. This hypersensitivity is not confined to the rectum [47], and there is now evidence that IBS patients react more to other external stimuli, such as sound [48][49][50], and the co-existence of fibromyalgia with IBS [51] is suggestive of a more generalized hypersensitivity, which also involves the central nervous system [52][53][54]. We have recently been studying the role of color and imagery in IBS in two ways [55,56]: firstly, by having a medical artist paint, in watercolor, the images which patients have of their illness [56] and secondly, by developing an instrument, called the Manchester Color Wheel [57], which enables individuals to choose a color in relation to a question such as ''color of mood?''…”

Brain imaging of visceral functions in healthy volunteers and IBS patients

“…Stress, anxiety or worry, for example, can lead to abdominal symptoms, such as chronic abdominal pain or changes in gastrointestinal motility and stool habits [3]. IBS patients often report of abdominal discomfort, cramps, or painabdominal pain is the predominant reason why such patients seek medical attention [4][5][6]. However, the only abnormality found is visceral hypersensitivity, which means that such patients feel pain after gut stimulation at lower intensities than healthy volunteers [7,8].…”