Nongastrointestinal disorders in the irritable bowel syndrome

A large proportion of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients also complain of other functional disorders, such as headache, noncardiac chest pain, lo w back pain, and dysuria. Some of these features, particularly headache, ma y have a negative influence on the outcome of IBS. In a large proportion of female IBS patients, sexual intercourse triggers the symptoms, and frequen tly IBS symptoms exacerbate during menses. These gynecological-type symptom s often mislead the patients to the gynecological clinic, which may imply u nnecessary investigations and inappropriate treatments. The diagnostic crit eria of the fibromyalgia syndrome include IBS, and hence, the apparent rela tionship of both syndromes is difficult to analyze. On the other hand, no c onvincing evidence has been produced to date to sustain an association betw een IBS and the chronic fatigue syndrome. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.