You must be wondering how exactly one gets IBS, however, the exact cause is unknown – it has been linked to food passing through your gut too quickly or too slowly, oversensitive nerves in your gut, stress and a family history of IBS. IBS triggers don’t follow any hard and fast rules. Different people have different triggers, such as certain foods, poor mental health, poor sleep, infections, hormonal changes and changes in gut bacteria.

IBS is a functional disorder which means tests would prove inconclusive as there aren’t structural changes in the large intestine or bowel tissue to identify. This means that it can only be diagnosed by your doctor, who is conveniently only three taps away from being consulted on oDoc!

But try not to stress too much about it because stress can worsen or trigger symptoms because of the brain-gut connection, which we covered in our previous blog. Only a small number of IBS sufferers have severe symptoms and pain.