Can IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) be autoimmune?



IBS is a condition that impacts over 45 million people in the US! A subset of patients with IBS have a variant called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) pronounced "See-Bow"). These two medical conditions commonly coexist and share many of the same symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating belly distension, and diarrhea. This means if a patient has been diagnosed with IBS, there is a strong likelihood (up to 80% chance) that they also have SIBO.

IBS is generally a diagnosis of symptoms (see above) that occur for a period of time. Once inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is ruled out by labs, intestinal scoping or biopsy, IBS can be diagnosed. SIBO can be presumed by symptoms, but a confirmatory diagnosed only by lab test. Simply put, IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion. It’s the result of ruling out all other possibilities. 

With proper testing that measures accurately......measuring three microbially-produced gases indicative of SIBO (hydrogen, methane and hydrogen-sulfide). This is important information since the treatment for each elevated gas is unique.

The IBS-Autoimmune Connection

IBS can be autoimmune, but not always. I’m going to tell you a short story to help you understand how IBS can be autoimmune.

Once upon a time in a distant land, a bacterium and his friends went on an adventure. They each packed some food and clothes as well as a canister of endotoxin (just in case they got into a predicament). On the adventure, the friends were accidentally eaten by a human. (Egads!) It was dark and slimy in that creature, so the bacterial adventurers reached into their pockets and pulled out their canisters of endotoxin. Each one sprayed the walls of the human with the contents of their canister. (Early graffiti artists, perhaps?) The endotoxin was not appreciated by humans, and it released those critters in a violent cramp and spray too dirty to describe here. Suffice it to say, it was gross. The human came prepared with more than a diarrheal response. It waged its own defense with antibodies to that endotoxin. In a few days, all was well again. The bacteria were back into the world having other adventures and the human was feeling pretty good.

But unknown to that human, was this: the DNA sequence of those endotoxins looked VERY similar to a protein inside the human gut. This protein is called vinculin. Sometime later, the antibodies that were made for that endotoxin started attacking the vinculin. What started out as host defense, had turned into an autoimmune condition. Or two. Or three.

Some IBS and SIBO are Autoimmune.

Ever heard someone say, "whenever I travel with a group of friends, I am the ONLY one who gets sick." Or, "ever since I had food poisoning....I have had (fill in the symptoms.)" This may very likely be a post-infectious gastroenteritis autoimmune IBS.

So is your IBS autoimmune? Maybe! If you want to dig into the root causes of your IBS and see how I can help, schedule a Discovery Session today.