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This condition is very common but can diet help? Jill Davies PhD reports

Chronic illnesses often go unnoticed mainly due to their invisibility and lack of understanding both at home and in the workplace. In this chapter, I use an autoethnographic approach to engage with my “emotionally charged” lived experiences of living and working with a stigmatized chronic illness – irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – in a highly patriarchal Pashtun society where women are expected to perform various social roles despite of illness and are often silenced to male domination. IBS is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain, abnormal bowel function, and bloating, in the absence of any structural abnormalities, and has a significant impact on one’s life. As I navigate through my experiences of suffering from a chronic illness and the emotional labor involved therein, I shed light on the challenges I face as a woman in managing work and life and as I silence my pain and emotions to fit into the roles of a “professional” academic, a “good” wife, a “good” daughter, a “good” sister-in-law, a “good” daughter-in-law, and so forth. I have used both the lens of stigma to reflect my sufferings and normalization to demonstrate my resilience and (re)adjustment to the new life. In doing so, pain and emotions do leak out during intense situations but silencing chronic illness is mostly strategic as it protects us from being excluded, marginalized, and stigmatzed both at work and home.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of specific carbohydrate restriction (polysaccharides and disaccharides) in the form of the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

A female patient diagnosed with diarrhea predominant IBS was assigned to the SCD for six months. The diet occurred in phases and was advanced based on the individual’s tolerance level under the guidance of a registered dietitian. Quality of life was measured by a pre- and post-IBS severity score questionnaire. Gastrointestinal symptoms were measured by self-assessment of IBS symptoms using a seven-point Likert-like scale, with −3 = substantially worse to +3 = substantially better. Probiotics were consumed throughout the duration of the study.

The quality of life severity score significantly improved from a severity of 315 (with 500 being the most severe) to 15. The initial symptoms from the first day on the diet compared to the total period for bloating, abdominal pain/discomfort, flatulence/wind, diarrhea, bowel urgency, stool consistency, stool frequency, energy levels, incomplete evacuation and abdominal rumbling were improved significantly (p < 0.0005). The SCD diet significantly improved the quality of life and IBS symptoms in a female patient with IBS-diarrhea.

This study is the first of its kind to evaluate the efficacy of the SCD to treat IBS. The SCD should be considered a therapeutic option to treating IBS after fermentable carbohydrate restriction.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a prevalent functional gastrointestinal disorder that significantly impacts the quality of life of affected individuals. Diet has been identified as a potential modifiable risk factor for IBS, yet its association with IBS risk in the Kurdish adult male population remains understudied. This case-control study aimed to investigate the association between the lifeline diet score (LLDS), a validated tool assessing overall diet quality and the risk of IBS in Kurdish adult men.

A total of 200 Kurdish adult men were recruited, comprising 100 IBS patients (cases) and 100 healthy controls without IBS. Medical records and interview questionnaires were used to confirm IBS diagnoses, while detailed dietary questionnaires were administered to assess participants’ dietary habits and calculate their respective LLDS scores. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between LLDS and IBS risk, adjusting for potential confounding factors.

Participants with higher LLDS scores exhibited a significantly reduced risk of IBS compared to those with lower LLDS scores (OR= 0.38, 95% confidence intervals = 0.18–0.77; p <0.001). The association remained statistically significant even after controlling for potential confounders such as socioeconomic status, age, eating rate, protein, fat, physical activity and body mass index.

This case-control study demonstrates a significant inverse association between the LLDS and the risk of IBS in Kurdish adult men. Higher LLDS scores, indicative of a healthier and more balanced diet, were associated with a decreased risk of IBS. These findings highlight the potential role of dietary patterns in IBS prevention and management within the Kurdish adult male population.

The British Digestive Foundation is a charity for research and information on digestive disorders. The leaflet All About Indigestion sets out to explain what is meant by indigestion, how it might be distinguished from heartburn and how both may be avoided. Clear advice is given on consulting a doctor if symptoms persist. The Foundation also has leaflets on irritable bowel syndrome, hiatus hernia, gallstones and avoiding food poisoning. Copies of the leaflets are free but a donation towards the work of the charity would be warmly welcomed. Send an sae to British Digestive Foundation, 3 St Andrew's Place, London NW1 4LB.

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of e‐learning resources based on NICE guidelines in improving knowledge and changing practice among health professionals.

NICE in collaboration with BMJ Learning developed a series of e‐learning modules based on NICE recommendations relating to osteoarthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, urinary tract infection in children, and antibiotic prophylaxis against infective endocarditis. The impact of these modules was evaluated by looking at the knowledge and skills of the learners before and after they did the modules and also asking the learners about resultant practice change.

A total of 5,116 users completed the modules. Completing them enabled users to increase their knowledge and skills score from the pre‐test to the post‐test by a statistically significant amount (p < 0.001): from a mean of 65 per cent to 85 per cent. Qualitative feedback to the modules was overwhelmingly positive. To test long‐term effectiveness, users were e‐mailed six weeks after they had completed the modules to assess practice change. The response rate to the survey was 22.2 per cent. In total 88.6 per cent of those who had cared for patients with these problems since completing the module said that it had helped them put NICE guidelines into practice.

E‐learning modules have high uptake, are popular and effective at helping health professionals learn about NICE guidelines and help them to put these guidelines into practice.

The study is valuable as it shows how interactive and multimedia resources help health professionals learn about guidelines. No previous studies have been identified.