All you ever wanted to know about farting but were too embarrassed to ask.
There can be nothing as embarrassing and painful as gas. It gurgles and squelches through the intestines during pauses in conversations, squeaking like a rusty door or roaring like an … Continue reading
‘Twas the clinic before Christmas
It had been a long clinic. It was already six o’clock and I wanted to go home when the nurse came in and said she was sorry but I had … Continue reading
Don’t let IBS wreck your Christmas.
It’s the silly season again! We will all be tempted to eat far too much, drink ourselves daft and collapse in front of the telly. And then there’s the relatives. … Continue reading
The patient’s story and the politics of representation.
Fifty years ago, medical students were always instructed to record a good history. This was a story of ‘the patient’. It could take anything from half an hour to an … Continue reading
Perchance to dream; sleep and the nightmare of IBS.
Many years ago, in one of the last projects my research group conducted, we found that people with the erratic bowels of IBS also had erratic eating patterns, erratic moods … Continue reading
Is your life with IBS intolerable? So tell us your story.
Tracey wrote to me the other day. You asked me to tell you what my life with IBS was like. Well, I am thirty nine years old and have had … Continue reading
The natural history of pain; insights from toothache?
Joan had been working hard all week. No sooner had she returned from Oxford than she had to turn around and go to London for a meeting and then after … Continue reading
IBS: let’s change the model.
The practice of medicine still operates on a model that was developed early in the last century. First establish the diagnosis, then identify the cause and finally apply the treatment. … Continue reading
Growing up with IBS; don’t always blame the parents.
For most people, IBS starts in young adulthood, teens or early twenties. It may last for years, even most of their lives, but more often it tends to come and … Continue reading
A Case for Columbo
I receive many letters on The IBS Network website (Ask Prof Nick) from people tormented daily and often for years by their abdominal pain, bloating and bowel upset. Although Susie’s … Continue reading
The Sensitive Gut 