[FUNCTIONAL BLOATING, CONSTIPATION AND DIARRHEA].

ABSTRACT

Functional disorders and diseases are usually diagnosed by exclusion when there is no clear presence of inflammatory, anatomic, metabolic, or neoplastic processes which would explain the symptoms and difficulties of the patient. The Rome III Diagnostic Criteria for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (FGID) are used in clinical and scientific medicine. Functional disorders of the upper gastrointestinal system in adults are classified into six groups. Group C are functional bowel disorders which include irritable bowel syndrome (C1), functional bloating (C2), functional constipation (C3) and functional diarrhea (4). The symptoms of functional gastrointestinal disorders are often a combination of disrupted physiological functions, such as an increase in motor reactivity of the intestine, visceral hypersensitivity, impaired immune functions and inflammatory intestinal mucosa followed by change in the intestinal bacterial flora and disrupted central nervous system-enteric nervous system regulation because of exposure to different psychosocial and sociocultural factors. The symptoms must be present for at least six months before clinical manifestation of the disease and also must be currently present and diagnostically confirmed in the last three months. Diagnostic procedures are targeted individually, depending on the patient age, nature of symptoms, and other clinical and laboratory characteristics. Treatment is based on health education, nutrition counseling, medication and psychological support.