

Nearly 75 percent of people with IBS also reported migraines, and just over half reported IBS and fibromyalgia - both which are conditions that affect the nervous system. Only 3 percent of IBS patients reported having only IBS and no other central sensitization syndromes. Of those, 264 - about 35 percent - reported having IBS. In a study published in February 2023 in the journal Neurogastroenterology & Motility, Wang and her colleagues collected survey data from 775 people with a central sensitization syndrome diagnosis. Research has shown that having IBS puts a person at higher risk of developing other pain and neurological disorders, too. “This means that IBS is not just a disorder isolated to the gastrointestinal tract, there is a two-way link between the GI tract and the nervous system.” The Nervous System LinkĪccording to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, RLS is a neurological disorder - meaning one that affects the nerves - that causes uncomfortable sensations in the legs, which triggers an irresistible urge to move them. “Although there's still a lot we don't know about the condition, IBS is now conceptualized as a disorder of the gut-brain interaction,” she says. Pain from one condition can drive sensitivity to pain from the other, says Wang.ĭespite their names, both conditions affect more than a single body system. That amplification of painful or uncomfortable sensations is something people with RLS and IBS may have in common, according to Yuying Luo, MD, chief gastroenterology fellow at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. If you are pricking someone with RLS, they are going to feel way more than someone without RLS.”

“Similarly, with RLS, patients are more sensitive to feelings in their limbs.

“For people with IBS, their bowels feel more than people without this sensitivity,” Dr. In all of these conditions, a person’s brain or nervous system is more sensitive to sensations, including pain. Compared with the general population, patients with IBS had a nearly threefold increased risk of having RLS.Īlthough the two conditions are not directly related, and one does not cause the other, IBS and RLS do share commonalities related to how the brain interprets sensation.Īccording to Xiao Jing Wang, MD, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, both IBS and RLS are central sensitization syndromes, a group of conditions that include IBS and RLS, as well as fibromyalgia, migraines, and chronic fatigue. People who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder that affects the gut, have a higher chance of also being diagnosed with restless leg syndrome (RLS), a nervous system condition.Ībout 10 percent of people in the United States have RLS, according to the National Institutes of Health, and as many as 15 percent have IBS, the American College of Gastroenterology reports.Ī meta-analysis published in January 2021 in the journal Sleep Medicine, looked at five observational studies that together included more than 86,000 people whose IBS appeared to predict RLS.
