Is IBS a disease?

Is IBS a disease?

Lin Chang (UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases) gives expert video advice on: What is 'irritable bowel syndrome' or IBS?; What does 'irritable' mean in terms of IBS?; What is a 'bowel'? and more...

It's right now termed as a disorder, which means you have symptoms but it's not completely understood. The pathophysiology, or the cause of it, is not completely understood, and if we did understand it, it would probably be termed a disease. Is it a disease because it causes symptoms and has some pathology associated with it? Yes. Do we completely understand the pathology? Not completely.