Bloating; From Traditional Iranian Medicine to Modern Medicine

Bloating is a common gastrointestinal (GI) problem in the general population. In many cases، no known organic cause could be found for the problem، and such cases of bloating are considered as functional bloating. Although until three decades ago، the functional GI diseases were only mentioned to be psychological، today the relationship between physiological and psychological factors in this problem have been considered. In the TIM، in addition to non-organic causes، other organic causes (such as temperaments) according to the basis of TIM are proposed، which can considerably helpful in treatment of these problems. In this paper، the causes of functional bloating in the TIM and modern medicine were compared. Furthermore، it was tried to determine whether some patients with functional bloating in the viewpoint of modern medicine could be diagnosed as bloating with organic causes in the TIM. Also، the role of psychological aspects in these two fields was evaluated. Finally، some comparisons between these topics in the TIM and traditional Chinese medicine were provided.