I have been told that I have a "nervous stomach." What is that?

A misnomer. Doctors and patients have noticed for years that some people experience a variety of abdominal symptoms when under extreme stress. There are many functional disorders of the bowel which result in symptoms when no anatomic cause can be found. For the last 30 years, these have been labeled "Irritable Bowel Syndrome;" more recently, these disorders have been called "Gastrointestinal Hypersensitivity and Dysmotility Syndrome." See irritable bowel discussion later in this document.