Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

What are the main symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)? Usually there’s crampy pain and bloating in the stomach area or abdomen. Some people get painful diarrhea or constipation. Others get both diarrhea and constipation in an alternating pattern. In addition, there can be mucus in the stool and a feeling of not finishing a bowel movement.

The more symptoms present, the likelier it is that a doctor will diagnose the condition as IBS. However, the details of where, when, and how pain occurs, and the patterns of how the patient is defecating may be different for each patient.

Many who get IBS begin to experience its symptoms in their 20’s or 30’s, at irregular periods. It’s rare that IBS begins later in life. It’s also rare for symptoms to occur at night. Most often they’re a problem in the day.

Some of the tools a doctor might use to diagnose IBS include a medical history of the condition, patient’s life, emotional state, and family history, as well as a physical exam, stool exam, probe with a fiber optic instrument, and various blood, urine, and other lab tests.

Doctors seek to rule out other diseases that can look like IBS. These include lactose intolerance, diverticular disease, drug-induced diarrhea, biliary tract disease, laxative abuse, parasitic diseases, bacterial enteritis, eosinophilic gastritis or enteritis, microscopic (collagenous) colitis, and early inflammatory bowel disease. Patients over 40 are more likely than younger patients to have these organic illnesses.

The signs that doctors look for that could indicate one of these illnesses include a change in pain or bowel habits or complaints, fresh blood in the stool, weight loss, very severe abdominal pain or unusual bloating, unusually foul-smelling stools, fever, or chills.

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Sources:

• http://my.webmd.com/search/search_results?query=Irritable+Bowel+Syndrome&filter=mywebmd_all_filter
• http://www.aboutibs.org/
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00106&
• http://www.helpforibs.com/
• http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/ibs_ez/
• http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/CVMHighLight?file=/mrkshared/mmanual/section3/chapter32/32a.jsp%3Fregion%3Dmerckcom&word=IBS&domain=www.merck.com#hl_anchor