IBS Symptoms
IBS Symptoms
IBS symptoms vary from person to person but it is typically self-diagnosed when one has acute lower abdominal pain. Doctors have developed and use a standard list of IBS symptoms to diagnose IBS called the Rome III criteria. Some people may have all, a few, or just one of the symptoms associated with IBS and be diagnosed accordingly.
Approximately 80% of IBS sufferers are female. For women IBS symptoms are more prevalent during menstruation. Some women assume that these symptoms are a normal part of their menstrual cycle and just accept them. These symptoms should not to be confused with menstrual symptoms and should be diagnosed separately.
There are many symptoms that can be contributed to that of irritated bowel syndrome. Learning about these can help you and your doctor to get a start on what’s wrong. In many cases, IBS symptoms may seem like a normal bowel, but in fact there could be additional problems lurking. The most frequent symptoms include:
Pain in the lower abdomen
Bloating
Pain that is relieved by defecation
Constipation
Diarrhea
Typically a doctor will go through a list of questions to ascertain the IBS diagnosis. The questions you can expect to be asked are:
- How long have you had the abdominal pain? If it has been at least 6 months you may have IBS.
- Have you had abdominal pain/discomfort in each of the last 3 months? If you have had pain or discomfort for at least 3 days in a row for each of those months you may have IBS.
- Does your stomach feel swollen, stuffed or bloated? If yes you may have IBS.
- Does having a bowel movement relieve you pain/discomfort? If yes, then you may have IBS.
- Does your pain/discomfort change according to the regularity of your bowel movement? If yes, then you may have IBS.
- Do you notice a change in the appearance or consistency of your stool during your pain/discomfort? If you have mucus in your stool, it may be lumpy and hard, or it may be loose a watery like diarrhea, then you may have IBS.
- Have you noticed a change in the frequency of you bowel movements? For example, if you usually pass a stool once a day and now pass your stool every 3 days or even 3 or 4 times a day accompanied by pain/discomfort you may have IBS. If you pass your stool many times a day you’ll have diarrhea and loose, runny stools. If you pass your stool every 3 or more days you will be constipated and your stool will be hard and lumpy.
- Do you feel like you have an uncontrollable urge to go to the bathroom and can’t go or it doesn’t feel like you’ve finished? Then you may have IBS.
These are just the questions that will uncover your physical IBS symptoms. There are other IBS symptoms that are not related to your intestines and my help diagnosing your problem.
- Sexual Problems
- Anxiety
- Headaches
- Backaches
- A weird taste in your mouth
- Depression
- Heart palpitations
- Insomnia
If you have any of these IBS symptoms or a combination of these IBS symptoms you should see your physician.
A person may have IBS if their bowel habits change from their usual pattern and occur with abdominal pain or discomfort. For instance, if you usually go to the bathroom once a day, then you feel abdominal pain or discomfort and start passing stool every other day — or 3 or 4 times a day — you may have IBS
The stool comes out lumpy and hard, or loose and watery.
Bowel movement feels uncontrollably urgent, difficult to pass, or unfinished.
There is mucus in the stool.
Tummy feels bloated.
If you are suffering from any of these conditions, you may want to talk to your doctor, especially if they are recurring.
The symptoms that you may experience may feel like diarrhea or even constipation. In some individuals it moves from one extreme to the next. A change in the stool is often a symptom of IBS.
It is also believed that those that have other conditions are more likely to experience IBS. Those conditions include chronic fatigue syndrome, stress, chronic pelvic pain and fibromyalgia.
