Irritable Bowel Symptoms

Common Irritable Bowel Symptoms

Irritable bowel syndrome is an illness that can interfere with a person's everyday
life. Although it is non-fatal, sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome find that the
symptoms that they feel can cause a huge amount of stress on their lives. Irritable
bowel syndrome is an illness that should be identified in its early stages so that
a person would be able to take action more quickly. This is because of the fact
that irritable bowel syndrome does take some getting used to. Irritable bowel
symptoms should be familiar to people so that they can do this.

What are common irritable bowel symptoms?

Well, during the early years of this disease, it was not really known if there were
any common symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. In the past, people who had
irritable bowel syndrome were diagnosed under different diseases. As a result of
this, few people received the right treatment for them. Thankfully enough, a group
of specialists have now established a certain set of standards to see if a person
is suffering from any irritable bowel symptoms.

The ROME I, II and III criteria now form the basis for judging whether what a
person is feeling constitutes irritable bowel symptoms. Under the ROME II criteria,
patients with irritable bowel syndrome would be diagnosed based on 12 weeks of
data. Those 12 weeks are taken out of the previous year in the patient's life. In
those twelve weeks, patients who have irritable bowel syndrome suffer from
abdominal pain which:

1) could be relieved by defecation

2) accompanied with change in stool frequency
3) accompanied with change in stool appearance

In this case, change in stool frequency, would be "abnormal". What does this mean?
Well, it would either be more than 3 times a day or less than 3 times a week. When
a person experiences a sudden abnormality in his or her stool, then it could be an
irritable bowel symptom.

The fact that this may confuse some people is completely understandable. This is
because people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome experience two types of
irritable bowel symptoms:

1) Diarrhea � This irritable bowel symptom constitutes having to defecate more

frequently than normal. The stools could be watery in form and could sometimes be
accompanied by mucus.

2) Constipation � This irritable bowel symptom constitutes having a hard time

defecating mainly because the stool is hard and lumpy.
These irritable bowel symptoms often make life very uncomfortable for people who
suffer from this illness. It is often the case that people who suffer these
irritable bowel symptoms absent themselves from work.

Another common irritable bowel symptom is having gas. This is when you feel bloated
in the abdominal area. Often, this gas can be released through breaking wind.

Of course, a patient does not need to have all of these irritable bowel symptoms in
order to be diagnosed with the illness. It is often the case that different tests
are used on a patient in order to determine whether experiencing these irritable
bowel symptoms does constitute having the illness.
Knowing the different irritable bowel symptoms is important because people who
experience these symptoms need to consult with experts quickly. This is in order to
help them prevent this illness from greatly affecting their lifestyles. By
understanding these irritable bowel symptoms, people are able to stop these
symptoms from controlling their lives.