IBS: Irritable Bowel Syndrome
by Hospital Ratings & Reviews
Filed under Health Conditions, Health-E Living, Medical
Irritable bowel syndrome is a disorder that effects quite a number of Americans. In fact, it is thought that about one in five people in the United States, or about 20% of all adults, have IBS. IBS is also said to be responsible for about 50% or half of all the gastroenterologist visits each year.
Generally speaking, most IBS sufferers will, at some point, have to visit a gastroenterologist which is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of these types of conditions. IBS can be very uncomfortable. If you have it, it’s important to learn early on, about irritable bowel syndrome and how you can relieve some of your symptoms. However, before moving on to some things you can do about Irritable Bowel Syndrome it’s important to understand it.
Understanding Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS, as it is called for short, is also known as spastic colon. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is known as a disorder of function rather than structure. Meaning that if you have IBS, there are no identifiable abnormalities that your physician will have found that are apparent or visible during certain diagnostic exams which visualize your gastrointestinal system, such as the colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy. Instead, there are issues regarding the functioning of your gastrointestinal system if you have been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
IBS Symptoms
IBS has a variety of symptoms associated with it. Identifying and listing your symptoms is a good first step so that you and your physician can get a head start on figuring out what’s wrong.
The most frequent IBS symptoms include:
· Pain in the Abdomen (lasting at least 12 weeks out of the previous 12 months) Need not be consecutive
· Cramping
· Bloating
· Pain that is relieved by having a bowel movement
· Constipation and/or Diarrhea
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, especially if they recur frequently, it may be a very good idea to discuss these with your doctor.
In some individuals the symptoms can fluctuate: constipation and/or diarrhea may occur even all in the same day. Noticing a chance in the stool or bowel habits is often an early symptom of IBS.
It is also thought that patients with other conditions are more likely to suffer with IBS. If you have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress, or chronic pelvic pain there is thought to be a higher likelihood that you may experience IBS during your lifetime. Anyone with a type of auto-immune condition may also be pre-disposed to IBS.
Women who are menstruating may often find that if they have IBS, menstruation worsens their irritable bowel symptoms.
What To Do First If You Suspect You May Have Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Should you suspect that you may be experiencing IBS, the first step is to contact your doctor for an appointment. Proper diagnosis is always your #1 goal in getting relief from a medical concern.
Your family physician may want to refer you to a gastroenterologist, a physician who specializes in disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, for a more complete evaluation. It may be helpful for you to keep a symptom log noting the date/time and symptoms you are experiencing. Document your bowel habits especially noting what you ate, the symptoms you experienced, and anything you did to resolve the symptoms. In your symptom log also note the amount of time that it took following a meal for you to experience the symptoms.
Some Common Questions Your Physician May Ask:
1. Are you relieved from the pain after defecation?
2. When you feel this way, is there a change in the frequency of your stool?
3. When you are experiencing this pain, is there a change in the form or the way that your stool looks?
Note: color, consistency, amount of stool (Hard, lumpy, loose, watery, well formed, cylindrical)
4. Do you have any blood in your stool? If so, how often, how much, and what color is the blood?
5. How many bowel movements per day do you have? More than three per day is not generally normal
6. Do you strain to have a bowel movement, or do you feel increased urgency to get to a bathroom? Are you able to completely finish your bowel movement?
7. Do you have mucus in your stools?
Blood work will also normally be performed as part of your initial diagnosis and workup.
And your physician should perform a physical examination of you in order to rule in or rule out Irritable Bowel Syndrome. There could be other things other than IBS which is causing you discomfort. The most important thing is to document your symptoms and schedule an appointment with your doctor to have a full evaluation to determine what the problem is, and even more importantly, how to alleviate your symptoms.
Was diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and given treatment but there’s been no change. The doctor said I have lots of acids. Does this cause ulcers?
My daughter starting having problems with her stomach 13 months ago. She’s had colonoscopy, other types of studies and nothing specific could be found. Then they thought she could be celiac disease but the test came back normal. Now they are saying she has IBS. I’m not convinced there isn’t something else going on. Any advice?
Thank you for helping those with IBS. I wasn’t sure for a long time what was wrong but then I started reading more about irritable bowel syndrome and asked my doctor about it. Sure enough, that’s what they now think I have. I’d like to know more about the alternative or healthy treatments for it because I’m not much for taking prescription medications.
This really helped me. IBS has been in my entire family and I am always trying to learn how to better manage it.
Struggled with IBS for the last 5.5 years. My husband has it also so we are always on the lookout for things we can do to manage this better. Changing to a gluten free diet has helped us immensly. We will also check out your suggestions on the probiotics. In the past we’ve never been able to find a probiotic that worked, but maybe that’s because we were using probiotics with too many different strains. Will try Acidolphilus and report in with how that did.
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later. I’ve struggled with IBS for years. Think bowel disorders run in my family. You may have a valid point about using organic foods. I have also been on probiotics but I’m going to try just using Acidophilus.
Probiotics do work along with the other suggestions posted by the author of the article and folks who’ve commented. But just make sure everyone that more strains of probiotics don’t always equal better results. I had to just use Acidophilus because if I used any of the brands which boasted that they had all kinds of strains of the good bacteria, my IBS and bowel issues actually got worse. Just wanted to let you all know to be aware.
IBS has been in my life for around 8 years now. Sometimes it’s been under control others it is very difficult for me to control the symptoms. I will try some of the things that are suggested. It can ‘t hurt and thanks for alll the info.
Hey Mary, sure! The main foods that I eliminated were sugar, processed foods (crackers, chips, cereal,etc) and dairy. I really just ate eggs, meats, veggies ( but not raw when digestion is bad), some lower glycemic fruits like berries and nuts are good, but I don’t like them very much.
. Now I will have some steel cut oatmeal and I eat most fruits, but I still try to eat this way 8 years later.
I also juice veggies everyday now like carrots spinach lemons and apple mixed. I find when I skip for a few days I start to get constipated. It really helps!
Digestive enzymes and probiotics…..I would say any reputable health food store like Whole Foods. If you don’t live near one I would look at amazon and maybe do standard process or garden of life. They are both good companies that have been around a while.
It really does get better with lifestyle changes. No doctors ever even mentioned any of these things that finally cured me. Good luck!
Re: IBS and what to do
Hi Ashley, you have several good points. I think diet and exercise can help. Do you mind sharing what you did specifically with your diet that was most useful? Also, was their any particular types of enzymes and/or probiotics that you used? I have a tricky case of IBS and the protibiotics that I tried I think made it worse but then someone told me that sometimes there are different types of probiotics that are better.
Glad you were able to get yours cleared up.
I had IBS once upon a time at the age of 23. For me, it should have been called poor diet and poor sleep habits sent digestion into the gutter. I did take the drug Zelnorm for a few weeks to kick start everything. Then I realized that if I changed what I ate, took digestive enzymes and probiotics, took wheat grass shots and started excercising my IBS just magically went away
I still have to watch it to this day, but it is very manageable with lifestyle changes.
Sometimes I do think that doctors just give a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome to patients if they can’t figure out what the real problem is. I get more help these days going to my local compounding pharmacy and speaking to the pharmacist for help than I do going to my doctor. Thanks for the info on IBS though. It’s a difficult disorder to contend with–that’s for sure.