If you suffer from any of these symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome?
- Pain and discomfort may occur in different parts of the abdomen. Pain usually 'comes and goes'. The length of each bout of pain can vary greatly. The pain often eases when you pass stools (motions or faeces) or wind. The severity of the pain can vary from mild to severe, both from person to person, and from time to time in the same person.
- Bloating and swelling of your abdomen may develop from time to time. You may pass more wind than usual.
- Stools (sometimes called motions or faeces)
- Some people have bouts of diarrhoea, and some have bouts of constipation.
- Some people have bouts of diarrhoea that alternate with bouts of constipation.
- Sometimes the stools become small and pellet like. Sometimes the stools become watery or ribbony. At times, mucus may be mixed with the stools.
- You may have a feeling of not emptying your rectum after going to the toilet.
- Some people have urgency, which means you have to get to the toilet quickly. A 'morning rush' is common. That is, you feel an urgent need to go to the toilet several times shortly after getting up. This is often during and after breakfast.
- Other symptoms sometimes occur and include: nausea (feeling sick), headache, belching, poor appetite, tiredness, backache, muscle pains, feeling quickly 'full' after eating, heartburn, and bladder symptoms (an associated 'irritable bladder').
Some people have occasional mild symptoms. Others have unpleasant symptoms for long periods. Many people fall somewhere in between, with flare-ups of symptoms from time to time. Some doctors group people with IBS into one of three categories:
- Those with abdominal pain or discomfort, and the other symptoms are mainly bloating and constipation.
- Those with abdominal pain or discomfort, and the other symptoms are mainly urgency to get to the toilet and diarrhoea.
- Those who alternate between constipation and diarrhoea.
