Know about the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is a common disorder faced by people as this largely affects the large intestine. This disorder has a range of symptoms including abdominal pain and constipation among others.

Irritable bowel syndrome symptoms are either mild or severe. While the mild form of symptoms can be controlled with a balanced diet and maintaining proper eating habits; however, in case a person has severe symptoms, medication and hospitalization might be needed.

Irritable bowel syndrome – Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome vary in different people. Some of the most common irritable bowel syndrome symptoms are as follows:

A person suffering from irritable bowel syndrome experiences abdominal pain and cramping. This cramping is usually relieved only when the person passes a bowel movement. Excess gas formation also leads to the development of irritable bowel syndrome.

People who suffer from diarrhea and constipation are also known to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. Such patients often get alternating bouts of constipation and diarrhea. Mucus in the stool also occurs when a person is suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.

However, this disease condition has alternating signs of severity. At the time, the person suffers from severe symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome which can also lessen at other times.

Pain and cramping
Abdominal pain is one of the most common irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. In a normal scenario, the gut and brain have an important role in controlling of the digestion. This generally happens through hormones, nerves, and the signals released by bacteria which reside in the human gut.

In cases when a person is experiencing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, these signals get distorted and lead to a medical complication. Lower abdominal pain, which gets severe after a bowel movement, is the most common among irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.

Diarrhea
Diarrhea affects one-third of the people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome and is considered to be a key symptom of this condition. In a study with people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, it was found that they had around 12 bowel movements per week and this number was more than twice for people who did not suffer from this disease condition. People who suffer from diarrhea-related irritable bowel syndrome-symptoms tend to have watery stool which might also contain some mucus.

Constipation
Constipation is also a sign that the person might be suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. This is one of the most common types of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms and over 50 percent of people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome are known to have constipation related irritable bowel syndrome.

It is due to altered communication between the brain and the bowel which fastens or slows down the time for passing stool. As this causes a delay, more water is absorbed by the bowel and it gets difficult to pass stools, which results in constipation.

If a person is passing stools less than three times per week, they are known to suffer from constipation, another key symptom of irritable bowel syndrome.

It should also be noted here that constipation is a very common problem. In cases when the abdominal pain improves after passing of bowel movement yet a feeling of incomplete bowel remains, it should be seen as a symptom of irritable bowel syndrome.

Changes in bowel movements
Among one of the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are the changes in bowel movement. It happens that slow-moving stool in the intestine often becomes dehydrated, and this happens as the intestine absorbs water. This leads to the creation of hard stools which leads to constipation.

Irritable bowel syndrome also leads to the development of mucus in the stool which is not generally associated with any other kind of cause of constipation. It is worth mentioning that irritable bowel syndrome also changes the potential time that the stool remains in the intestine. This leads to a change in the amount of water in the stool and makes the stool loose, watery, dry, or hard.

Gas and bloating
Alteration in digestion during irritable bowel syndrome also leads to the production of gas in the gut. This often leads to bloating which can turn into an uncomfortable scenario for the person. People who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome also associate bloating with the disease condition and the symptom is truly nagging.

Food intolerance
Of all the people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, around 70 percent have reported that some particular kind of food items also trigger irritable bowel syndrome conditions. Caffeine has been identified as one of the food items that trigger irritable bowel syndrome. Other probable foods which lead to the development of irritable bowel syndrome include food items rich in lactose and gluten.

However, the foods which trigger irritable bowel syndrome do not bring an appreciable difference in the digestion abilities of the person and such people tend to take normal food items at their usual pace.