If you think you may have irritable bowel syndrome, a visit to your doctor is your next step. ibs is generally diagnosed on the basis of a complete medical history, that includes a careful description of all the symptoms and a physical exam.
Your doctor will question you regarding your symptoms so he can discover what triggers the discomfort, when symptoms start and what foods and or activities cause most pain and which ones lessen it or seem to cause it to stop. Your physician will also likely question you regarding bowels, expressly to find out how often you go to the bathroom and what your bowel movements look like.
There is no precise test for IBS, although diagnostic tests may be performed to exclude alternative problems. Taking a fecal sample for testing and performing a complete blood count panel are just two of the possible labs that may be performed. Typically, a doctor will perform a sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy, which allows him to look inside the colon.
Your doctor puts an endoscope into your colon via your behind. The endoscopes imaging software transfers pictures of your insides to a screen so your physician can look at them clearly. A tissue sample may be taken during the procedure. The sample is removed from the colon wall and reviewed by the lab. A biopsy will eliminate the presence of other conditions like colon cancer.
Your doctor might determine that you have IBS having reviewed your stated issues, frequency of stomach discomfort over the last 12 months, the beginning and cessation of discomfort relative to bowel movements as well as how often your bowels move and whether your bowel has changed, if examining your colon comes back with no helpful information.
Like many illnesses, physicians match symptoms to a review of typical issues in order to determine whether a patient has IBS.
Indications that you might be experiencing IBS include stomach pain for a minimum of one week per month over the last year. The weeks of pain may be spread out or sporadic.
The abdominal pain or discomfort has two of the following three features:
1.Pain disappears once you vacate your bowels.
2.When it starts, there is a change in how often you have a bowel movement.
3.Consistency or look of bowel movement is altered when pain begins.
Other specific attributes must also be visible, like:
1. How often the bowel movements occur is altered
2. A change in appearance of bowel movements
3. Urgent need to defecate that is not controllable
4. Difficulty or inability to pass stool
5. Mucus in bowel movement
6. Bloating
Bleeding, fever, weight loss, and persistent severe pain are not symptoms of IBS and may indicate other problems such as inflammation, or rarely, cancer. If you are less than fifty and have the usual symptoms of IBS, it’s likely will not need further tests.
If you are showing signs of unexplained weight loss or blood in your stools, some further tests might be required.
If bowel problems are in your family history, if you’re presenting symptoms of diarrhea-specific IBS or if you are more than 50 years old and this is the first time you are experiencing indications of IBS, you may be admitted to the hospital for additional testing. This is because all of these can be linked to more serious underlying bowel conditions..