Digestive Diseases: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), also called "irritable bowel," "irritable colon" or "spastic colon," is a common condition that affects between 25 and 55 million Americans, the majority of whom are women. The condition most often occurs in people in their late teens to early 40s.

In essence, the condition is a combination of abdominal discomfort or pain and altered bowel habits: either altered frequency (diarrhea or constipation) or altered stool form (thin, hard, or soft and liquid).

IBS is not a life-threatening condition and it does not make a person more likely to develop other colon conditions, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, or colon cancer or any diseases of the heart or nerves. Yet IBS can be a chronic probelm that can significantly impair quality of life in those that have it. For example, people with IBS miss work 3 times more than people without IBS and the condition is associated with absenteeism from school, decreased participation in activities of daily living, alterations of one's work setting (shifting to working at home, changing hours) or giving up work altogether.

What Are the Symptoms of IBS?

Among the symptoms associated with IBS are:

• Diarrhea (often described as violent episodes of diarrhea).
• Constipation.
• Constipation alternating with diarrhea.
• Abdominal pains or cramps, usually in the lower half of the abdomen that are aggravated by meals and relieved by having a bowel movement. Often the person has more frequent bowel movements when they have pain and the stools are looser.
• Excess gas or bloating.
• Harder or looser stools than normal (rabbit like pellets or flat ribbon stools).
• Visible abdominal distension.

Some people with IBS have other symptoms not related to their digestive tract, such as urinary symptoms or sexual problems.

Symptoms of IBS tend to worsen with stress.

People with IBS have traditionally been described as having "constipation-predominant," "diarrhea-predominant," or an alternating pattern of constipation and diarrhea. Each type represents about a third of the overall IBS population.