Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Symptoms & Treatment

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is marked by chronic symptoms of abdominal pain, alternating constipation and diarrhea, excess flatus, a sense of incomplete evacuation, and abdominal distention. Women's health recognizes the diversity of it needs over the life cycle and how these needs reflect differences in class, culture, levels of education, race, preference and ethnicity.

Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

There are many Symptoms of Irritable bowel syndrome are below:

• Straining with a bowel movement.
• Infrequent bowel movements.
• Hard or lumpy stools.
• Difficulty in passing stools.
• Inability to have a bowel movement.
• Incomplete evacuation.
• crampy pain in the stomach area ( abdomen )
• painful diarrhea or constipation
• Constipation lasting over 6 months.
• 3 or less bowel movements each week.
• Severe pain
• Swollen abdomen
• Gas
• Mucus in the stool
• Cramping and abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Bloating

Causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Chocolate, alcohol are causes of Causes of Irritable bowel syndrome which that IBS usually begins around age 20 and is more common in women. This disorder can be caused by changes in the nerves that control the muscle contractions in the large intestine The immune system, which fights infection, may also be involved.

• Normal motility, or movement, may not be present in a colon of a person who has IBS.
• The lining of the colon called the epithelium, which is affected by the immune and nervous systems, regulates the flow of fluids in and out of the colon.
• A person's colon may respond strongly to stimuli such as certain foods or stress that would not bother most people.
• ingestion of irritants (coffee, raw fruit, or vegetables)
• lactose intolerance
• abuse of laxatives
• hormonal changes (menstruation).

Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The Treatment of Irritable bowel syndrome are many some treatment may be include :

• stress relief measures, including counseling or mild anti-anxiety agents.
• investigation and avoidance of food irritants and gas-producing foods.
• application of heat to the abdomen.
• bulking agents to reduce episodes of diarrhea and minimize effect of nonpropulsive colonic contractions.
• antispasmodics (propantheline [Pro-Banthine] or diphenoxylate with atropine [Lomotil]) for pain.
• loperamide (imodium A-D) (possibly) to reduce urgency and fecal soiling in patients with persistent diarrhea.
• bowel training (if the cause of IBS is chronic laxative abuse) to regain muscle control.