If you believe you may have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS,, visiting your doctor should be your next step. In order to determine positively that you have irritable bowel syndrome, your doctor will do a thorough medical work up on you and that usually includes interviewing you, the patient, with regard to symptoms together with examining you.
To make his diagnosis, your doctor will ask you questions about your pain, when it comes onand what makes it better or worse. He or she may additionally ask you regarding your bowel movements, with inquiries about how often you open your bowels and what your feces look like.
There is no specific test for IBS, although diagnostic tests may be performed to rule out other 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. Usually, a doctor will perform a sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy, which allows the doctor to look inside the colon.
Your doctor puts an endoscope into your colon via your behind. The camera then transfers the images of your colon onto a large screen for the doctor to see it better.
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.
If your test results are negative, the doctor may diagnose IBS based on your symptoms, which includes how often you have had abdominal pain or discomfort during the past year, when the pain starts and stops in relation to bowel function, and how your bowel frequency and stool consistency have changed.
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.
Stomach discomfort will have 2 of three of the proceeding indicators:
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:
How often the bowel movements occur is altered
a change in appearance of bowel movements
feelings of uncontrollable urgency to have a bowel movement
constipation or person is unable to have a bowel movement
mucus in the stoolabdominal puffiness
High temperature, loss of weight, bleeding and ongoing strong discomfort are not indications of IBS but may be signs of other issues such as inflamed bowels or, sometimes, cancer.
If you are less than fifty years old and have usual symptoms of IBS, you probably will not need further tests.
But,, if your doctor thinks your symptoms are unusual, for example, losing weight or finding traces of blood in your stools, you may need other tests.
Your doctor may refer you to the hospital for additional tests if there is a family history of bowel problems, are over 50 and have recently developed IBS for the first time, or if you have the diarrhea-only type of IBS. Your doctor would admit you because these symptoms are indicators of serious colon-related conditions such as colon cancer.
Possibly related posts:
