Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome

Symptoms

The symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are initially harmless, but are often accompanied by a more or less restricted quality of life for those affected. A characteristic feature of the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome is that they usually disappear completely during the night, meaning that the patient does not wake up in pain at night, unlike many other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The individual symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are not very characteristic on their own, but taken together they often present an almost typical picture.

The extent of the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome varies from person to person and can vary greatly, even in the same person within one day and/or over the course of several weeks and months. The main symptom of irritable bowel syndrome is abdominal pain, which can be either stabbing or cramping and can occur at very different sites. In many patients, the abdomen feels very bloated and tense, which is the result of too much air or gas in the intestine.

Under certain circumstances this can lead to flatulence (meteorism). In addition to the pain coming from inside, many also suffer from an increased sensitivity to mechanical stimuli coming from outside. These abdominal pains are always accompanied by changes in bowel habits, on the basis of which irritable bowel syndrome can again be divided into different subgroups.

If the patients mainly suffer from diarrhea, it is called diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel, if they mainly suffer from constipation, it is called constipation-predominant irritable bowel, and if abdominal pain dominates the clinical picture, it is called pain-predominant irritable bowel. However, many patients also suffer from mixed forms. Depending on which form of irritable bowel syndrome is present, the corresponding symptoms are naturally also found: Diarrhea or constipation, which can also occur alternately, with mucus often being added to the stool.

The defecation itself is often painful and often the feeling remains that the bowel is not completely emptied even after the bowel movement. By definition, the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome improve after defecation. The disease is often accompanied by increased and loud intestinal noises.

Some patients also develop symptoms of an irritable stomach, such as a feeling of fullness after eating, which leads to pain in the upper abdomen. In addition, several aspects of bowel movement may be altered, at least two of which must be present for it to be called irritable bowel syndrome: altered frequency or composition of the stool (mushy, watery or hard), difficulty in defecating, increased urge to defecate or the feeling of incomplete defecation. Accompanying symptoms are those which, although not affecting the digestive tract itself, are very often associated with irritable bowel syndrome.

These are primarily psychological or psychosomatic disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders or sleeping disorders. In addition, patients also frequently experience general fatigue, tiredness and concentration difficulties. In addition, many also complain of stomach and headaches, migraines or back pain.

In women, irritable bowel syndrome is often associated with menstrual pain. The symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are sometimes very unspecific and can be found in similar or even the same form in many other diseases, but they manifest themselves organically and therefore require different treatment. These include, above all, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, and benign (polyps) or malignant (cancer) neoplasms, which for a given reason must be absolutely ruled out before the diagnosis is “irritable bowel syndrome”.