irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis

The first step to irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis, is seeing your physician if you think you have IBS. Irritable bowel syndrome is generally diagnosed on the basis of a complete medical history that includes a careful description of symptoms and a physical examination.

There is no specific test for irritable bowel syndrome, although diagnostic tests may be performed to rule out other problems. These tests may include stool sample testing, blood tests, and x rays.

irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis

Typically, a doctor will perform a sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy, which allows the doctor to look inside the colon. This is done by inserting a small, flexible tube with a camera on the end of it through the anus. The camera then transfers the images of your colon onto a large screen for the doctor to see better.

If your test results are negative, the doctor may diagnose irritable bowel syndrome based on your symptoms, including 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. Many doctors refer to a list of specific symptoms that must be present to make a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome.

How stress affects irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis

Stress—feeling mentally or emotionally tense, troubled, angry, or overwhelmed—can stimulate colon spasms in people with irritable bowel syndrome. The colon has many nerves that connect it to the brain. Like the heart and the lungs, the colon is partly controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which responds to stress.

These nerves control the normal contractions of the colon and cause abdominal discomfort at stressful times. People often experience cramps or “butterflies” when they are nervous or upset.

In people with irritable bowel syndrome, the colon can be overly responsive to even slight conflict or stress. Stress makes the mind more aware of the sensations that arise in the colon, making the person perceive these sensations as unpleasant.

immune system and irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis

Some evidence suggests that irritable bowel syndrome is affected by the immune system, which fights infection in the body. The immune system is affected by stress. For all these reasons, stress management is an important part of treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Stress management options include:

Stress reduction training
Counseling and support
Regular exercise such as walking
Changes to the stressful situations in your life
Adequate sleep

What does the colon do

The colon, which is about 5 feet long, connects the small intestine to the rectum and anus. The major function of the colon is to absorb water, nutrients, and salts from the partially digested food that enters from the small intestine.

Two pints of liquid matter enter the colon from the small intestine each day. Stool volume is a third of a pint. The difference between the amount of fluid entering the colon from the small intestine and the amount of stool in the colon is what the colon absorbs each day.

Colon motility & irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis

Colon motility—the contraction of the colon muscles and the movement of its contents—is controlled by nerves, hormones, and impulses in the colon muscles. These contractions move the contents inside the colon toward the rectum. During this passage, water and nutrients are absorbed into the body, and what is left over is stool.

A few times each day contractions push the stool down the colon, resulting in a bowel movement. However, if the muscles of the colon, sphincters, and pelvis do not contract in the right way, the contents inside the colon do not move correctly, resulting in abdominal pain, cramps, constipation, a sense of incomplete stool movement, or diarrhea.

irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis linked to other health problems

As its name indicates, irritable bowel syndrome is a syndrome—a combination of signs and symptoms. Irritable bowel syndrome has not been shown to lead to a serious disease, including cancer.

Through the years, irritable bowel syndrome has been called by many names, among them colitis, mucous colitis, spastic colon, or spastic bowel. However, new irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis shows no link has been established between irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.