IBS is a real medical condition with recurring symptoms. Without proper diagnosis and management, IBS symptoms can disrupt the lives of sufferers. However, IBS has not been shown to cause any dangerous or life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

The most common symptoms that IBS patients complain of are: frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain (usually in the lower abdomen area), gas, bloating, diarrhea alternating with constipation, mucus in the stool, bowel urgency or incontinence, and a feeling of incomplete evacuation after a bowel movement. Since IBS is considered mainly to be a disorder of the lower gastrointestinal tract, the symptoms tend to remain located below the navel.

Recent physiological and psychosocial data have emerged to improve our understanding of IBS. A biopsychosocial model of IBS involving physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors is now felt to be involved in symptom generation.

The treatment of IBS is based on the severity and the nature of each person's symptoms and the effect psychosocial factors are having on their illness behavior. Therefore, each person's therapy is tailored to their symptoms and may include one or more of the following: lifestyle changes, pharmacological treatment, and psychological treatment. Therefore, there really is no one good general treatment for IBS.

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All forms of IBS impact the lives of millions of people. As many as one in five adults in the United States or 20 percent of the population, suffer from the abdominal discomfort or pain, bloating, and altered bowel symptoms associated with IBS. IBS typically begins early in life. In more than 50 percent of patients, symptoms begin before age 35. IBS occurs in both men and women. However, the prevalence appears to be greater in women. Approximately seven out of every ten IBS sufferers are women.

On average it takes up to three years before IBS sufferers receive a proper diagnosis from the time they first experience their symptoms. This may in part be due to the fact that patients' symptoms were not initially recognized as a serious medical condition.

A common form of IBS is IBS with constipation. Irritable bowel syndrome with constipation is characterized by abdominal discomfort or pain, bloating, and constipation as the primary bowel symptom. Approximately 6 million women in the U.S. suffer from IBS with constipation.

It is assumed, that in around 10 percent of all adults suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. The diagnostics are frequently put off because many patients first go to the doctor after having already suffered a long time. When the diagnosis „functional bowel complaints“ is made, it is for many (partly also for doctors) not clear, that they are dealing with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The first thing to do after having found a doctor is the doctor-patient consultation, the so-called anamnesis. Here the doctor will find out exactly what your complaints are through questions. Following that, a complete body examination will be done where, among other things, the stomach will be more precisely examined, as well as the rectum being felt out with the finger. That is an important test, because the doctor can so pick up first signs of a constipation, inflammation or hemorrhoids.

There is no way to prevent IBS, since it is not a disease but an intestinal disorder. You can only prevent the symptoms from becoming more severe or avoid triggering the symptoms by changing your diet or reducing stress.

IBS affects between 25 and 55 million people in theUnited States and results in 2.5 to 3.5 million yearly visits to physicians. Approximately 20 to 40 percent of all visits to gastroenterologists are due to IBS symptoms. IBS symptoms affects men and women of all ages and of all races. The prevalence of IBS in the general population of Western countries varies from 6 to 22%. IBS affects 14-24% of women and 5-19% of men.

No, however, IBS is serious. Patients with IBS have a higher rate of hospitalizations, work absenteeism, feelings of poor quality of life, and abdominal surgeries than healthy controls and patients with other gastrointestinal illnesses. In the general population, people with IBS symptoms missed more than 3 times as many work days than did people without bowel symptoms.

Irritable bowel syndrome is characterized by abdominal discomfort or pain, bloating and altered bowel symptoms (constipation, diarrhea, or alternating). The term "syndrome" refers to a collection of symptoms that together comprise a specific medical condition.

Contrary to what many people think, IBS is not caused by stress or eating habits. Until recently, the cause of IBS has been poorly understood and under-appreciated. However, in recent years, new research has yielded a better understanding of the cause of IBS. People who suffer from the abdominal discomfort or pain, bloating, and constipation of IBS may have a digestive system that may be more sensitive or work more slowly than it should.

There is no cure for IBS. It is a chronic condition, but symptoms can be managed through medication, diet, stress relief techniques, fiber therapy and other approaches.

Anyone can develop IBS at any age, but IBS symptoms typically begin around age 20. Women seem to develop it more often. Four of five people with IBS are women.